Some mid-winter backyard feeder birds

For the first time, we're participating in Project Feeder Watch. If you don't already know, this citizen science initiative monitors trends in the populations of North American birds visiting feeders during each winter season. It's administered by the Cornell lab of Ornithology and Bird Studies Canada.

Accordingly, we've been counting the visitors to our feeders at fortnightly intervals.

[click on images to enlarge]

Regulars at our feeders these days include up to six Mourning Doves, scores of Common and Hoary Redpolls, a few dozen Pine Grosbeaks, a dozen or so European Starlings, a Pileated and two or three each of Downy and Hairy Woodpecker, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, a few Gray Jays and Common Ravens, a few pairs of Black-capped Chickadees and an occasional Boreal Chickadee, four-to-six Northern Cardinals, two Dark-eyed Juncos and an irregular Brown-headed Cowbird.

I was surprised to find a female House Sparrow visiting a feeder in nearby Heron Bay a few days ago. Believe it or not they, like Rock Pigeons, are scarce in these parts.

Some bird notes ♩ ♬ ♪

Rough-legged Hawks continue to migrate along the north shore. In a span of ten minutes this afternoon I observed seven flying low, from west to east, perhaps deriving some lift from the south winds deflecting off the bluffs.

This House Sparrow (a female was perched just out of frame) was a surprise on October 29th - it's the first we've seen of the species in our three years here. I checked the Christmas Bird Count records and it appears to have been an established town resident in the mid-1970's. More recently, its numbers have waned - it has been recorded in small numbers on only three of the last 20 CBCs, most recently (a single) in 2006.

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Another unexpected bird was a very skittish meadowlark that I flushed several times from long grass near the harbour yesterday and today. So far, I've only seen the bird on the wing so the specific ID remains elusive. Given the recent storm, I think either species (Eastern or Western) is possible.

Not far from the meadowlark's haunt is the sheltered seep where Wilson's Snipe often overwinter. The three snipe I flushed there today may well remain here until next spring. Also in the area were two adult Northern Shrikes, one of which unsuccessfully pursued a female Northern Cardinal through a dense stand of young birch.

Here's today's tally as processed by eBird:

Location: Marathon, Ontario
Observation date: 11/2/10
Notes: WISN were in sheltered seep where they often overwinter. Cardinal was in the bush, far from feeders.
Number of species: 27

• Mallard 2
• Long-tailed Duck 26
• Common Goldeneye 17
• Bald Eagle 2
• Rough-legged Hawk 7
• Wilson's Snipe 3
• Herring Gull 210
• Mourning Dove 1
• Downy Woodpecker 5
• Hairy Woodpecker 1
• Northern Shrike 2
• Gray Jay 1
• American Crow 5
• Common Raven 14
• Horned Lark 2
• Black-capped Chickadee 18
• Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
• Golden-crowned Kinglet 4
• European Starling 7
• American Pipit 6
• American Tree Sparrow 2
• Dark-eyed Junco 4
• Lapland Longspur 18
• Snow Bunting 45
• Northern Cardinal 1
• meadowlark sp. 1
• Pine Grosbeak 1
• Pine Siskin 4