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Summer Visitors Arrive

Feeding the birds is great entertainment. Spring is especially so because all the summer visitors arrive.

Our bird feeder is nothing fancy. It’s a platform sitting on four T-posts with a roof structure over it. The sunflower seeds go out in a metal tray. Scratch feed is in a bowl. Water is in another bowl. Suet is in a cage.

All winter the usual crowd is around. Downy and Red-bellied woodpeckers enjoy the suet. Cardinals, titmice, morning doves, chickadees, nuthatches and juncos gorge on the sunflower seeds, milo and corn.

nuthatch and downy woodpecker on bird feeder
Nuthatches and downy woodpeckers are not summer visitors to the Ozarks. They enjoy the bird feeder all year expecially when winter weather sets in.

Blue jays are the first summer visitors to arrive. They are really close to being here year round, only missing a month or so.

After that, things change almost daily. The goldfinches and purple finches show up. The juncos leave as they are winter visitors.

Rose-breasted Grosbeaks have stopped by several years now. They would be welcome to stay for the summer, but don’t.

Orchard orioles are b ack this year. They move in on the hummingbird feeders to the dismay of these summer visitors. They also love the suet cake which was a surprise.

Towhees stay a day or two. Northern flickers raid the yard for ants and ignore the feeder. And the cowbirds move in. They are a rowdy bunch.

orchard oriole, one of the summer visitors, on bird feeder
Orchard orioles and summer visitors in the Ozarks. Most years they visit the bird feeder a week or so and move on. One year a pair stayed to nest. Their brilliant orange makes them easy to spot.

The neighborhood squirrels know about the feeder, but rarely visit. They have a stash of black walnuts to keep them busy.

Raccoons are the biggest problem. They too are one of the summer visitors. The feeder trays are taken in at dark every day and go out with fresh supplies in the morning.

There is usually one enterprising raccoon that comes during the day. It’s livetrapped, relocated and more cautious upon returning in a few days.

Sunflower seed prices have gone up by half this year. They are still a bargain as watching the bird feeder replaces fees for satellite TV, the only kind available here.

And the birds are much more entertaining.

Meet more Ozark residents and visitors in “Exploring the Ozark Hills“.

By Karen GoatKeeper

Karen GoatKeeper loves to write. Her books include picture books, novels and nonfiction for science activity books and nature books. A recent inclusion are science teaching units.
The coming year has goals for two new novels, a picture book and some books of personal essays. This is ambitious and ignores time constraints.
She lives in the Missouri Ozarks with her small herd of Nubian dairy goats. The Ozarks provides the inspiration and setting for most of her books.