OUR WINTER YARD (1/1/04)

No sooner had I written my last column when we had a new “life bird” for our yard — a male common redpoll. Redpolls are unusual winter visitors on the Cape, so I hope ours is a portent of exciting birds to come.

Redpolls are tiny Arctic finches that nest on the tundra and around boreal forest edges and occasionally wander south in search of food. Look for a bird slightly larger than a goldfinch with obvious striping on its back, a yellow bill, a small patch of red on its forehead, a bit of a black chin and perhaps a pink wash on its breast. Redpolls reports of only 2 to a flock have been widespread from the mainland. Alas, our bird stayed for only two days. We like to think that he joined up with a flock of friends and that maybe he’ll bring them all back here!

When redpolls appear, we can hope that the showy evening grosbeaks and diminutive pine siskins will turn up at our feeders as they already have elsewhere in New England and that red and white-winged crossbills, pine grosbeaks and Bohemian waxwings will seek out our area’s pine cones and berries. Don’t you agree that after the hard winter conditions we’ve already experienced we’re entitled to a few rewards?

We are already having a somewhat “nutty” winter with the widespread presence of red-breasted nuthatches, sporadic in their wintering habits. Like their white-breasted cousins, these “upside-down birds” go down the trunk of a tree headfirst rather than hitching upwards as woodpeckers do. The more pine trees you have on your property, the more likely you’ll be to have these tiny visitors with their high-pitched tinny calls in your yard. Both they and the white-breasteds are more numerous than usual this year. Keep your feeders filled with suet, and you may well have a plethora of nuthatches this winter.

Where red-breasted nuthatches abound, brown creepers are also likely to be present. They don’t travel together, but they both like pine trees. The creeper feeds by working up a tree trunk, then flying to the base of a nearby tree, then repeating the upward search for food.

American tree sparrows are not common but are widespread. I know that many of you shudder when you hear the word “sparrow,” as you think the various species are too hard to tell apart. Well, if you’ll wipe your mind clear of that misconception, you’ll quickly realize that tree sparrows are not hard to identify. Unlike some of their relatives, tree sparrows are often not ground feeders, as hanging seed feeders attract them, making them quite easy to see.

Look for their distinctive features: A plain pale breast (no striping) with a dark spot on it, a red cap and, if your eyesight is very good you may pick up the two-tone bill, the upper half dark, the lower part yellow. They, like the redpolls, are Arctic breeders, coming south in the winter to feed around brushy fields, gardens and forest edges. Often they occur in large flocks, but we seldom attract more than two or three at a time.

Pine siskins are small finches with yellow patches in the wings and tail that feed just like our goldfinches and often associate with them. They, too, are northern breeders but go halfway up the Canadian provinces.

Other birds that are likely to be interspersed in small numbers with house and goldfinches, especially at suet feeders, are not boreal birds but warblers that by all rights should have left our area to winter in tropical climes. So, be on the lookout for yellow-rumped and pine warblers that are much hardier and more adaptable in their dining preferences than their avian cousins who insist on an insect diet.

I know that bluebirds are coveted by almost everyone who watches his yard birds, and many of you are rewarded. All who do attract wintering bluebirds have one important feature in common — an open birdbath. Shrubs with berries are another attraction.

I hope you remember that I encouraged you to start a list of all the birds you observe in your yard, and this is the perfect time to begin! Watchfulness may well reward you with a wide number of unusual winter birds.

I’ve received several queries about the date for my annual bird feeder census. I’ve chosen January 29 for it and have decided to use a different format this year. Instead of listing all the possible birds likely to be at our feeders, I want to focus on just a few species, such as those I mention above. I also plan to ask you to send me brief write ups of interesting sightings you’ve had this past year that I can share with other readers.

Please send your comments and anecdotes about birds to me in care of the Cape Cod Times, 319 Main Street, Hyannis, MA 02601 or, if you use email, to emiller@seepub.com. I regret that because of an overwhelming amount of mail, I cannot respond to each of you personally. However, I have added a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section to the web page with my current and past bird columns, now found at http://home.comcast.net/~elliemiller/index.html. If you can’t find the answer to your question there, try Bird Watcher’s Digest at 1-800-879-2478 or check out their FAQ at www.birdwatchersdigest.com.

GRAPHIC: Common Redpoll, photo courtesy of Garth McElroy, Center Ossippee, NH, http://www.featheredfotos.com