Knock-Knock, Who's There?

Male Northern Flicker  (Photo by Don Comis)

 Female Red-Bellied Woodpecker (Photo by Don Comis)

What would you do if a two-story giant musician decided to use your house as a drum set?

That's exactly what a house sparrow couple in my yard did this morning when a northern flicker woodpecker did just that to their birdhouse--flee.

Since late winter, we had gotten used to being awakened by a red-bellied woodpecker drumming on our gutters and our neighbors' gutters.  I had to explain to my neighbors that when male woodpeckers get ready for mating season they start looking for drums--things they can peck on and make a louder than usual noise so they can send a message far and wide:  "I'm strong and this is my territory--no male woodpeckers allowed, seeking only  female for mate!"

It's a little like Tarzan beating his chest.

But, still I was shocked this morning to see a northern flicker using a birdhouse as a hollow drum.  And so were the sparrows!!

By the way, the red-bellied now wakes us up with a softer drilling sound as he pecks on a dead tree trunk, either looking for insects or widening a tree cavity for a nesting site, having found a mate.

Birds, Blooms, and Butterflies

We have to be patient waiting for spring.  These red-winged blackbirds were only babes in a pond in Gambier, Ohio, on July 6, 2013.  I admit they were probably a second brood since red-winged blackbird males  are here in late February and the females arrive in early March.  (Photo by Don Comis)

I was looking at an article in last spring's Birds & Bloom magazine and got inspired to start my own list of my favorite signs of spring, mostly in order as I've seen them so far this year:


1.  A red-winged blackbird coming to my feeders.  (Feb. 23 two years in a row.)
2.  Northern robins visiting my feeders or coming to other yards.  (Feb.23 this year, Feb. 9 last year)
3.  Male house sparrow checking out my bluebird houses.  (This year: Feb. 24, Feb. 22, and a day or so earlier.)
4.  Skunk cabbage sprouting.  (I haven't looked for this but Jim McCormac's blog notes he always sees this in either the first or second week of February, and saw them well along in his yard when he checked on February 22.)


But heck, why limit signs of springs to birds and blooms?  Why not butterflies.  I haven't looked for or seen any yet but I have an e-mail report from a Virginia-Maryland group of a sighting of a mourning cloak butterfly.  I think this is the earliest butterfly in both those states and in Ohio.


I also got an e-mail from an Ohio bird group that reported seeing a lot of robins flying in a mixed flock of blackbirds and others.  I know on my drive to Westerville, Ohio, today I saw a lot of medium-sized bird flocks in the air, too far for me to identify.  With the snow flurries today and increasing cold, I can see why birds would be on the move and flocking together.