So I stopped in today becuase I’d been needing to buy peanuts for the balcony birds, and because I haven’t perused a bird store in ages. They had a help-wanted sign up, and I asked about the part-time hours. Unfortunately they want someone to fill in anytime, so my 8-5 job wouldn’t suit their needs.

I got my peanuts and picked up a little hummingbird feeder. I’ve been thinking of getting one, having seen a couple of hummingbirds do a fly-by once or twice. In fact, last weekend when we were sitting on the balcony, one came by and sat on the wire right by the house.

So today I filled the feeder and put it out. Around 7:00 pm I was sitting out there thinking how cool it would be if a hummingbird came by and right then, one obliged and not only checked out the petunias and the new feeder, but perched on my new mini-trellis I put in to prop up the extra-tall petunias.

Obviously, being the east coast, it’s a ruby-throated hummingbird, and I’m quite sure it was female, but just read that it could be a juvenile male. I’m sure I’ll get a chance at a good look again soon.

But definitely not a red-tail, and that’s all I can tell without binoculars and bird book in hand. Hawks are not my strong suit, in fact, I rarely bother to try to identify them unless there’s something truly outstanding about it. In this case, it was just such a great view, even though it was through the leaves.

I didn’t think it would, but it stayed while I fetched my binoculars. Since it remained, I decided to try to fetch my bird book. It stayed, so I sat down to watch and went back and forth to the book. That hawk was very acommodating! He turned in a full circle as he plucked the feathers from his prey (some small bird, I like to think it was not one of mine!).

So I was able to identify it clearly as a sharp-shinned hawk. And if there’d been any doubt, he had the courtesy to then fly right over me, still clutching his dinner. Although I cringed a bit, becuase if he’d dropped the bird, it would have landed on me (we’re on the 4th floor, so when he flew, I mean it was directly overhead–and close!), I still got a first-hand look at him flying.

If only they were all so acommodating.

An additional note – the Carolina wren is back, and I have been on various sites trying to finally establish that it is indeed a Carolina wren, beyond “I just know.” It is — its white eye stripe and size don’t match up with the house wren. I can’t get the sound file from Cornell to play on my computer, but I’ll work on that. Its song, the “teakettle, teakettle, teakettle,” should clinch it.

Of course I’m worried, I want to go pick her up and fix it, but of course that’s not possible. She is otherwise totally fine, it seems, and there’s no way I could catch her. But it brings back to mind other birds in distress I’ve encountered. For awhile I felt like the neighborhood bird medic, back when I lived in a townhouse in Pittsburgh. Since moving to Bethesda I haven’t had any bird dramas. Since Maryland, actually, since I can’t remember any in Gaithersburg either.

More sparrows at the balcony but none wiping their beaks so I will assume (for my own peace of mind) that she took care of the problem and has since been one of the sparrows that I see drinking and eating with no problems.

One last thing today–more bird dramatics later–there was a young titmouse at the railing. That’s the first time I’ve seen that. Often see sparrows fluttering and being fed, cardinals too.

Nothing much has changed on the balcony. The titmice are still hoarding peanuts in my plants. Chickadees, nuthatches, cardinals (fewer than last year, though), morning doves, sparrows (fewer than earlier, maybe someone else is feeding them again). I have seen more grackles, but none on my balcony. No more pigeons since the pigeon-feeding lady moved away.

Another neighbor is shamelessly feeding the birds – she obviously is not afraid of the condo cops. She (or he, I suppose) has two hanging feeders and a PLATFORM feeder that hangs on the OUTSIDE of the railing. How can no one have complained about this yet!? I guess the downstairs neighbors don’t use their balconies much, surely it is a mess.

Speaking of using balconies, I have started to campaign to get them to change the bylaws that prevent us from hanging laundry on the balconies. It is such an outdated and inappropriate rule. Can aesthetics really trump energy conservation to such an extent? I mean, it’s not as if people here have nice looking balconies. I look out and see bicycles, tires, old blinds, storage bins, sporting eqipment, old aquariums… surely there’s not many people would consider a clothes line uglier than that crap. 

 The birds have been pretty consistent. The little wren in particular; she seems to be spending a lot of time under the dead bushy plants. So much so that I haven’t bothered to clean them up since she seems to like them. She “knocks” on the window many mornings as if to remind me to put out the peanuts.

Today a cardinal was back so that was nice – I haven’t seem them often this winter. The red-bellied woodpecker is getting over his timidness. All the other regulars are the same – the tufted titmice, white-breasted nuthatches, sparrows (they must have found another dining option because they aren’t as plentiful as a few months ago), and chickadees. I don’t seem all of them often but on weekends it’s nice to have them coming by.

Today I had another return visitor – the juncos are back. Obviously a winter visitor. But I also had a red-bellied woodpecker, which is new to the balcony. That was pretty nifty.

Other than that, the cardinal, nuthatches, chickadees, tufted titmice, and, of course, the sparrows were all here. Oh and the wren, but I think this is a house wren. It doesn’t have a strong white eyestripe like the other one I saw just that one time.

I wish I could take worthwhile photos. I thought about what it would take to get a camera set up near froggy, the trusty peanut-holder, but too much money and time to invest. I’d like it, but not enough. Maybe I should find out about a webcam. I mean, I have one, but I don’t really know how to keep it streaming, for instance.

Well, welcome back juncos, and welcome, red-bellied woodpecker. Nice of you to come by.

Today I heard a ruckus outside, but ignored it since I’ve been so out of touch. When I finally opened the blinds, there suddenly was a cardinal and what I am still sure was that carolina wren again! I wanted a better look but he didn’t turn up again. Consulting my bird-book, I have a few other marks to inspect, but I am still fairly certain it was the carolina. I love wrens. Not sure why.

 Anyway I know what I will be doing this weekend now. I wish I had a way to keep water out for them. It is supposed to be a dry winter, too. Maybe I should just put a nonbreakable dish out, it may not even freeze that much.

Until I cut them all back and cleaned everything up for the winter. Once I did that I realized things looked pretty messy. Last thing that remains is the aphid-ridden window box. I guess I wouldn’t mind if that whole thing just froze over and they all died.

The birds remain the same. Unfortunately the flock of sparrows continues to visit. I guess people really did stop feeding them, so they keep coming up for peanuts. I only put out a small handful of peanuts in the morning now, after the rat report, and I suppose the chickadees, titmice, and nuthatches are still getting some because I do still see them on weekend mornings. Otherwise I don’t get to see the birds at all, now that it is dark when I get home and I don’t want to leave food out overnight.

I’d like to keep this up more but there is really not much to say about anything. I will probably get busy on this again in spring. In the meantime, I will post occasionally. I do expect to see some different birds once the weather really changes and the leaves are gone.

But also they cited people feeding birds. Awhile ago, beneath that first floor balcony in the other building that used to feed the birds, I thought I saw a rat. It was after they had to take the feeders down and the woman instead would go out early in the morning and toss seed down in great bulk. A flock of pigeons was bad enough, but the day I thought I saw the rat, I really wished she would stop. So she has. I think she got “ratted out” on that little scheme too.

I’m pretty sure the peanuts I put out aren’t going to the rats. I keep the peanuts in my storage room, and it’s covered. I have never gone into the room and found it disturbed. I also put out so few peanuts in a small cup, that they get eaten just about every day.

But to be on the safe side, I will only put out a handful every morning, so at nighttime there are no peanuts left.

They said they’d make balcony inspections, but I don’t see how they can just enter our home whenever they want without telling us, so I’m not going to worry about that for now.

Still, it’s good to know. As much as I like providing a little snack for the birds, if I saw a rat that seemed to be feeding on discarded bird feed, I’d stop. Hopefully the sparrows won’t be the ones to gobble up the peanuts. I really like the tufted titmice and chickadees.