Keeping your feeder ready for winter birds

CORPUS CHRISTI - There hasn't been much rain and the ornamental pear trees already are in spectacular bloom around Lamar Park and in Southside yards.

Hawks are hanging around watered yards because there is nothing for them to eat in the arid countryside. Seed feeders not only are popular, but necessary for yard birds.

The American goldfinch is a winter bird that is seldom catered to here.

Dr. George and Ellen Flood, who live on the edge of what once was called Boy's Canyon behind First Baptist Church, hang a successful goldfinch feeder every winter. This feeder offers smaller seeds in a tall cylinder to goldfinch and small birds.

In winter plumage, American goldfinch have a yellow-green body with black cap, wings and tail, a white wing bar and white at the edge of the tail. They also have a yellow shoulder patch.

In breeding plumage in spring, the males are much brighter. They travel in small flocks and the group moves in a dipping, rolling, roller-coaster style. They often are seen on dried, wild sunflower stalks.

Ellen says they have reliably seen the finches at the feeder. I tried to find where the feeder could be bought in town, but only found Johnson's Turf & Irrigation Hardware, 933 Airline Road, had them and will probably stock them again. The small bird seed can be bought at Naylor's Farm & Ranch Supply, 102 Old Robstown Road.

Other birds can be seen in the Flood yard, including a lesser goldfinch, which typically is found further south. It is smaller than an American goldfinch and has black above and yellow below with white patches.

The Floods also had a pair of kiskadee flycatchers, buff-bellied hummingbirds, northern cardinals, mockingbirds, white-winged and mourning doves and red-winged blackbirds. A hawk, that they think may have been a red-shouldered hawk, haunts the other bird seed feeder from time to time.

There are golden-fronted and ladder-backed woodpeckers as well.

Birding tips

Non-birders often try to tell me about birds they have seen. To more readily identify a bird, it helps to know:

The bird's relative size. Is it the size of a house sparrow or a mockingbird? Is it as big as a great blue heron?

The length of its legs. How tall does it stand? Hand-high? Knee-high? Waist-high?

Where was it seen? Was it on the ground, in a low bush or in a tree? Was it standing in water?

Did it have pointed or rounded wings?

What type of beak did it have? Warbler beaks are needlelike, very different from the seed-cracking bills of sparrows.

What color was the bird's back and its breast? What color were its legs?

Any of these observations might help identify the species.

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