December Surprises

This was one of my December "cookie" days and I was up to my ears in flour. As I do many times when I am working in the kitchen, I glanced out the window viewing the backyard and bird feeders. In my vision like quick flashes of flight flew two hawks into the familiar hiding rose bush of my birds. Birds flew in all directions as the hawks dived into the bush. One flew out with prey in in its grasp, the other calmly walked out into the yard and stood still for a couple of seconds. He looked around and proceeded to walk back into the underbrush. I have never witnessed such a calm attack from a Hawk. He must have decided to take one more look before walking to the brush pile under the Red Maple tree. My husband and I watched for what seemed to be several minutes. My husband looked at the bird book and identified this Hawk as a Red-shouldered. We had just settled back into routine when my husband tells me another Hawk is setting on the brush pile. I just cannot believe this turn of events. I look out the back windows, sure enough, another Hawk sits in almost the same place on the brush. He is smaller than the first visitor. I find the different bird books, we have several for comparison. I, after much study and comparison, decide this must be a juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk. We discuss the happenings and believe there must have been a rat or mouse in that brush pile that attracted the Hawks. We have never witnessed Hawks sitting for such a long time in the yard. I did not mention earlier but Jim had to go outside to the yard to get the Red-shouldered to fly. He just kept setting there on the brush looking around. The yard was vacant of birds for a long time as you can imagine. This was one of the few times other than at bird bandings that we have seen or photographed Hawks. We may get a quick view as the fly through the yard more in winter than summer. I look forward to today, we will be keeping close watch on our backyard. December may hold other surprises. We are thankful for the blessing!

Eastern Meadowlarks and Other Winter Visitors

We are delighted to see a flock of Eastern Meadowlarks visiting the front yard each day. I have seen them in past years although never this many. Their beautiful yellow with the black V on their breast shines in the sun . They are busy moving and gleaning insects and weed seeds from the area. It is so wonderful to witness a new bird in your own yard. We try to keep our binoculars handy checking the feeders, trees, ground under feeders as well as nearby shrubs. We have a large rose bush that our sparrows as well as other yard birds fly into at any sign of danger. I have found that you never know and should not be surprised to see a bird you may not have seen in your yard before. We are now enjoying Dark-eyed Juncos, White-throated, White Crowned and Chipping Sparrows everyday. We have Orange-crowned and Yellow-rumped Warblers as well as Pine Warblers loving our peanut butter suet. The Blue Jay, Mockingbird, Cardinal, Tufted Titmouse,Carolina Chickadee and Carolina Wren are residents. Large flocks of Mourning Dove are always on our electric lines. We also see Eurasian as well as Inca Dove in the yard. Our winter friend, the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is usually on our tree trunks each morning. Our House Finches continuously feed on the feeders and the American Goldfinch will be joining them for winter seeds. All seems to be fairly normal considering our severe drought this year. Rain is happening and we are blessed this wonderful Christmas season!