Bird feeder traffic

When I think of Thanksgiving, it's mostly about getting together with family and eating, not necessarily in that order.  It seems an appropriate time to make sure that I feed the birds too.  I used to keep the feeders full year-round but some years ago, concerned with reports of birds spreading disease at feeders, I reduced my provisions of seeds to the colder months of the year when there's less food available to them.

The finches are usually the first to appear.

The Lesser Goldfinches (Spinus psaltria) showed up in greater numbers but the House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) were present too.  I haven't seen the Spice Finches (Lonchura punctulata) at all yet.  The latter are native to Asia but escaped pets have spread in the US, and notably California.

The White-crowned Sparrows showed up slightly later.  There was a good crowd of them at one point but I didn't capture it.  However, the sparrows and the finches always seem comfortable mingling at the feeder and I did capture one in the group shown below.  

The bird sitting in the Ceanothus just below the middle feeder is a White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys).  Unlike the finches, species noticeably differentiated by gender, these sparrows are described as "sexually monochromatic," which means they can't be readily differentiated based on their appearance, although there are apparently nominal size differences.

On the other hand, when the California Scrub Jays arrive, all the other birds back off.

California Scrub Jays (Aphelocoma californica) are described as "assertive" and they take over the feeders and send the smaller birds off as soon as they arrive.  Two of these jays jockeyed for control of the feeders even though they're "squirrel resistant," which means they also lock out the heavier birds to a significant degree.  Even so, the jays are adept at getting to the seeds to some extent.

This is a closeup of one of the jays.  This bird's underside was particularly fluffy.  It occurred to me that it might be a somewhat immature bird but then it's possible it was fluffed up due to either the wind or its conflict with the other jay.  Like the White-crowned Sparrows, adult Scrub Jays can only be differentiated by size, not appearance. 

The finches use the bare Ginkgo tree some 20 feet away as a waystation when the Scrub Jays are in takeover mode

Best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving and may you get all you want to eat!

All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party