Seeds for birds in winter

I just refilled the feeders yesterday;  they'd been empty while we were away, but it didn't take long for the parade to begin.  A nice mix of Dark-eyed Juncos, Eastern Towhees, sparrows, and a large flock of American Goldfinches joined the usual Northern Cardinals, Carolina Chickadees, and Tufted Titmice (which were the last to start visiting the feeder this afternoon.

On such a snowy day, it was nice to be able to see them foraging on the ground as well as at the feeders -- I'd also tossed out some thistle and sunflower seeds for birds that like to feed on the ground.

An (unidentified) bird was foraging below one of the old dogwoods.

Backyard birds

It's fun to become familiar with the common winter birds in our backyard in the mountains.  Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice,  American Goldfinches, House Finches, and Northern Cardinals are regular feeder visitors, along with an occasional White-breasted Nuthatch.  And there are lots of them.

There are plenty of ground-foragers, too: Mourning Doves (six showed up this morning),  Song Sparrows (they visit the feeders, too), and Eastern Towhees.

But the highlight today was the hawk (red-shouldered, maybe?) up in the big red oak in front, calling out.  S/he is a regular around the back ravine, spotting squirrels, rodents, etc.  And the woodpeckers (red-bellied woodpeckers and yellow-bellied sapsuckers) are regulars, too, in the big trees down in the ravine.

Goldfinches and feeders

An enjoyable part of feeding birds is watching them, of course. And we've been having a lot of fun watching the American goldfinches visiting the thistle feeder here in the mountains.

The activity is huge on the covered platform feeder; not only do we see the usual cardinals, tufted titmice, Carolina chickadees, and nuthatches, but also the Eastern towhees, who apparently think the platform isn't that different than the ground.

But the goldfinches are striking and always nice to see.

This evening there were 3 of them visiting the feeder shortly before dusk.

Feeder birds

After we filled up the feeders, the parade started soon.

Groups of 2 & 3 visitors at a time nabbed a few seeds and gave their place to the waiting multitudes, who arrived from surrounding trees. This was not entirely peaceful, including disagreements about the 'pecking order.'

I wouldn't have thought that we'd have so many Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, White-breasted Nuthatches, Northern Cardinals, and who knows what else living in the woods behind our small mountain house.

It was definitely a parade.