Dear Tweets;

Since my December 29th post, the various Junco's have been
re-appearing. The usual flock of Oregon Junco's has grown from 12 to
30 + with a larger number of Slate colored and Dark Eyed Juncos in the
mix. The earlier and smaller flock had only two Slate colored Junco's
feeding with them. The flock has grown to include 5 or 6 more Dark
Eyed Juncos and several Slate colored Juncos. There is a lone
Black-capped chickadee that feeds with them and will dart in to feed
and fly up into the trees to peck at his seeds - once. I noticed
yesterday that the Red-breasted Nuthatch was with them. He is also an
infrequent visitor and will dart into the feeders in a rush to grab
food and leave to break open seeds high into the trees. A pair of
Varied Thrush has re-appeared at least 3 times this week, too. The
flock of 20+ Junco's will feed on the North side and then they fly
over to the East side of the yard. Their feeding patterns have
changed position a little and are moving towards the feeders again.
Normally, the Junco's will light on the feeders during the summer or
lawn feed further away into the understory of my front yard (lately)
and then move to the back, but since their numbers have increased
substantially, they are feeding closer to my windows and away from the
understory. I've noticed that they will alert one another, have most
of the flock fly away, and leave at least 5 or 6 other Junco's to fend
for themselves. The 5 or 6 Juncos remain feeding. Then the flock
will slowly fly back, one by one and filter into feeding positions.
They repeat this pattern several times even while the squirrels are
feeding.


Michelle
Yelm
Thurston County
yelmbackyard at gmail.com