Sunday, April 19, 2009

Neighborhood wildlife

I've been having fun watching the birds that have been coming to our feeders the last few weeks. We've got a seed-filled feeder in the backyard and a block of suet in the front yard. We commonly have chickadees and some unidentified brown birds on the seed feeder and some beautiful northern flickers on the suet. A couple kinds of blue jays hang around as well and robins, thrushes and doves pick the leftovers off the ground. This last week a flock of these guys (see photo) showed up. Using the miracles of the internet, I have identified them as evening grosbeaks. Super pretty!

I've put more photos on Facebook (you don't have to be a member to see them).

1 comment:

Burgess Laughlin said...

I do a lot of walking. I see a lot of wildlife even though I live on the periphery of downtown Portland. One of many facts I find fascinating is the seeming sloppiness of some birds when feeding from man-made feeders or natural sources of seeds.

These birds seems to scatter much more than they eat. I have often wondered if perhaps that is an evolutionary trait that pays off in disseminating (so to speak) the very kind of seed they are eating. In other words, the species that scatters as well as eats might better survive season after season.