Where are the juncos?
Some people pick dogberries and store them in the freezer for later in the winter when the berry-eating birds could be hungry. Robins and waxwings appreciate the late winter offerings of berries.
The junco is a familiar Newfoundland bird. It is the mainstay of bird feeders during the winter. The charming little grey and white bird is noticeable by its absence so far this winter. Most of us know the reason why. It is because there is a good supply of wild food in the woods. I have seen it.
There are groups of juncos in the tops of the fir trees picking at the crumbling cones getting at the ripe seeds. Fir cones fall apart early releasing the little winged seeds into the air in late fall and early winter. The juncos are also enjoying an excellent seed crop on the birch trees. Take a look at the next birch tree you see and notice what looks like brown buds at the ends of the branches. These are the seed heads also known as the catkin. Juncos love this seed. Neither the fir cones or birch catkins last through the winter. When the winter winds blow the last of those seeds away and the ground is covered with snow the juncos will flock back to our bird feeders. It is not only the juncos. The goldfinches and purple finches are in indulging on the woodland smorgasbord, too. There have been some very large flocks of goldfinches in the birches in particular. Half way through the winter all of the wild seed-eating birds will be happy enough to turn to your bird feeder for food. This is a virtual guarantee!
Meanwhile there are all those dogberries. There are flocks of robins around, but with so many berries everywhere actually seeing a robin can be a challenge. Northern flickers are staying around for the berry feast, too. They can easily switch over to suet and birdseed at the feeders if the berries run out before the end of winter.
Some people pick dogberries and store them in the freezer
for later in the winter when the berry eating birds could be hungry. Robins and waxwings appreciate the late winter offerings of berries.
Linda Ryan is feeding a special bird some dogberries now. A rose-breasted grosbeak has found her Birchy Cove, Bonavista Bay, feeder. There are no dogberry trees in her yard so she picks clusters of the berry from elsewhere and places them in a tree outside her window. The bird is gorging on the berries in between visits to the bird feeder to munch on seed.
A rose-breasted grosbeak is not like our evening or pine grosbeaks that are present through the winter. It is a bird of summers in Canada but spends the winter in tropical Central America. There is still time for it to migrate south. Meanwhile it is getting well feed in its Birchy Cove refuge. Vernon Buckle of Forteau, Labrador, does have dogberry trees growing in his yard where a very out of range western tanager stopped to feed on berries for a couple of days before continuing on its wandering route.
So far the weather on the Avalon Peninsula has remained reasonably warm. This has allowed some lingering birds to survive past their expiry date. Birds like the rare white-eyed vireo still hanging
out in the thick vegetated parts of the upper Rennies River in St. John’s. This exotic rare bird from the south is a fairly tough bird, but is no match for even a lame Avalon Peninsula winter. If it does not leave soon it will get caught by the weather and probably die here on some cold stormy night. There is little mercy for birds that operate outside the proven norm for their species. The same can be said for a little prairie warbler living in the micro-climate of Kelly’s Brook in east St. John’s. The vireo and warbler need living insects for food.
There is better hope for a couple of unseasonal and rare species of sparrows staying behind on the Avalon Peninsula. An amazing flock of four clay-coloured sparrows is feeding in a weedy field in Ferryland. These little sparrows can survive a Newfoundland winter at a well-stocked feeder, but they really belong in the heat of Mexico with the rest of their kind at this time of year. Cliff Doran at the Cape Race is feeding a rare grasshopper sparrow at the bird feeder outside of the lightkeeper’s house. Oddly there is another one just 100 metres away by the lighthouse living on wild grass seed. The two birds do not know about each other yet. The bird by the lighthouse would do well to know about the free seed offerings just 30 seconds away by air. Grasshopper sparrows are secretive sparrows sneaking around in the grass like mice.
Keep an eye on your bird feeders. Have patience, something interesting is bound to turn up.