Update on Front Yard Bird IDs

Most of the new birds I've already posted in the previous post, as they were not by our house, but here we have an update on the birds identified. All of the new birds, including those out in parks are in blue.

Species	Scientific/Latin name
American Crow	Corvus brachyrhynchos
American Robin	Turdus migratorius
Baltimore Oriole*	Icterus galbula
Blue Jay	Cyanocitta cristata
Brown-headed Cowbird	Molothrus ater
Canada Goose*	Branta canadensis
Carolina Chickadee	Poecile carolinensis
Carolina Wren	Thryothorus ludovicianus
Ceder Waxwing	Bombycilla cedrorum
Chipping Sparrow	Spizella passerina
Common Grackle	Quiscalus quiscula
Common Yellowthroat Warbler	Geothlypis trichas
Eastern Towhee	Pipilo erythrophthalmus
European Starling	Sturnus vulgaris
Grey Catbird	Dumetella carolinsis
Hairy Woodpecker	leuconotopicus villosus
House Finch	Haemorhous mexicanus
House Wren	Troglodytes aedon
House Sparrow	Passer domesticus
Mourning Dove	Zenaida macroura
Northern Cardinal	Cardinalis cardinalis
Northern Mockingbird	Mimus polyglottos
Pileated Woodpecker*	Dryocopus pileatus
Red-bellied Woodpecker	Melanerpes carolinus
Red-winged Blackbird*	Agelaius phoeniceus
Scarlet Tanager*	Piranga olivacea
Song Sparrow	Melospiza melodia
Veery	Catharus fuscenscens
White-throated Sparrow	Zonotrichia albicollis
*Not in my yard

I probably saw some Carolina Chickadees previously, but now I've gotten to know them. Here are some of the pictures I've taken of them-

I believe it was house wrens who first built a nest in the birdhouse, but whether they were chased out or changed their mind they eventually vacated it. Eventually some Carolina Wrens started building in it, and eventually had babies!

I was visiting my parents house several weeks ago (with masks on the screened porch) and watching their bird feeders. They showed us all of the European Starlings (or Common Starlings) that had been crowding their feeders lately. 

And maybe they followed us home, or maybe I hadn't recognized them previously, but suddenly our yard had them taking over as well.

In addition to the mostly black adults, there were packs of juvenile starlings.

Fighting over the suet, and keeping other birds away.

They also like hanging out under the feeders

It has been a bit of a challenge, especially because they can come in huge packs, and clean out supplies very quickly!

Leaving poor wrens like this without much left!

And look at this sad hairy woodpecker!

I've been trying to refill in the afternoon, rather than the morning, as that sometimes helps avoid the big packs of starlings. They can finish off an entire suet in a few hours, and not leave any left to share.

Please share with me any tips you have to avoid attracting starlings but continue feeding birds I love, like woodpeckers, wrens, sparrows and others!

Thanks!

New birds, out of the yard

I've started working as a contract tracer, so I've unable to make some new posts for a while. I was ready to do a new ID update, but decided to start with some new birds I saw out and about...

Went on a walk at the Judge Morris Estate (See more at https://destateparks.com/WhiteClayCreek, there is a beautiful, and well kept 3 mile loop- that is actually shaped approximately like an 8, so you can make it a shorter loop as well!). We stopped by a pond afterwards for a picnic and heard a chirping- we saw a very young bird in the tree just above us. I did not have my good camera with me, but I think the photos from my phone are worth sharing.

We were suspecting that it just might be a baby Baltimore Oriole, when we saw what must be it's parent: 

Finally, my favorite was the baby and parent communicating:

What an absolute joy to experience! 

We also went on a walk near the Blue Ball Barn (where my husband and I were married 6 years ago- we went on a walk to celebrate our Anniversary last month!) and walked through Alapocas Run State Park (https://www.destateparks.com/Alapocas) with a stop down by the Brandywine river for a game of Bananagrams (a game we played on our first date!) On the walk from the Blue Ball Barn down towards the river, there is a lovely marshy area, full of bird life, and I stopped to photograph a lovely Red Winged Black Bird

Finally, we visited Killens Pond in Felton Delaware (https://www.destateparks.com/PondsRivers/KillensPond) we went on a lovely 2.5 mile walk a round the lake and were very excited to see a Pileated Woodpecker a little away from the trail. It was moving around a lot, but I got a couple fuzzy pictures. No great photos, but I wanted to share what I got.

We also saw a gorgeous Scarlet Tanager. Now given it's name, you may be expecting a beautiful bright red, and apparently breeding males are just that. The females, however, as well as non breeding males, look a little more like this-

Finally, we came across a couple lovely turtles in different places along the trail

So there we are! Believe it or not, one can bird and be a naturalist- even if they leave their own front yard. A front yard update will be coming soon as well.

Thanks!

ID Update

Since I first posted all the birds I have identified, I have photographed several new birds- See those in the table in purple! Credit to the Facebook Group: Whats this Bird for helping with identification of several!

Species	Scientific/Latin name
American Crow	Corvus brachyrhynchos
American Robin	Turdus migratorius
Blue Jay	Cyanocitta cristata
Brown-headed Cowbird	Molothrus ater
Canada Goose*	Branta canadensis
Ceder Waxwing	Bombycilla cedrorum
Chipping Sparrow	Spizella passerina
Common Grackle	Quiscalus quiscula
Common Yellowthroat Warbler	Geothlypis trichas
Eastern Towhee	Pipilo erythrophthalmus
Grey Catbird	Dumetella carolinsis
Hairy Woodpecker	leuconotopicus villosus
House Finch	Haemorhous mexicanus
House Wren	Troglodytes aedon
House Sparrow	Passer domesticus
Mourning Dove	Zenaida macroura
Northern Cardinal	Cardinalis cardinalis
Northern Mockingbird	Mimus polyglottos
Red-bellied Woodpecker	Melanerpes carolinus
Song Sparrow	Melospiza melodia
Veery	Catharus fuscenscens
White-throated Sparrow	Zonotrichia albicollis
*Not in my yard

 The geese and catbird can be seen in previous posts.

Below you can see proof of the others!

A whole flock of Ceder Waxwings were perched in the branches of a tree behind my house

Unfortunately the pictures at this distance do not capture their beautiful color, but hopefully I will spot them again!

I see Common Grackles frequently (they are, as it turns out, common) but here are some I photographed:

This one, I believe, is a male

I have been attempting to make friends with the crows by giving them peanuts. I'll make a whole post about this soon. The grackles, among other birds, also appreciate my efforts.

Common Yellowthroat Warbler- I have only seen this a couple of times, and it's tough to photograph because it's very fast! This one I could not have identified without help from the internet.

Since I got suet, I have been seeing this Hairy Woodpecker now and then-

UPDATE: Siting here with my laptop by the window I see all my feeders in the tree. My camera is close, but I can't always catch everything! I just saw two (I believe) Hairy woodpeckers in the tree interacting together. They were towards the top of the tree behind branches, and a group of people came walking by loudly on the sidewalk disturbing them. I hope to capture them together, but I can confirm there are two woodpeckers who have visited my yard!

I believe this House Wren may be working on (or at least considering) building a nest in my wooden bird house, which is very exciting!

I don't think it wants to be photographed right now?

Searching for food in the backyard

 Working on that nest, I hope!

This one is from today!

I first spotted a Northern Mockingbird in another neighborhood, walking to the pond where I found geese previously-

Today though, I found a Northern Mockingbird, checking out my new block of suet in my yard!

Finally, the Whats this Bird facebook group struggled with me to identify this Veery. Initially several members of the group thought it was a Swainson's Warbler, however, more photographs from different angles confirmed the Veery ID.

Before I finish, I also wanted to update my American Crow and Mourning Dove identification pictures, as I have gotten much better shots than I used for those initial identification shots! As I said previously though, I will be making a post in the near future all about crows. Spoilers: Crows are cool! But first, a lovely dove:

And a crow-

But don't worry, more will come!

Thanks!