Juncos and Cardinals

We have always loved having a bird feeder so close to our kitchen window in this house and I've written about our backyard birds many times over the years. It has made a significant difference in our bird viewer patterns being retired and then again spending so much more time at home because of the pandemic. We just spent more time in the kitchen during the day over the past six years.

I've been fascinated with the two birds in particular and their two different ways of approaching our bird feeder from each other and the other birds coming by for some seeds. We have a bird feeder with a cage around the seeds which is designed to keep the squirrels away and also to only allow small birds to get to the seeds. Cardinals and Blue Jays cannot get the seed but they come around. Especially the cardinals who are very persistent. They like to sit on the top of the feeder or along the pole or on the fence or on the nearby shed roof and watch the smaller songbirds get all the seeds. Well, not all the seeds. Some seeds do fall to the ground under the feeder and that is where the squirrels and the larger birds scramble for their fill including the much larger mourning doves.

The cardinals seem to love to watch other birds eat. The female will especially just hang around and seem to pay attention to everything going on around her. The cardinals and other larger birds get plenty of bird seed from the our neighbor's feeder next door and we can see all of that activity from our kitchen window too. The cardinals just seem to like to come over to our feeder to see what's going on.

The juncos come and hang out at the feeder. Sometimes one of them will sit there for ten minutes just looking around after having their fill of seed. They seem to be more pensive and like to feel comfortable in the feeder that they seem to claim as theirs. Now they will also go to the feeder next door but that was is often more active because of it's availability to all sized birds and they can't just sit there and contemplate their environment like they seem to do at our feeder.

The other birds also have their regular patterns. The chickadees dart in and out very quickly and seldom seem to linger at the feeder. The sparrows come in hordes and their numbers quickly overwhelm the feeder and drive away other birds. I've written about them as the sparrows riffraff.

The photo is a female cardinal watching a junco sitting in the bottom of the bird feeder.