We have a rather weedy, not very attractive maple tree in the front yard that I periodically contemplate cutting down. Another one of its many faults is that it seems to be of no interest to most birds. Robins are so desperate for additional nesting sites around here that one pair of them has settled for the maple tree, but that’s about it. I think my fingers would suffice for counting all the bird species I’ve seen on that tree this entire year.
Except for today. When I came home this afternoon, I noticed a warbler on the tree so I grabbed my binoculars and headed to the porch to have a closer look. It wasn’t just the warbler. All of the following birds were on the tree. At the same time. A number of them were clearly migrating birds that I don’t usually see around here.
Pileated Woodpecker
Blue Jay
Chipping Sparrow
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Blackburnian Warbler
Northern Parula
Eastern Wood-Pewee
American Redstart
Red-winged Blackbird
Downy Woodpecker
Carolina Chickadee
Cardinal
I still want to replace the maple tree with a more attractive kind of tree, though.
Sydney
Alan Schmierer
Don’t you find the variety amazing? All on the same tree! At the same time! How about in the little forest at the fence line in the back yard – were any traveling birds there, or just the usual residents?
Given the unusual variety of birds on the maple tree, I did go and check the trees at the back fence line as well. There were more Blue Jays around than usual, but, otherwise, just the usual birds: cardinals, robins, starlings, and so on.
Earlier in the day, though, I watched a Hairy Woodpecker drill open our hammock stand in the back yard. That was a new species for the yard. It turns out there were a bunch of carpenter bees in the stand and the woodpecker seemed to think it fun drilling into their tunnels and chasing them out. He didn’t bother eating them, though.