Pennsylvania Game News - February 2017 - 56

that winter-bird communities became
increasingly dominated by warm-adapted
species such as mourning doves, Carolina
wrens, red-bellied woodpeckers, eastern
bluebirds and dark-eyed juncos, which
moved northward about 4.2 miles a year.
Last winter, Project FeederWatch
also received several reports of pine
warblers as far north as Nova Scotia
and growing numbers of hermit thrushes
at northeastern feeders, visiting 2 to 4
percent of sites.
Project FeederWatch also asks participants to report bird interactions at feeders.
This began late last season, and through
the end of the season participants reported
1,994 observations at 200 feeder sites.
Most reports were of one bird displacing another. There were 37 reports of one
bird catching and eating another, and 23
of one bird mobbing another.
Larger birds usually displaced smaller
ones, but there also were reports of house
finches displacing cardinals, and downy
woodpeckers displacing mourning doves.
I've seen many interactions, especially
during 2014-15.
Some are harmonious, such as the early
January morning when a cottontail, a gray
squirrel and juncos, white-throats, a tree
sparrow, two song sparrows and a pair of
cardinals fed together on the porch and

steps. Later, they were joined by house
finches and goldfinches.
Chickadees, titmice and white-breasted
nuthatches then appeared and competed
with goldfinches and house finches on the
hanging feeders.
Mourning doves flew in and out, as
many as 10 at a time, and a red-bellied
woodpecker made several hurried appearances.
But our peaceable kingdom dissolved
during a snowstorm two weeks later,
when four squirrels, the rabbit and 13
mourning doves pushed the small birds
from the covered porch floor, where I had
spread birdseed.
Then the birds that only eat from
the feeders arrived - nine goldfinches,
a couple chickadees and three house
finches. The goldfinches displaced the
house finches. A pair of cardinals sidled
in and got scared off, as did a female redbellied woodpecker.
Through Project FeederWatch, instead of merely counting and recording
my feeder birds, I am able to report my
observations of such interactions and
contribute to a greater knowledge of what
drives them.
Happy 30th birthday Project FeederWatch. May we celebrate many more
birthdays together!

Cover Painting by Mark anderson
Want to extend your "deer hunting" season, and also
shed some of those holiday pounds? Hiking on a winter
landscape looking for shed antlers is a fun way to achieve
both goals. "Dropped Glory" is available for sale by artist
Mark Anderson. One-hundred signed and numbered
giclee prints are being produced on archival paper in size
24 x 18 inches for $120. Order from Mark Anderson at
348 Deer Creek Valley Road, Tarentum, PA 15084.
Visit www.MarkAndersonArt.com for ordering
information on this and other artwork.

56
http://www.MarkAndersonArt.com
Pennsylvania Game News - February 2017

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