2020 is grinding along. I know many of us are ready for a new year an an new start. The setting our clocks back an hour on November first will mean darkness falling very early. We are still in Covid-19 mode being safe, staying socially distant and helping each other anyway we can.
Our online meetings have been well attended and we appreciate our speakers for generously donating their time and sharing their expertise. We will be continuing the online webinars through the spring with many great speakers ahead. Stay tuned. It has come to our attention that our audience is much broader than the 50+ people we have generally held in the MREC meeting room. With this in mind we are researching technology upgrades to keep all of our members and friends connected post pandemic. We’ll be announcing the plan at our November 11th Virtual Annual Meeting, Stay tuned for details.
Now to the important stuff! For the first time in several years I had Evening Grosbeaks in the yard. 4 stunning males and 2 females. Those that know me and my backyard, I have diverse plantings to attract, birds, butterflies, moths and even some food for us humans. So here they came not to the traditional black oil sunflower seed but to the crabapple and winterberry bushes with a profuse amount of fruit. Flocks of White-throated Sparrows were joined by the lovely Juncos a true sign that Fall is indeed underway.
My favorite new edition to the yard is a fountain bird bath. I have always had a bird bath and had experimented with misters and small fountain inserts. Moving water is a well known attractor for birds. None seemed to hold up well so I bit the bullet and sprung for a heavy duty fountain. I am extremely happy I did. Immediately occupied by the local Bluebirds they were soon joined by the Catbird, Scarlet Tanagers, Northern Flicker, Robins, Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, Red and White-breasted Nuthatches plus Pine, Palm, Nashville, and Yellow-rumpled Warblers. Many species that would not be drawn in by traditional feeders.
The best thing about providing the plantings and this new water attraction is the ability to attract birds while not enticing bears.
Our Christmas Bird Count will be held on December 19th with a virtual tally in the evening, Covid-19 practices outlined by the National Audubon Society will be followed. We will be heavily relying on feeder watchers to send in their feeder reports and watchers in the field will not be allowed to carpool with non-family (pod) members. To get in the mood the appearance of the species mentioned above has been predicted by our friends in Canada. Check out the Winter Finch Forecast fill your feeders as soon as the bears head for their dens and lets all of us enjoy our backyards as we hunker down for a safe time this winter.