back yard breeding birds

[rwood...@comcast.net]

The prior post about woodpecker chicks leads me into my back yard list of breeding birds.  I wasn't conscious of how many species I had confirmed until I put this list together:

 

17 May - Pine Siskin - at least 1 begging chick getting fed, who knows where they nested.  The last date for visiting the feeder was 14 June.

 

22 May - Black-throated Green Warbler - a female pulled materials from the vine growing on a trellis, probably nested in a spruce grove next door.

 

22 May - Black-capped Chickadee - a bird went into a nest box and stayed in to incubate, by early June they were feeding chicks in the nest.

 

30 May - House Finch - absent for many years but back this year, begging chicks getting fed near the feeder.

 

"sometime" in May: Mourning Dove - a scaly juvenile under the feeder sitting quietly, seeming not knowing what to do.

 

American Robin - adult gathering food in the yard

 

Northern Cardinal - feeding the first brood in the yard, chicks still present today.  Fledglings of probably a third brood are present into October.

 

7 June - Red-shouldered Hawk - first I heard birds calling from Bela Brook out back, then from the yard I watched 3 birds circle together up high, most likely a family group.

 

13 June - Chipping Sparrow - adults feeding chicks, an annual event here.

 

14 June - White-breasted Nuthatch - adults feeding fledglings in the yard.  Most of my nest boxes are ocupied by flying squirrels so they must have found a woodpecker nest nearby.

 

16 June - Tufted Titmouse - adults feeding chicks in the yard.

 

18 June - Wild Turkey - a hen, who was a regular visitor in the spring, appeared for the first time in a month or 2 with family in tow - a single small poult, probably a week old.  I had to go turn them back as they headed for Clinton Street and certain disaster.

 

"sometime around this time" - Broad-winged Hawk - 2 birds calling in the woods out back close to each other, possibly fledglings from a nearby nest.

 

20 June - Downy Woodpecker - I heard begging chicks calling from a nest on my neighbor's side, then the next day they fledged, at least 3 were in the yard getting fed by the female.

 

26 June - Brown Creeper - an adult fed a persistently calling fledgling.

 

27 June - Red-bellied Woodpecker - a female fed a fledgling in the yard and then continued on their way; who knows where they nested but a female was present at the feeder much of the winter and spring, on 8 March a male appeared, so they probably nested nearby.

 

There are still a few more to come, like Pine Warbler and goldfinch.

 

Rob Woodward

Concord, NH