Hello Tweeties,

I am not sure if what we did last fall has anything to do with the
variety of birds coming to our generic feeder by our porch or not.

Last fall we diverted water from a ditch into our wetland. The prior
owners of our property had dug a deep ditch and over the years were
filling in the wetland. We dug a small channel from the ditch and quite
a bit of water filled into our wetland over the winter and early spring.

The mix of birds coming to our feeder has expanded.

Newcomers this year include:

Pine Siskin
Bewick's Wren
White Crown Sparrow
Gold Crown Sparrow (wow! I've never seen one in person before!)
Purple Finch (maybe a very deep purple-ish red house finch. This one,
whatever it was was intensely colored!)
Steller Jays (in the neighborhood, but never on our property until now)
Cow Birds (we have horses)
Varied Thrush (under the rhody bush - visited once or twice)
House Finch
Flicker ("hung out" on the feeder a couple of times!)

Returning regulars:
Red Wing Blackbirds are even more plentiful than last year.
Fox Sparrow, I think (really big reddish brown sparrow!)
Juncos
"Basic" small sparrows (not Weaver Finch)
Spotted Towhee
Chestnut Backed Chickadee
Black Capped Chickadee
Rufous Hummingbird (buzzing the quince blossoms!)

In and around the wetland:
Common Snipe
Green Wing Teal
Mallards
Pileated Woodpecker
Flickers
Robins (yawn!)
Crows
Great Blue Heron

Did our water diversion project contribute to our growing list of
observed birds?

When can we expect small birds of prey to take advantage of our
property? We get so many chickadees and juncos flying across the
driveway to the feeder, I'd think a Cooper Hawk would have discovered
this happy feeding ground by now. I recall a Cooper Hawk when I lived
in Kent, near the Green River. That bird hung out in the backyard and
hunted the little birds there, and that was even more "urban" than where
I live now.


We live just outside Snohomish off Three Lakes Road.

Lydia
Near Snohomish, WA