Posted by Wayne G. Barber & Photos property of Wayne G.Barber
Today, all the “typical” birds showed up at our feeders. And that’s a good thing.
My typicals include a pair of red cardinals who really drive the intruder cardinals away. black-capped chickadees, tufted titmice, white-breasted nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers and "Bullie"blue jays. You can throw juncos in there, too, during the winter — and late fall as they have already arrived.
Other birds, wild turkey, sparrows, turkey vultures, red wing hawk, coopers hawk,crows, morning doves, 2 to 4 and on a storm day up to 12. American goldfinch or maybe the lesser goldfinch visit from time to time, but those are the birds that are always here. Before the foot of snow we had daily flocks of scrungy looking robins . Our former residence in Pascoag , RI we would always have a annual day of a large group of grackle and this has not happened in Thompson, CT many people have e-mailed to me lately about a lack of chickadees at their feeders. It’s definitely a trend to keep an eye on, but thankfully, I still have plenty of chickadees visiting my feeders. I still haven’t solved the mystery as to why so many people are experiencing a scarcity of chickadees, but I can tell you that I see them often.
There are some obvious bird species that I hardly ever see in my backyard.
Although I get more than my share of juncos in the winter, I rarely see white-throated sparrows — a usual accompaniment of juncos. At my previous houses, white-throated sparrows were a common winter occurrence and easily outnumbered all other winter birds. Here, I barely see them. I’ve seen more fox sparrows here than white-throated sparrows and that’s just plain odd.
Our regular animals include field mice, gray squirell, red squirell, chipmonks and white tail deer, possum, raccoon, skunk, fisher, woodchuck, eastern coyote, red fox, No grey ones spotted yet. Last black bear was two years ago, 200 yards away.
Spinney was born in 1933 in nearby Massachusetts. He told me that he got his start with hand puppets with nine characters on "The Bozo Show" a Boston television program. During a 1968 festival , Sesame Street founder Jim Henson saw his show, "Picklepuss and Friends", and offered him the role of Big Bird. He had to hold up the 8 foot two inch bird with his right arm straight overhold for sometimes twelve hours a day. I got a chance to relive my childhood when I play Big Bird. Somehow his life and heart gets across to children, Spinney told me.
