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Start feeding the birds, as both colder weather and more birds arrive at this season. Get those seed and suet feeders cleaned and out! Keep hummingbird feeders up and filled with just a little fresh fluid. Who knows? You might be the lucky one to attract a late-season rarity. If you do, please contact someone in Pineywoods Audubon Society to confirm the species identification! Build a brush pile and scatter seed on the ground, if your yard is spacious enough. This is a great way to attract native sparrows, cardinals and others, but they need the brushpile for cover and protection from predators. Bird our area lakes for arriving waterfowl, loons, grebes, etc. Check through the flocks of ducks for rarities. Get familiar with the small woodland birds that are a prominent feature of our winter avifauna – so you can be a help on the 40th Nacogdoches Christmas Bird Count, to be held on Saturday December 19th. Birding Tips for October – Keep your hummingbird feeders up for late migrant hummingbirds and get your seed feeders out and cleaned for the winter. Put them out by the end of the month. – Keep your eyes to the sky. The southward migration of Broad-winged Hawks peaks the first 10 days of October and can offer a spectacular sight – dozens of hawks circling overhead as they rise on the thermals as the morning warms. Other birds of prey will also be moving south all month. Listen for the first flocks of geese towards the end of the month. – Carefully check all of the birds in the chickadee flocks in your yard, parks and favorite birding areas. Often associated with the chickadees and titmice at this time of year are occasional vireos, gnatcatchers, kinglets, and warblers. Other migrants may be found skulking in the understory and weedy patches. – October is a month of change, with almost all of our summer birds gone and the first wintering birds arriving. Write down the dates of your "first and last" sightings. – When the weather is "bad" the birding can be good! The best movements of migrants at this season are often associated with the passage of a cool front, especially if it brings storms or rain. This is the time to get out and find birds that we hardly see any other time of the year. Please submit your significant sightings (date, place, observer(s) to: David Wolf. |
