The observational powers of birds . . .

[westwings at sisna dot com (Mark Stackhouse)]

No matter how good you think you are at noticing things around you, never
delude yourself into thinking that you could ever equal the observational
power of our feathered friends.

I've often been amazed at how quickly birds will return to feeders that
have been re-filled after long periods of neglect, but never as amazed as I
was yesterday. For at least three months, my thistle feeder has been empty
(due to my own slothfulness at getting out to buy more seed), and the
Lesser Goldfinches, which had been a fixture in my yard for several years,
had completely disappeared from my neighborhood. I hadn't seen or heard one
for months. I began to wonder whether the goldfinches were victims of the
cold weather and odd patterns of winter birds we've been seeing this fall.
It would make some sense - we've had birds from higher elevations and from
the north appearing earlier and in greater numbers than we've seen
recently, so it would seem logical that birds which had spread to our area
from the south might retreat a bit.

Not to worry. I finally made it out to the Wild Bird Center on Monday
evening, and bought some thistle seed. I filled the feeder after dark (no
goldfinches could have seen me fill it). I don't know what time the first
Lesser Goldfinch arrived on Tuesday, since I wasn't watching closely, but
there were two there before noon, and there are eight at the feeder this
morning.

How did they find it so fast?

Good birding!

Mark Stackhouse
Westwings, Inc.
1432 Downington Ave.
Salt Lake City, UT 84105
tel./fax. (801) 487-9453
westwings@sisna.com


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