The Return of Winter Birds to our Yards

It took a bit longer into the season than usual, but the feeders are now attracting more and more birds. After the local breeding sparrows left for farther south, it seemed a while before the new contingent of northern breeders arrived.

Suddenly the white-throated sparrows are scrounging among the fallen leaves. The first-year birds are still in their dull dress, the throat and crown-stripes an obscure gray, with streaking on breast and sides. Adults have bright white throats and crown stripes with no streaking.

Every song sparrow seems to be already in next year's breeding condition, bold dark streaks everywhere on their chests and faces. There are always a few in the yard, but now many are taking turns in the feeding area. Each day you must spread a fresh cup or two of mixed seed on the ground, or preferably just the white millet alone.

The chickadees and titmice are enjoying the wild harvest with only an occasional, brief stop at the hanging feeders where the sunflower awaits. Perhaps when the wild seed supply dwindles and the last insects disappear, then a pair of special birds will leave the nearby brush and show themselves.

This special bird is a Carolina wren that has been in the neighborhood for over a month now, and the male sings with fervor every day. This wren is a species that does not migrate, but in the fall young birds do have to leave the home territory, since the parents will not tolerate their presence.

Over the years one has stopped by and spent a day or two exploring the valley, but this time he seems here to stay, singing in several spots where the underbrush is thick. This may be because he has a companion, for a second bird sometimes answers the first from across the meadow.

It is likely a female, for a pair of these wrens often sing in duet. A single bird keeps moving until a mate is found, and then they settle down together in a permanent pair bond. If they make it through the first winter, they will build a nest and raise a brood in a tree cavity or brush pile, or even a garage or barn.

Carolina wren pairs often resort to feeders, eating seed as well as suet, because they cannot survive a harsh northern winter with heavy snow cover. They find their food mostly on the ground, and they need to find enough to stoke those mini furnace bodies. They are abundant anywhere south of New England, and with milder winters here are slowing expanding their range northward.

While the wrens keep to the woods, the native sparrows slowly and cautiously invade the feeding spaces, unless the dominant doves or house sparrows crowd them out. The juncos and tree sparrows have not arrived yet, but they will soon, along with an occasional rarer species.

There seems to be more western species this year than is usual among these regular migrant sparrows. For instance, many clay-colored sparrows have wandered to New England from the northern Great Plains. This sparrow's winter plumage is very similar to the chipping sparrow that is common here until the cold comes, but which then moves well south to the Gulf Coast.

Chipping sparrows like areas with short grass, and there was a flock the other day at the local cemetery. They quietly fed within a few feet of the car, their streaked brown backs blending into the sparsely grassed grounds. Crabgrass seeds are their favorite food, so I encourage this evil weed in my yard.

Speaking about delayed migration, the valley's star hummingbird stayed away so long that you heard her demise pronounced in these pages too soon. After coming back to Agawam in August for at least two years in a row, Rufie, the rufous hummingbird, waited until now to show up for her fifth winter with us.

When and where the birds move is less predictable than we like to think, so don't panic if they disappear for a while. Keep your yard overgrown and untidy with feeders well stocked. The birds will return.