Sharpshin Hawk comes back to visit

What was interesting was he probably scared most of the birds away when he arrived, but some were hiding in the brush pile.

I watched him fly down to the pile and perch on it for a while. Then he did something I had never seen before. He crawled into the brush pile. He flushed a few birds out, and flew back to his perch. Then he flew down to the pile again, trying to get a bird. Then he flew back to his perch. He never did get a bird, but hopefully he returns.

Crows are so cool

Since I've been doing feederwatch http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/ I have been trying to attract as many birds as possible (except for ugly starlings). Normally I have three crows. But I think they told their friends because yesterday I had 11 crows. I had been feeding them leftover waffles so I decided to make my own recipe just for them. I take 1/4 cup of corn meal, oatmeal, wheat flour and white flour; add an egg, some baking soda, and water. Then I cook them like pancakes in bacon grease. The seem to love them. Today I even crunched up the egg shell in with the crow pancakes.

Seeds Available

I have various wildflower and grass seeds available for purchase. Visit my store at http://www.kansasnativeplants.com/storeorder.php?itm_typ=seed All seeds harvested from my growing beds in Topeka.

Native Plant Landscaping Class

I'm offering a class on Landscaping with native plants in Manhattan, KS at the UFM community learning center. Here is a link to it. https://ufmprograms.org/CourseStatus.awp?~~08AEN51

Here is a picture of my hawk from back in december

The Hawk Left

I was right, there was a Hawk in my yard because I just saw it fly away. The second it left all the birds flew out of the brush pile that I created this winter. EVERYONE needs a brush pile in their backyard. And it should be relatively close to your feeding stations. Here is a photo of brushpile area.

Sharpshin or Cooper's Hawk

Yesterday I had a "bird" hawk fly through my yard. I believe he must be back this morning because its a busy feeding time and there are no birds present.

The snow is gone

I have mixed emotions about all the snow having melted. The warm weather does give me spring fever, but the backyard bird visitors have dropped off substantially. One good thing about this weather is I can plant seeds in my garden now. You're probably thinking I'm crazy, but most of our kansas wildflowers need to be planted in winter to get the seeds to break their dormancy. The freezing and thawing and cooler temps will do that to the seeds so that they germinate in the spring. I plan to plant some things today.

Red Crossbills return

I was thrilled to look out at my feeder this morning and saw five red crossbills eating sunflower seeds. I had some back in December but its been a few weeks since I've seen them. I believe the house finches finally drove them away. I had about 50 house finches mixed with a few purple finches having a feeding frenzy in my yard. I hope they return tomorrow. I'm posting a picture that I took of them in December.

Crows Return

Four black crows showed up in the backyard to feast on table scraps. I through out a waffle and some chicken bones, and the crows love that stuff. It was also a good day for finches: 6 gold, 18 house, and 5 purple. Finally saw some woodpeckers. A redbelly and a flicker, but no downies - which have always been regular visitors.

Cold Sunny Day

The morning low was 5 degrees F. The backyard is alive with juncos. One of my juncos is missing his tail. The purple finches are back, along with goldfinches and bluejays. The sun is shining bright. Everything is snow-packed. Topeka has 12 inches of snow in December.

New Bird at feeder

I noticed two purple finches at my bird feeder. This is a first for my yard. I've also had red crossbills and pine siskins at my feeders this year. Those are also firsts. There must be no food far north, as these birds are all residents of the far north. Also have red-breasted nuthatches, but I have had those in years past.