Lexeme Sketches

Most people have multiple hobbies and interests, and in my case, that is very much true. For the most part, I enjoy reading books and writing stories, whether they are independent or as a collaborative work with others, but in recent years, I’ve sort of gotten into birdwatching.

I’m not one of the hardcore birdwatchers with the binoculars and a membership to the National Audubon Society, but I do enjoy watching birds. Even as a kid, I liked watching the birds that visited the feeder on our back patio deck as well as the red squirrels that came up to eat the corn I would put out for them. I got into this hobby as an adult when I repurposed one of those old T-shaped clothesline poles as a bird feeding station last summer. I used zip ties and attached a suet cake basket to the front of the pole, and then I hung two bird feeders from S-hooks from the holes through which the clothesline would loop through. I was amazed at how many birds visited my feeders.

I am not home enough to watch all the different kinds of birds visiting, but it’s nice when I have Christmas break or summer vacation so I can see them visit and figure out what kinds of birds are out there. So far, I have seen the following:

Cardinal
This is an unmistakable bird with its bright red plumage and the fact that they are indigenous to all of North America. The females are sort of a tawny brown but their wings have bits of red, and they have the same bright orange beaks. The cardinals are frequent visitors to my bird feeders throughout the year, but especially in winter when there is snow on the ground. Last winter, I counted about fifteen cardinals visiting my feeder at one time, many of them female, though I had some males as well.

Mourning Dove
Another bird indigenous to North America, the mourning dove is also hunted as a game bird. I usually see mourning doves in pairs in my backyard, and this is because doves are monogamous; they mate for life. When I see them, they usually prefer to scrounge for seeds underneath my feeders. I never see them actually perch on the feeders and take from them. On an interesting note, the mourning dove is a close relative to the now-extinct passenger pigeon.

Dark-Eyed Junco

Juncos are a type of sparrow that are winter-only visitors to Missouri. During spring, they migrate back north up to Canada. While hummingbirds herald the arrival of spring here, juncos herald the arrival of winter. I see quite a few of these foraging around my bird feeder during the long winter months. If you see them in winter, enjoy them while you can before spring.

House (Red) Finch
The house finch is a brand new bird that I just started noticing within the past week or so. I recently decided to try hanging a thistle sock near my bird feeders, and after a week of nothing on the sock, I finally observed one of these little guys hanging off it yesterday while I was filling a planter with petunias. These are usually confused with purple finches, but really the main difference is that purple finches are only seen in our area in winter. Needless to say, I was happy about seeing another bird variety visit my yard.

American Goldfinch

At the beginning of spring, I saw one of these American Goldfinches hanging out in a tree branch above the feeder near my back door. I didn’t know what it was at first, but I described it to my mother who said it was probably one of these. What I did not know was that American Goldfinches actually undergo a complete molt and change the color of their plumage in summer and winter. When I saw the goldfinch earlier this spring, was still in its winter plumage (drab brown, yellowish head). In summer plumage, the goldfinch is a gorgeous bright yellow like in the photograph at the left. I’m hoping the thistle sock I put out will attract them to the yard.

Tufted Titmouse
I’ve seen some of these on my feeders in winter. They will often gather in multi-species feeding groups during the winter months, though they tend to be more shy than the others when taking seeds. They’ll wait until the feeder is empty, fly down, take a seed, and then they usually disappear to a branch to eat the seed before coming for more. You often hear them in the woods, and they have a pleasant sound.

Black-Capped Chickadee

The chickadee is another frequent visitor to my bird feeder. I see them more commonly in winter, though yesterday, I did spot one or two stopping in for a visit. They’re cute little birds, and they also have a pleasant song.

Common Grackle

These buggers have been irritating me ever since I won my war with the squirrels. Many people lump them together with blackbirds, but they’re actually not closely related. The grackles are opportunists, and they like to bully the other birds away from my feeders so they can hog all the food for themselves. They can also eat down a suet cake in about a day or two. They are also omnivorous, which means that they will eat insects, frogs, and they have even been known to consume small mice and other small birds. In my yard, I think it might be the mealworms I mixed in with the seed that might have attracted them, so now I know not to do that again. If anything, I might offer only thistle and safflower seeds to the songbirds I want and give the grackles their own feeding tray out in the front yard. If anything, they’re at least worth having around to observe their unusual behaviors and so they can eat insects off my lawn.

Red-Bellied Woodpecker
The best thing about keeping a suet basket out is that you inevitably get woodpeckers. I have a lot of trees in my front and backyards, and having these guys is not only inevitable, but beneficial. They’re good for keeping pest insects off your trees, thanks to their eating habits. I have also seen this kind of woodpecker feed from hummingbird feeders. The red-bellied woodpecker is one of two species of woodpeckers that visit the suet basket.

Downy Woodpecker

This is the second species of woodpeckers that visit my suet basket is this one. It’s actually a very small woodpecker, about the size of a sparrow, and it makes its home in dead and decaying trees. I suspect the one in my yard lives in the dead tree in the back yard that we’ve never cut down.

There are many advantages to having bird feeders out in your yard. My biggest challenge with the bird feeders has been keeping squirrels off them, but what I did to remedy that was mix vegetable oil into my bird seed, and then a tablespoon of cayenne chili pepper powder to coat the seeds. Squirrels, raccoons, and opossums have tastebuds, but birds do not. Needless to say, I burned a few squirrel tongues with my concoction. If you can weed out squirrels and grackles, you’ll soon see the many beautiful winged friends you’ll collect in your yard.