When we moved here, Shelly was really torn about leaving all of her bird fans at our old home. I had a basic awareness that our old green space was a big draw for the local wildlife, but I didn’t imagine that it would have a very big impact on the species of birds we would see there vs. here.
The reality is that our new house is in a different area. It has a half acre, but it doesn’t have a wetland area just over the fence; it’s a neighborhood. We should expect things to be different here. On the other hand, we are very near those things from the old house; there is a park in easy walking distance from here with a creek and lots of trees.
From day one, the robins liked to poke around in the garden and the wet ground. I’ve seen small hawks in the trees in and around our yard, but they don’t much care about our feeders. They may eventually benefit though.
It took a week or two for the local birds to find us after we started feeding again. Juncos, goldfinches and chickadees were some of the first to arrive. Scrub jays naturally appreciated the free grub as well, and shortly we started seeing bushtits. But where were the sparrows? How about the Finches? Shelly was right about things being different.
Differences aren’t all disappointing though. We have more woodpeckers (in number) than I am used to. I’ve seen flickers, downies and a sapsucker at the suet feeder and they come daily now.
After several weeks of feeding, another wave of new species has arrived. We now have house finches and an audubon warbler with it’s winter plumage. I’ve even seen a few sparrows now.
On top of all this, we’ve also seen something that I have never witnessed in a backyard before. A brown creeper has taken a liking to our dogwood tree. This tiny creature is very hard to see in the woods. It has a low profile and stays close to the tree trunks. It is heard more often than seen: “Trees trees beautiful trees.”
We have one in our own yard now. =)