winter Ozark birds Archives - GoatKeepers Press

Changing seasons bring a change in customers at our bird feeder. All summer morning doves, goldfinches and cardinals have foraged through the various offerings. Now our winter birds like blue jays, chickadees and titmice have moved in.

Winter Birds

The summer birds like warblers, tanagers and hummingbirds have left for more southern climes. A flock of robins who stopped for drinks at the rain barrels before flying off were the last migrants we’ve seen.

Winter brings the black-capped chickadees back to the Ozarks. They are among the hit and run crowd at the bird feeder. Fly in, perch and watch, swoop in, grab a sunflower seed and fly off.

Late October to early November bring in several birds that are migrating south to the Ozarks. Nuthatches, juncos and several kinds of sparrows hop across the yard. For now, they are busy devouring giant ragweed and other weed seeds.

Competition At the Bird Feeder

Dawn brings the chickadees and titmice down to the feeder platform checking to see if we have put breakfast out yet. Some morning doves still wait up in the black walnut trees.

Blue jays are year round residents in the Ozarks. They don’t spend much time at the feeder during the summer. Come fall, the parents and their fledglings move in. Few other birds will stop on the feeder while the blue jays eat their fill.

Once the spread is set out on our bird feeder, the blue jays move in. They chug down whole sunflower seeds as the nuthatches, chickadees and titmice swoop in to grab one and fly off. The doves march across the feeder roof occasionally dropping down to encourage the jays to leave. Cardinals wait in the old peach tree.

Then the first squirrel arrives. There are three or four regularly foraging walnuts in the back yard. They think they can also gorge on sunflower seeds.

Nuthatches are such interesting birds. These birds can go up tree trunks looking for insects and their larvae, turn around and go down again head first. They are hit and run birds on the feeder. They hop up the posts or fly in, grab a sunflower seed and fly off.

All the birds wait when the red squirrel sits in the tray. The nuthatches, chickadees and titmice swoop by when the gray squirrels are there.

Chasing the squirrels works for a short time. Usually we wait until they go elsewhere and put out more sunflower seeds. If cold weather comes back, it will chase the squirrels into their nests leaving our bird feeder to the birds.

Woodpeckers

Even the red squirrel doesn’t deter the red-bellied woodpeckers. These and the Downey woodpeckers move up the posts to work on the suet cake. Few of them are regulars now. This will change in another month.

Our bird feeder stocked with sunflower seeds, hen scratch and suet will keep us entertained all winter with our winter birds.