Great Backyard Bird Count - Little Yellow Birds

"Yellow birds" is probably a misnomer. However two fairly common, small brown birds with yellow highlights are likely to make an appearance at your nyjer feeder.

During warmer months, the American Goldfinch is easy to spot. Males are a vibrant yellow and really add a splash of color to our bird feeders. In the colder months, the males take on a more brown appearance and look very much like their female partners.

Vibrant Male


Male just starting to get his color back in early spring.

Pine Siskins are brown little birds which you'll often find amongst the more common American Goldfinches. They also seem to enjoy nyjer seed and are a winter migrant. By the time the male Goldfinches have returned to their vibrant yellow, the Siskins have likely returned to the North. While the Siskins don't turn a bright yellow, they do have distinctive yellow feathers on their wings. When taking a quick glance at your feeders, it might easy to assume that a bunch of small brown birds is made up entirely of Goldfinches but take a closer look and you may find some Siskins in the bunch.

Pine Siskins visiting my feeders.

Great Backyard Bird Count - Little Red Birds

The Great Backyard Bird Count starts this week on Friday. During this time of the year in Wisconsin, the feeder birds should be relatively easy to attract with oil rich seeds like sunflower and nyjer. Sexual dimorphism is bound to be on display in a variety of species as red males and brown females make their way to your feeders. The reddest of all is the state bird of Illinois; the Northern Cardinal is the easiest to pick out of the crowd.

Northern Cardinal - The males will be pretty much red all over.

Cardinals are easy to pick out with their bright red bodies, black mask, and red beaks. Even the more earth-toned females have a brightly colored beak which will help set these birds apart from the other visitors to your yard. The Cardinals will also be bigger than the other winter red birds visiting your yard. House Finches, Purple Finches, and Common Redpolls are sort of like variations on a theme, finches with a splash of red.

House Finches - have a fair amount of brown plumage including at the very top of the their head.


Purple Finches - Very similar to House Finches, their "red" plumage is often more fuchsia. The cap on the head is also not brown.

As pictured above, the House Finch and Purple can be relatively easily confused. The House Finch has spread throughout the Eastern half of the US and is easy to spot in gardens and suburban settings. I see them daily eating safflower and sunflower seeds. Purple Finches, I've only see during migration periods. They are somewhat larger than the House Finches, and the females seem to have more distinctive markings especially on the face. It's my understanding that Purple Finches are more common further north in Wisconsin.

Common Redpoll - Look for the bright red cap which appears on both the males and females to make this id.

The last little red bird is the Common Redpoll. They fit into my bucket of little brown birds for which I'll fetch the binoculars. The key to making the positive id is the small red cap which is shared by the both males and females. Black markings near the beak similar to a sparrow are also present and unlike the House and Purple Finches who have a white-ish beak, Redpoll beaks tend to be yellow or orange-ish.

Winter - A Great Time To Get Out of Your Yard to Bird

I recognize that the entire purpose of this blog was / is aimed at encouraging readers to landscape with native plants to build a healthy ecosystem at home and enjoy the wildlife which inhabits your yard. However winter wildlife watching can become run of the mill. Another Eastern Cottontail Rabbit, woodpeckers back at the suet, finches on the nyjer feeders....sometimes you need to get out.

During the winter a host of birds will look for places with open water to pass their time. Open water provides places to find food, places to swim in relative safety, and of course a place to drink. The upper Midwest has a number of places where there will be some amount of open water. In fact, for some of you this water might just be right near your backyard.

Water features of note are good sized rivers (especially ones which generate hydro-power) like the Wisconsin River. Sites near hydro electric dams tend to remain open. Areas which end up artificially heated by human activity or urbanization like the Mississippi near Dubuque, IA or Lake Michigan near Manitowoc or Milwaukee may also be places with open waters. Larger bodies of water like Lake Michigan or the Mississippi are unlikely 100% freeze over anyway and may be slower to freeze up in the fall / early winter when compared to smaller bodies of water.

So what are you likely to see?

Bald Eagles for starters.

Bald Eagle Days in Sauk Prairie - 2012?

A host of Midwestern cities have eagle watching festivals or tours including: Sauk Prairie WI, Dubuque IA, Galena IL, Prairie du Chien WI and Starved Rock State Park IL.

You will also see waterfowl too of course

Tundra Swan nears Brownsville MN 2016

All of the Mallards and Canada Geese which had been loitering around the golf course, your yard, the local retention pond are joined by mergansers, golden eyes, swans, and less common varieties of duck and geese in open water wherever it's found. Not only are a number of these species attractive; they can be easy to spot as they are moving about in flocks. On their own merit these are worthy birds to watch. Personally, I've been most interested in the migrating swans. These can be seen near the Upper Mississippi River Wildlife Refuge in places like Alma WI and Brownsville MN. Most recently, I encountered Trumpeter Swans on Lake Evergreen near Hudson, IL (and as you can see others have seen them too.)

If it's starting to feel like winter is dragging on, jump over to ebird and explore the data, either by species or region and plan an outing to see something which holds your interests and makes the cold bearable.

Making the Most of Winter and Starting the 2018 Count Well

It's very easy as a gardener, birder, and well as a human to write winter off. It's dark. It's cold. The flowers aren't blooming; the trees are bare, and many of our feathered friends have migrated.

All that said, each year, I begin my count anew. If you are a recent visitor to the blog, here's the short version. When we bought our home, there were very few plants in the yard. So I planted a bunch of native plants hoping to increase the ecological utility of the lawn, and as a measure I count how many different species of butterflies, birds, mammals, and reptiles / amphibians I see in the yard each year. On New Year's Day the count starts over.

Common Redpoll

The count always brightens winter up some. I think it's healthy to be reminded just how much life is still active in the cold. We've counted 17 different species of bird in our yard since January 1st. Three of which are winter migrants: Dark Eyed Junco, Pine Siskin, and Common Redpolls. They are a reminder that there are places colder and dark than the Wisconsin winter. (So count your blessings)

Pine Siskins

As I noted earlier this week, you can also identify the mammals skulking about your lawn too. So far our mammal count is up to four: Eastern Cottontail Rabbit, Eastern Gray Squirrel, Striped Skunk, and Virginia Opossum.

We typically see somewhere over 40 species of bird and 7 or so mammals in the yard through the course of the year. This means that after the first month of the year, we've probably seen close to a third of the birds we expect to see and half of the mammals, assuming this is a typical year. I'm hoping that this is a sign that this year's count will be better than typical.

Winter is a Great Time to ID Backyard Mammals

Many nature lovers turn to birding as a hobby and it's relatively easy to understand why. Birds are fairly charismatic, sometimes brash. The males are often brightly colored. At dawn and dusk, they sing which reveals their positions. They fly from branch to branch giving away their position. In short, they are easy to watch.

Mammals on the other hand tend to stay hidden. Many are nocturnal. Many burrow underground are stay hidden moving through the brush or under the snow. Larger mammals like deer, coyote, and fox are certainly findable and some common backyard mammals like Eastern Cottontail Rabbits and Eastern Gray Squirrels are easy to spot. But there is plenty mammalian activity which goes undetected. You need an assist to see some of the activity.

Snow can be a great assistant especially if there's no wind to cause drifting. Mammals moving around at night while you are asleep will leave their tracks behind. So if you are curious to know who else is living in your neighborhood, take a look around outside after a fresh snow. Last night we had a wintery mix which left a crusty ice snow behind. I found some really interesting tracks when I ventured out this morning.

Skunk Tracks with telltale 5 toes.

These alien hand prints belong to the Virginia Opossum

Native Evergreen Shrubs and this Year's Project

After getting myself all setup on Cornell Lab's YardMap, I realized that while we'd made incredible progress in landscaping the yard and providing biodiversity, we hadn't gone as far as I'd thought. "Lawn" still makes up a large percentage of our property. This means it's time for another project. Or more precisely to circle back to a project from yesteryear and complete it as originally envisioned.

The initial mission, better layering. In particular find some shrubs.

But what kind of shrubs?

We already have lots of Serviceberry, and we have Highbush Cranberry, Pagoda Dogwood, Nannyberry, Staghorn Sumac, and Black Chokeberry.

Something new. Something different. Something with texture. Something to add interest in the winter.

I began searching. I spent a lot of time on the WI DNR's Natural Communities site.

A list of possibilities began to form: Ninebark, New Jersey Tea, Winterberry, Blueberry, Juniper, Red Osier Dogwood, Witchhazel, American Filbert...

I began searching for native evergreen shrubs. This was hard. Perhaps impractical. Perhaps evergreens don't like being shrubs.

I had found two: Juniperus Communis and Juniperis Horizontalis.

In further searching I encountered "Eastern White Cedar". I looked at the latin name, Thuja Occidentalis. How could this be? I knew Red Cedar to be Juniperus Virginiana. Of course, Red Cedar is actually a juniper tree, I read more. American Arborvitae.

"Arborvitae? Those silly hedgerow-looking evergreen trees that people plant to make privacy fences?" I thought.

I began looking at cultivars for all three: Common Juniper, Horizontal Juniper, and American Arborvitae.

I've ruled out Horizontal Juniper as I'm not looking for ground cover, but the options available for the other two are really interesting.In the end, it will probably come down to availability and selecting which ever will look best next to the Red Osier Dogwoods, I intend to plant.

More info:

Eastern White Cedar in WI

Common Juniper in WI

Horizontal Juniper in WI

2016 - Off to a Great Start - First Common Redpoll

Each New Year's Eve while others excitedly waiting for a ball to drop in some distant metropolitan city, I prep a spreadsheet. The next morning begins a new year of not only bird counting but documenting each species which travels through our yard. Getting the winter well documented is crucial, as some of our visitors are drop-ins from Canada who have migrated to "warmth" of Wisconsin.

Today, we had the first Common Redpolls to have ever visited our yard. I added them to this year's spreadsheet and then had a realization, I'd never totaled the number of species across years. I had no idea how many different species had visited the yard over the course of the last few years.

One of the Common Redpolls who came to visit today.

It turns out that the Common Redpoll makes number 58. This also means that my original goal (yet to be met) of having 50 species in the yard in a single year ought to be more than attainable. If last year's total of 47 is any indication (and we've already got 18 so far for 2016), 2016 could be the year. Maybe I need to think about upping the goal from 50 to 60 or 65.

Before the Fall Migration - When the Birds Have Stopped Calling

During a late August trip out to the marsh, I exited my car and strolled down the gravel path. Where throughout much the early summer months the calls of Red Wing Blackbirds, Common Yellow Throats, Swamp Sparrows, and Song Sparrows had once greeted me; often times surpassing my ability to process and identify the direction of a particular call, this walk fell silent.

Pale yellow Evening Primrose, lavender blooms of Bergamot, showy Ox Eye Sunflowers, and the rustling of acres of Big Blue Stem. The chirp of crickets, grasshoppers and toads. For the first time, I heard the gravel beneath my feet.

The shrill alarms of dozens of nesting Blackbirds replaced with a stunning and almost eerie silence.

Migrating on like retirees escaping the cold of Wisconsin, some of our nomads had already left the marsh. Others remained, but did not make their presence known. Where once Song Sparrows serenaded from shrubs along the path, now they'd turned silent observers of the landscape.

Over the tree tops in the evening, nothing. The progressive growing trills of the gathering Chimney Swifts is simply gone though the irritation that is the insect pests remains. This evening, the red marks along my brow are a testament to this. One or two lonely Barn Swallows remain, almost as if their friends, their family, their colony has abandoned them.

In the sky an approaching V and sudden chorus of brass. A dozen or so Canada Geese approach the wetland. Of course, the marsh is not dead, nor is it empty. Sedge Wrens still chastise me when I venture to close, Cedar Waxwings and American Robins perch en masse above the Oak stand.

Very shortly these friends are likely to depart as well. I've not gone to the marsh in winter. I expect to change this. I imagine that if I am bundled warmly, I will welcome old friends come back from Canada, the Junco, the Siskin, and the Purple Finch. One thing is almost certain, the cyclist who zips by in spring and summer aren't as likely to interrupt my future wanderings.

Forget the Blue Spruce, Go with a Midwestern Evergreen

I encountered something strange recently. Folks had homes built in a fairly typical mixed Oak, Pine forest in Wisconsin. They had removed most of the trees to put in turf grass, and then replaced the Pines and Oaks with Colorado Blue Spruce. I haven't quite wrapped my mind around bringing the suburbs to the wilderness, but here's a thought for Midwestern homeowners: forget the Blue Spruce and plant something that would naturally occur locally in your yard.

The Colorado Blue Spruce is a very popular conifer. They have vibrant color, and spruces planted together make excellent wind blocks. However, their native range is a corridor of the American West, and Blue Spruce has little ecological value in the Midwest. It's even become somewhat invasive in places where it's grown for Christmas trees, having escaped some plantations in the Northeast.

There are a number of evergreens native to the Midwest which are commercially available including: Eastern White Pine, White Spruce (sub species - Black Hills Spruce), and Eastern Red Cedar which should be considered in place of planting Blue Spruce.

All plants bring some value to our yards; that's why we plant them. In some cases, it's aesthetic like color or texture, in other cases it's functional like shade or barriers for privacy. All of the plants in our lawns also have some ecological value and function, some more, some less. All of these evergreens will establish roots that will help with water infiltration, and all provide cover for wildlife including nesting birds.

Eastern White Pines can be found in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, and northern parts of Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana. These Pines have good wildlife value and are a food source for both birds and mammals. Pine Warblers, Crossbills, and Pine Siskins, Chickadees, Nuthatches, and Woodpeckers can all be found foraging in Eastern White Pines. White Pines have low salt tolerance and are not necessarily good candidates to plant along roadsides.

White Spruce (subspecies Black Hills Spruce may be easier to find commercially available) is native to the northern part of the Midwest including parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. White Spruce is an important food source for many animals including Red Breasted Nuthatches, Evening Grosbeaks, and Pine Siskins. White Spruce is also an important part of the Red Squirrel diet, and Snowshoe Hares rely on White Spruce as a winter food source. White Spruce is a salt tolerant species and can be planted along roadsides.

Red Cedars procedure "berries" which a host of birds eat, most notably Cedar Waxwings. These berries can be an important food source in late winter or early spring especially for birds like Robins who may arrive to find colder than expected conditions. It is also a fairly salt tolerant species so it can be planted along roadsides.

When next you decide to plant an evergreen, consider one of these three before you purchase the Blue Spruce.

Forget the Equinox! Five Signs Spring is Officially Here

One can certainly define Spring as the season which starts with the upcoming Equinox, but in the Upper Midwest it's certainly likely to be a season which starts after said event. It is however also possible that Spring may come early. What are the signs that Spring has sprung and that Winter has loosed us from her frigid grip?

Here are 5 signs that Spring is officially here:
1. Male Cardinals fighting over territory and breeding rights. It's the closest thing to Bison rut I expect to see in my backyard.
2. Robins calling early in the morning to welcome in the day, as if to say "Hey we're back! Pay attention and wake up!".
3. The evening Red Wing Blackbird chorus letting us all know it's time to go home.
4. Rain. Just rain. Not freezing rain, not wintery mix, just rain. And without the promise of subsequent snowfall as temperatures drop.
5. The last of November's and December's snow has melted away to reveal grass which hasn't seen light in 4 months.

If these five signs are in fact reliable indicators that a new season in upon us, then in Wisconsin we aren't quite there yet.

Checklist so far:
1. Spotted on March 9 at 7:00 am near our Striped Sunflower Seeds.
2. Spotted on March 10 at 7:45 am in an oak tree near work. Saw 4 Robins by 9:00 am.
3. Heard on March 15 at 5:00 pm -ish. Blackbirds spotted at neighborhood pond.
4. It rained today (3/11) but they warned about the potential for snow.
5. Most of the yard is still buried. Only about 3 or 4 more inches to go in most spots.

It may not be Spring in Wisconsin yet, but we'll see which comes first: Spring or the Equinox.

What are the signs you count on to know Spring is here?

Winged Wednesday - Birds in the News

In tracking our feeder visitors this winter, I'd noticed a decline in activity. I've assumed for some time that this was related to the extremely cold weather we've had. I can't say that this WI State Journal article supports my assumption exactly but given yesterday's post, I thought I'd share it here.

Apparently WI's wild turkey population is struggling with our cold weather.

This of course relates to a more pressing issue. March 1st is only 5 days away, but the temperatures aren't expected to improve. During a typical year, we could start seeing Red Winged Blackbirds and Robins migrating back in large numbers about 15 days from now.

Cornell's Bird Forecast seems to indicate that the migrations are already starting, so it looks like it's shaping up to be a cold return.

Green Stuff? In February?

As the snow started falling this morning just as I was headed off to work, I had to wonder how we managed to have such a lovely, balmy weekend only 6 days earlier. Last Saturday, I spent some time out in the yard cutting back some our of plants. I brought the beagle out with me for some company and came to two realizations while I was out there.

Firstly that I needed to do some weeding. And I needed to do it in February.

Secondly, I had some green. Some of plants had come back and were just as ready for Spring as I am.

I was not overly surprised that I needed to pull some Quackgrass, and I even found some spots in the yard where I could justify taking the mower out. (Note: I did not actually take the mower out.) I did however notice that many of the invasive plants which I thought I had successfully removed last Fall were blooming. It appears that we will be stuck with Purple Pansies and Asiatic Lilies forever. They seem to be doing quite well in front of our house.

Pansies are hybrid plants based on European Violas.

The Lilies seeded themselves.

When I made it to the backyard though I found cause for some celebration. Some of the native plants which I planted last year were coming back. It was late Spring last year when I started pulling up the invasive plants which the previous owner had planted and began adding native plants like Purple Coneflower and Little Blue Stem. Neither of these plants were coming back, but I as cut back some of the native plants, I found three surprises.

The Blue Lupine is coming up already. This was good news considering the rabbits had chewed it to the ground.

The Prairie Coneflower (Ratibida Columnifera) was looking very green.

And here's some white clover which despite being invasive adds nitrogen to the soil, so I usually leave this one alone.

Winter and Your Plants

From what I've seen on Facebook and at the garden centers, folks are itching to get back out into their yards and do some gardening. However for those of us in the Upper Midwest, winter just finally set in. There's been cold wind and snow to shovel, so it's hardly the right time to be out in the yard tending our flowers.

So if we aren't tending to our plants, what's happening to them out there in the cold? What good is winter anyway?

Vernalization is the process which enables our annuals to flower after prolonged periods of cold temperatures. In other words, some of our plants would not be able to flower without the winter. Perennials and some trees also need a prolonged period of cold to break dormancy and enable flowering. wiki

Stratification and Scarification is the process which enables certain kinds of seed to germinate. The cold temperatures can scarify seeds because of how water/moisture behaves when the temperature changes. The expanding and contracting of the moisture can scarify the outer shell of the seeds helping them to germinate. For other plants the cold weather is more like a trigger. The seeds "know" that after X number of cold weeks, followed by warmer temperatures that it's time to come out. We can accomplish this by stratifying our seeds in the refrigerator or by planting seed in the fall.

Snow is also important to plants in the winter. While the upper portion of many plants is dormant during the winter, roots are still active. The roots receive insulation and moisture from the snow, which help to keep the plant alive.

In other words, while we feel trapped inside, the environment is doing a good job tending to our native plants all winter long.

Feathered Friends in the Winter

Come winter in the Upper Midwest many of our backyard friends leave for warmer weather. We won't see the Barn Swallows, Tree Swallows, Indigo Buntings, Baltimore Orioles or Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks. Even the Wisconsin state bird, the Robin, is all but gone (Note that some sightings will show up on ebird from time to time).

While many birds have left for better weather, a number of our friends remain despite the cold and snow. Now they need foods which are high in calories and oils. Being sure that you have suet, sunflower seed, peanuts, and safflower seed to support them will not only help the birds survive but help attract them to your yard or garden.

If you are wondering which of our backyard friends have stuck around; here's a short list:

1. American Goldfinch
2. Northern Cardinal
3. House Finch
4. Mourning Dove
5. Black-capped Chickadee
6. White-breasted Nuthatch
7. Downy Woodpecker
8. Red Bellied Woodpecker

While many of our usual visitors leave during the cold, others should visit your feeders during the winter. Here are some visitors you may notice during the colder months:

1. Purple Finch
2. Dark-eyed Junco
3. Evening Grosbeak
4. Red Crossbill
5. Red-breasted Nuthatch

Here are some pictures of our winter friends.

Purple Finch

Dark-eyed Junco

Red Bellied Woodpecker

Native Plants to Add Color in the Snow

Since it finally snowed, and I had to get the shovel out; I figured talking about plants that create interest through the winter would be spot on.

There are a number of plants indigenous to the Midwest that can tough out the cold and add some color to an otherwise white landscape.

1. There are plants that can give your yard a splash of red as they retain their fruit in the winter.
• Red Chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia) - This shrub / tree will lose it's foliage but should retain its berries. We have two of these, and the birds didn't seem particularly interested in the berries.
• Highbush Cranberry (viburnum trilobum) - This fairly popular shrub may also retain its berries. We also have two of these. Ours did not berry this year. In order to have success in fruiting, you need both male and female plants, so it's recommended that you multiple. We'll be adding a few more in the spring.
• American Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) - This holly will loose it's foliage, but as its name indicates should provide red berries through the winter. We plan to add a couple of these when we do our front yard in the spring.
2. Keeping your yard green in the winter is easy with the addition of some evergreens.
• Eastern White Pine, White Spruce, Balsam Fir, and Eastern Red Cedar are just some of the evergreens native to the upper Midwest (note that popular Blue Spruce, which is native to the US, is not native to the Midwest).
• Common Juniper (Juniperus communis) - This plant comes in a variety of cultivars with silly names because no one wants to buy a common plant. It's native to the most of the US and can be grown as a shrub or a tree.

Winterberry

Highbush Cranberry

The Problems of a Warm Winter

It's no secret that the winter has been unusually warm, but what does that mean for our plants?

Here's what I've seen so far:

1. Whatever pansies I did not successfully pull, have bloomed.
2. The rose bush which I hacked back to the ground is taller than my knee.
3. The Asiastic Lilies successfully seeded, I know this because there are small lilies shooting up from the ground.
4. Our Highbush Cranberries have some new growth as well.

So far most of the native plants have not tried to come to life. Although we have a Black-Eyed Susan that never really went dormant, it's still kind of green. With the expected 1-3 inches of snow on the way, I'm somewhat concerned that the upcoming cold snap may damage my plants; although if it wipes out the remaining invasives it'll make life easier in the spring.