I'd taken the birdfeeders down because of the high winds earlier this week, and just put them back up this morning, and the birds were *ready for it*. while I was out there on the porch a hummingbird came up to the feeder, about two feet from me, watching me warily. the chickadees, juncos, and crows gathered while I swept the porch. as soon as I went back inside there was a FEEDING FRENZY, including a downy woodpecker. XD
@BertL I'm in Seattle, WA. the Anna's hummingbird has extended its winter range up here, through all the urban and suburban range along the coast, because humans keep putting out hummingbird feeders and make year-round nectar available. http://www.seattleaudubon.org/sas/Learn/SeasonalFacts/Hummingbirds.aspx has a good page about Seattle hummingbirds in winter. at the wildlife rehab center, I'm told they get more hummingbirds in winter as people find them downed and unable to fly.
@BertL it's definitely a case of "well, humans have already screwed up the situation, might as well keep screwing it up to help the critters we've displaced." XD
in winter we get *lots* of robins. the crows, juncos, woodpeckers, and chickadees are year-round. and we occasionally get flocks of bushtits, which are *adorably* tiny!
@BertL ooh, we have downy, hairy, and pileated woodpeckers, and flickers to round them out! I love pileated woodpeckers, I'm always so pleased when one of them visits the suet cage, they're gorgeous birds. my porch is three floors up, so I don't get many ground birds--there's a couple that have learned that I put birdseed on the porch and will make the trip twenty feet up, but there's a lot of low ground and scrub birds I don't get to see often. ;)
