Groundhog Day. Can you believe the Bill Murray movie came out 31 years ago? It seems like just yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that.
In the movie, the protagonist gets stuck in a time loop, fated to relive the same day over and over. I can relate. About this time of year, I know I will be asked certain questions, over and over.
Many of them will involve what’s happening at bird feeders, since that’s how most people relate to birds in February.
“Did I really just see a bluebird on my feeder?” Yes. Bluebirds are hardy. They are members of the thrush family, with a versatile diet. Thrushes dine mostly on insects in summer, but they can do just fine eating fruit and seeds in winter. They relish mealworms, so a plateful at the feeders will likely keep them around.
Bluebird populations have rebounded over the last decade, so they are showing up at feeders more often.
“Did I really just see robins in winter?” Yes. Robins are also thrushes. They are equally hardy, and they are even better at foraging on fruit.
“Did I really just see a southern bird at my feeder?” Yes. (Fill in the blank) is a southern bird that has moved north.
When the movie “Groundhog Day” was released in 1993, I would have said that red-bellied woodpeckers in Maine were rare. Nowadays, they are more common, and they continue to spread northward.
Carolina wrens are also moving north. Of the 10 wren species in North America, Carolina wrens are the most likely to visit feeders. Carolina wrens are abundant over most of the eastern United States, now including south and central Maine.
When any Mainer gets their first look at one on a feeder, they will likely ask me what this weird non-finch, non-sparrow is.
“What was that hawk that just flashed through my yard?” Most hawks migrate south for the winter, but some linger. The hawks you see in trees along the highway are almost invariably red-tailed hawks, members of the buteo family.
But two hawks that prey on feeder birds are members of the accipiter family. Cooper’s hawks and sharp-shinned hawks are built for chasing down birds, usually by surprise attack.
Female Cooper’s hawks are about the size of a crow. Males are smaller, as in most hawk species.
Cooper’s hawks typically hunt larger birds, so pigeons, doves and blue jays are frequently on the menu.
Sharp-shinned hawks are petite, about the size of a blue jay. Lunch is likely to be a bird smaller than a robin, though they will try their luck on larger prey.
Maine is at the northern boundary of the breeding range for Cooper’s hawks. Sharp-shinned hawks nest all the way into Labrador, so we see many more of them in spring and fall migration.
In winter, we tend to see more Cooper’s hawks around bird feeders, stalking suburban pigeons, doves and starlings.
“What is this big flock of birds eating berries in my ornamental tree?” Fruit is the chief food source for cedar waxwings and Bohemian waxwings in winter. Big flocks roam around until they find the berries they want. They tend to gather somewhere in Maine every winter.
Pine grosbeaks do the same, although these large finches come down from Canada only sporadically. Robins also forage in winter fruit trees, but not in big flocks like waxwings and grosbeaks.
“How can I attract cardinals to my feeders?” You can’t. Three things have enabled cardinals to expand into Maine and beyond: warmer climate, more food and thicker vegetation.
Considering how brightly colored cardinals are, they need considerable cover to hide from predators. As ornamental shrubs and hedges increased in suburban Maine over the last 50 years, so did habitat for cardinals.
Still, if your own backyard doesn’t have sufficient dense shrubby cover, cardinals are not likely to settle in, no matter how great your feeder offerings are.
“There’s a bird at my feeder that looks like a chickadee, except it’s mostly white.” Yes, it’s a chickadee with a pigment problem called leucism. A leucistic chickadee is unable to produce enough of the dark pigment melanin.
This genetic defect happens to a surprising number of common birds. I’ve already had two reports of white crows this winter.
The next time Groundhog Day falls on a Friday — the day this column is published in the newspaper — will be in 2029. Most of my winter backyard bird questions will still be the same.
