Coping with wet, windy and changeable weather

THE WILD SIDE

By Maria de Bruyn
Columnist

While November 2024 has had many balmy, sunny days, we also dealt with cold mornings and wet, windy weather. Resident squirrels, chipmunks and voles spent a lot of time hunting fallen seed underneath my bird feeders. As flowers finished blooming, pollinators began seeking their winter abodes in the ground, on leaves and trees.

My bird feeders saw increased traffic with late southward-bound migrants and overwintering birds seeking seeds and dried mealworms (a very popular food source!). This activity brought more visits from the neighborhood Cooper’s hawks (photo above), who can be clever predators. At my house, these hawks calculate carefully when they can swoop towards a bird and chase it into my front window. The stunned prey falls onto the porch and the hawk can then pick it up or easily capture it when it tries to flee. Needless to say, the yard clears out fast when the other birds spot a Cooper’s or are warned by the bluejays that one has arrived.

Red-shouldered hawks look for earthworms emerging from sodden ground on rainy days. All photos by ©Maria de Bruyn.

Frequent visitors on rainy days include the neighborhood red-shouldered hawks. Other birds do not flee when these raptors show up even though their diet can include small avian species. At my house, these raptors focus on hunting amphibians and — when it rains — the earthworms that rise to the surface as the ground is inundated with water.

These hawks perch in trees and atop nest boxes for hours, waiting for the worms to appear. In the meantime, the other birds rest in nearby trees, hop on the ground and sit on feeders without any apparent fear.

Red-shouldered hawk enduring windy weather at Sandy Creek Park. Top photos: bird drawing nictitating eyelid over eye. Bottom photos: feathers ruffled by high winds. All photos by ©Maria de Bruyn.

At Sandy Creek Park, I saw one of that area’s red-shouldered hawks perched above the swamp area while watching the wet vegetation below in case some prey appeared. The raptor noticed me watching but didn’t seem disturbed by my presence.

Often staring downward, the bird would frequently let its nictitating membranes cover its eyes, likely because it was very windy. These translucent eyelids can lubricate and protect the bird’s eyes while still allowing it to see what is going on around it. The high winds also frequently ruffled the bird’s feathers, but this didn’t seem to bother it. The day was fairly warm, and the hawk seemed quite content perched in the sunshine while maintaining plenty of airspace around to see who was coming and going.

Birds bathing in plant dish. Top left: brown thrasher. Top right: Northern cardinal. Bottom left: Carolina chickadee (behind) and white-throated sparrow. Bottom right: Female Eastern towhee. All photos by ©Maria de Bruyn.

Back at my house, water-filled plant dishes on my porch have proved quite popular. Birds, chipmunks and squirrels often drink from the bird baths in the yard but seem to find them just a little too deep for frequent bathing. Instead, many species prefer shallow porch dishes for drinking and showering — even when the temperatures are quite cool. Multiple bird species visit these porch sites including Northern cardinals, brown thrashers, Carolina chickadees, Carolina wrens, tufted titmice, Eastern towhees, white-throated sparrows, and Eastern bluebirds.

To conclude this review of some recent avian activity on windy and wet days, I encountered a surprise. Because a hummingbird has lived in my yard three times in past winter months, I keep up a nectar feeder in case another hummer arrives. When most flowers finished blooming toward the end of November, I did indeed have some surprise visitors. They were not hummers, however, but a group of honeybees! How they managed to empty the tube feeder without getting inside is a mystery to me, but they have now done it several times. I don’t know of a natural hive nearby but I think they may come from neighbors’ homes where hives are kept.

My best wishes to you all for the end-of-year holidays that begin this week!

Honeybees emptying a nectar feeder in late November. Photo by ©Maria de Bruyn.

Maria de Bruyn participates in nature-oriented citizen science projects and volunteers for the Orange County Senior Center and non-profit groups removing invasive vegetation and planting native plants. See more of her photos on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/bruynmariade/) and in blogs at https://mybeautifulworldblog.com.

This reporter can be reached at Info@TheLocalReporter.press