Lemon Zingers are back! (and so am I)
Yesterday, September 27, 2008, marked the first day we saw our favorite birds (perhaps) - Lemon Zingers - back in the yard.
For the ornothologically-inclined, spare yourself looking up this type of bird. It's merely our affectionate name for Goldfinches. This is by far the earliest we have seen them in our yard - usually they arrive some time in January. Their departure has shifted every single year, seeming to correspond to the number of feeders - and hence, regular feeding LZ's - we have in the yard. First year we fed them, they stayed til late February. They extended it the second year. But last year we ramped up to 7 thistle stations in the very small yard, and our friends hung out until sometime in April.
Yesterday was an odd bird day. The morning started out with a large hawk in a tree out front of our house. At least 8 Mockingbirds were dodging all around it, and it was shrieking at irregular intervals, when suddenly a Pileated Woodpecker showed up. The Pileated seemed to be daring the hawk to come after him, kept digging away at a dead trunk immediately adjacent to the one the hawk perched on, even turning his back on the hawk. Needless to say I was both dazzled and frightened for the Pileated, who also started sqwauking periodically. After about 10 minutes of this nonsense, the hawk took after the Pileated, and the Mockingbirds after the hawk. I have no idea how that ended. Not sure I want to know.
For the ornothologically-inclined, spare yourself looking up this type of bird. It's merely our affectionate name for Goldfinches. This is by far the earliest we have seen them in our yard - usually they arrive some time in January. Their departure has shifted every single year, seeming to correspond to the number of feeders - and hence, regular feeding LZ's - we have in the yard. First year we fed them, they stayed til late February. They extended it the second year. But last year we ramped up to 7 thistle stations in the very small yard, and our friends hung out until sometime in April.
Yesterday was an odd bird day. The morning started out with a large hawk in a tree out front of our house. At least 8 Mockingbirds were dodging all around it, and it was shrieking at irregular intervals, when suddenly a Pileated Woodpecker showed up. The Pileated seemed to be daring the hawk to come after him, kept digging away at a dead trunk immediately adjacent to the one the hawk perched on, even turning his back on the hawk. Needless to say I was both dazzled and frightened for the Pileated, who also started sqwauking periodically. After about 10 minutes of this nonsense, the hawk took after the Pileated, and the Mockingbirds after the hawk. I have no idea how that ended. Not sure I want to know.
posted by Mike Kelly at 3:36 PM
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