Follow That Bird!

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Our neighbor's bird

This is the time of year when birds are pairing up for mating and nest building.  If you watch the birds around your house you may be able to see where they are nesting.  Our neighbor mentioned that he had a bird nesting on their front porch, more interested in the container than the fact that the flowers were artificial.  I grabbed a camera.


My neighbor's nest
When the female had flown off the nest I took a picture of her eggs.  Robins, finches and other neighborhood birds can build their nests in shrubs and small trees around your neighborhood.  If you find a nest, don't bother it or they may abandon their nest and have to build another one.  Once they are settled in and have laid their eggs they will be more committed and you could look in the nest, once.


Click to enlarge
I went back today and caught a parent on the nest.  I waited several minutes until it took off to find some baby food.  It has bee coming into our back yard which has lots of native plants and insect life.  It is a little early for caterpillars and I suspect it is hunting spiders, the second most common food for baby birds.



Click to enlarge
Once the parent left I approached the nest quietly.  There was no movement or sound and I could barely make out a tiny beak amonb the nearly naked chicks with just a few tufts of downy feathers.  It was a warm afternoon so the parent could go hunting.  In the cool of the evening the parents body heat would be important to warm the nestlings.




Click to enlarge
Our bird is a house finch, Haemorhous mexicanus.  They were originally living in Mexico and the western US.  They were sold as pets in the 1900's and released around 1940 in New York.  They spread quickly but haven't turned out to be a problem like other invasive species, although they may out compete the native purple finch.  The house finch is a common permanent resident, so in Missouri, if you see a reddish finch between May and September, it is probably a house finch.

They can be hard for me to separate.  The purple finch lacks the purple color and the light line over their eyebrow.  The male lacks the "purple" color and its sides and belly are streaked with brown.   Can you tell which one is a house finch in the examples below?







How can you be a bird detective?

Look for birds carrying grass, sticks and other material to build a nest.  Watch closely, with binoculars if possible, and then see where they go.  If you find the nest you can watch it for activity but be careful not to spook them.  You may even see them sitting on the nest to brood the eggs.  But like any good detective, do it from a distance so you don't scare them off.

Barb has noticed a robin picking up dead stems in the garden and she is on the hunt!

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