Odd bird behavior and an apology

[Joshua Jarvis]

Since this group is mainly odd species sightings I was waiting for one to post this. However neither last weeks indigo bunting or the week before’s veery seemed worth posting it for. As for migrating hawks and warblers I have not been able to ID them well enough to report sightings. (I really need to add photos to my eBird sightings, I am three months behind and have too many “bird so.” Type sightings.)So I am posting this on its own.

I seen a lot of odd bird behaviors since fall set in. 

Over the summer the only odd behavior I saw was red breasted nuthatches being unusually aggressive and attacking chickadees and titmice in the trees around my feeder. Then fall hit and it all changed.

The yearly migration event of an ovenbird foraging under my feeder happened as it does every spring and fall. I just realized they are not considered feeder warblers so may be odd.

A lot of birds foraging in odd locations. I seen house wrens foraging in forests bluebirds foraging high in trees. And was even scolded by a yellowthroat high up in a tree instead of the low bushes.

The red crossbills went through a change a few weeks ago. They went from pairs and small groups foraging in limited areas and calling from tree tops, then one day their was a big flock and after that they returned to small groups but became more elusive and stopped calling from the tree tops.

In the last couple weeks almost all birds except woodpeckers have vanished from my feeders. I still hear the other feeder species calling but they are not eating their.

The chipping sparrow drifts are getting smaller and more elusive. Twice (once in late august and once last week) I saw one bird in a flock flying off In Front of my car had white edges to the tail feathers. However I did not get a good enough look to confirm whether juncos are returning or not.

Earlier this week a Turkey crossed the road with babies. It seemed a bit late in the year to have babies that small. Also today I saw a phoebe chase a smaller bird (happened too quickly to ID the other bird) away from the woodshed they nest in during the summer. It seems a bit odd to see one being territorial this late in the year.

The other thing I want to do is apologize. I have been critical of local Audubon groups (due to not responding or knowing about a,declining species decades ago and presumed favoritism for certain areas). This spring Ilearned most Audubon groups are locally funded and not funded by national Audubon society itself. That puts things in perspective, I did not know how small their funding was. I am sorry I was so critical.