[SBB] What a difference a year makes and a Sharpy visit

[Kenneth Lajoie <[[email protected]]>]

During the 04-05 winter season our back yard feeding station was mobbed 
daily by a variable flock of American Goldfinches, Lesser Goldfinches, 
and Pine Siskin, often numbering as many as thirty birds. We had to 
refill three sock feeders with nyger seed every two to three days. This 
winter we have a small flock (5 to 6 birds) of mostly American 
Goldfinches visiting the station only every three or four days, with 
not one Pine Piskin all season. We now refill two sock feeders every 
two to three weeks.

Among the regular visitors to the feeding station this winter has been 
a Chickadee with a Junco-like tail, but with much wider outer white 
stripes. The medial dark stripe (two or three feathers wide, at most) 
is slightly off center. Another regular visitor has been a 
White-crowned Sparrow with a large white patch on the tail, also 
slightly off center.

This morning at about 8:00 am a juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk swooped 
into the yard, causing an explosion of passerines (Linnets, Juncos, 
English Sparrows, etc.) from the feeding station, fortunately with no 
window strikes. The yard was devoid of birds for about twenty minutes. 
Last year a visit of a Cooper's Hawk had a similar reaction, but with 
several birds slamming into the windows in panic. We're eagerly 
awaiting the Black-headed Grosbeaks, both male and female, that visited 
the feeder daily for about a month last Spring.

Ken & Andrea Lajoie
(Menlo Park, just north of Flood Park) 


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