Birds of The Hideout

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There are a number of birds that call The Hideout home year round. They are too numerous to name them all, so I will list only those that catch my eye because of their plumage or habits.

Crows get top billing for their vocabulary. After listening to them for 25 years I haven't managed to translate their calls, but I can visualize what is happening, be it gossip or outrage. There is a gathering of crows that call The Hideout theirs. They gather for special occasions such as: chasing squirrels away from nesting sites and bird feeders, mobbing owls, introducing fledglings to the air and calling the flock to an opportunity to feast. And they sound different for each occasion.

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Eastern cardinals turn the air into a medium for broadcasting territorial claims in the Spring and brightening the scene around my feeders in Winter. Many people are surprised that the males don't fight in the winter, but they are unaware the cardinals have nothing to fight over except in breeding season.

Roadrunners are as comical to watch as the cartoons featuring one of their kind. I recall seeing one pursue (successfully)a snake across a road. They are not common but any sighting is memorable.

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Seasonal visitors are much more numerous than year round residents. In the summer there are ducks on the ponds and kingfishers in the surrounding trees. There are my famous hummers in the trees surrounding my house and bluebirds inhabiting my houses on the fences.

Much more prominent than others are the goldfinches that are here from November to March. I often can count over 50 goldfinches mixed in with purple finches, housefinches, chickadees, various sparrows, tufted titmouses and cardinals on my feeders. They consume about 50# of black oil sunflower seeds a week.

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The hummers are a delight to watch. They chatter and zoom in their efforts to gain access to the feeders. It puts one in mind of dogfights among Spitfires and ME109s in the battle of Britain.

Mixed in with other hummer species are Mexican Black Chinned, Ruby Throat and Rufous. The Ruby Throat are dominant over the more numerous Black Chinned. It is not uncommon that one Ruby Throat male perches in a tree and tries to drive away all but his mate. It is a hopeless challenge.

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Just as entertaining are the mating dances (flights) of the hummingbirds. A male hummer positions himself above a hen and swoops back and forth often driving her to the ground.

Though I have searched, I have never seen a hummingbird nest. I can tell that the young have fledged by how many come to the feeders.

Game birds are getting more and more scarce. Only the turkeys seem to be holding their own. Quail and doves are getting harder to view.

(JB Cornwell writes from "The Hideout" in Whitt, TX, and is also an expert moderator, instructor, and fountain-of-knowledge in the iboats.com Boating Forums, where he may occasionally share a yarn of his own.)