Birds duked it out in my backyard in a battle for dominance at the feeders
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This week, I decided to get a feeder to put raw peanuts in and see what would happen. Boy, was I in for a surprise. My single, Red-breasted nuthatch turned into at least six and three Brown creepers showed up. I did not see any of the creepers visit the peanuts, but they sure were active around the feeder.
While watching from my dining room Tuesday afternoon, I saw a Northern flicker land on the peanut feeder, only to be attacked by one of the nuthatches. Then I watched as a Downy woodpecker landed on the feeder. Again, the larger bird was driven from the feeder by the smaller nuthatch. It was time for me to get some pictures.
I set up about 10 feet from the feeder while a nuthatch was feeding, and it could not be bothered with my presence. After about 15 minutes, it flew off. Almost immediately, a Mountain chickadee flew in to get a taste of the peanuts. It was soon chased off by another nuthatch. While it was feeding, no other bird approached the feeder. As soon as it left, a male Downy tried getting a few morsels, only to be chased off by a nuthatch.
Over the course of two hours, I watched this merry-go-round at the peanut feeder. I never saw two nuthatches feeding at the same time and none of them were chased off the feeder. Multiple birds would be feeding on the nyger seed sacks. Both feeders had sunflower seeds and even some of the suet cake feeders, but never on the peanut feeder.
I found that the nuthatches loved to feed on the inside of the peanut feeder, working hard to chip pieces off peanuts until they could get a large piece. Then they would fly to a large evergreen tree to enjoy it. At times, a nuthatch would not leave the feeder but would sit on the inside or perch on the edge of the feeder in an attack position without feeding. I did notice that a light-colored nuthatch never approached the peanut feeder, but preferred one of the suet cakes to feed on.
While watching the feeders, I saw both pair of Downys, a couple of American goldfinches, a House finch, Black-capped and Mountain chickadees, visit the peanut feeder. Only twice did I see the nuthatches chase off Mountain chickadees. All the other birds were attacked soon after starting to feed. Their bills are very sharp, and it must hurt to be jabbed by it.
What a show I witnessed!
The next two days, I repeated my two hours watching the circus in my backyard. And what about the rare Brown creepers? They will be the subject of a later column. Since they feed mostly on insects, I am experimenting on other types of food for them. We will see what happens.
Only a couple Northern flickers have showed up in my backyard this winter; hopefully, we will see an increase after we get some snow on the ground. I love to watch them battle each other. My neighbors about a mile from where I live still have the Stellar jays, but it has been three weeks since I saw one at my place.
If you do not have feeders out, Christmas is just around the corner and Santa may help you out.
