Well, I just ran the birdsong identification for ten minutes

[conuly]

We definitely have a white-throated sparrow somewhere and a chipping sparrow and field sparrows - this may go a long way to explaining why I couldn't quite identify that other sparrow if it's three different species pretending to be one... and possibly also two birds I'm sure I've never seen before in my life, much less my yard, a carolina wren and a red winged blackbird! (And a goldfinch... I'm editing as I listen, guys. Edit: And a house wren and a tufted titmouse and an eastern towhee and a killdeer... and an american kestrel and a chimney swift and a northern flicker... and a red eyed vireo...)

Now, how do I lure them into my yard so I can see them?

Also, way back when I was a kid I read a book The Hermit Thrush Sings by Susan Butler, and sometime later, as an adult, I was reminded of that book and looked up the song of the hermit thrush. And then this year I looked the bird up and saw that the reference photo on whatever website was taken in Union Square, and if you can find hermit thrushes in Union Square you've gotta be able to find them on the North Shore. Or at least in a park, I'm thinking? Like a park park, not Union Square? So now that's my dream for this year. Gotta dream big!

(Well, it's not impossible. There are wild rabbits (hares?) on Staten Island, and just a few days ago one of my neighbors claims she saw a deer in the back alley, which is just wild to me, because I was pretty sure they weren't this far North on the Island. Actually, I think the city is still selling the story that they just swim over from Jersey, but that's ridiculous, there is definitely an established population Mid-Island and probably another one on the South Shore. But the point is, there was one here on our block, which is unprecedented.)

Comments

[redbird]

Oh, I miss living next to the water in New York City! The whole city is along the Eastern Flyway, so you'll get a lot of birds migrating through.

Red-winged blackbirds nest near water, often in low shrubs. We saw them moderately often in Inwood Hill Park, the bit that's right along the Harlem River, with a baby tidal marsh. (One once attacked me for coming to close to its nest in the Bronx Zoo: I didn't realize they were nesting in a rose bush, when I leaned over to smell the flowers.

We used to see killdeer on the mudflat at the edge of the marsh, when the tide was low enough to expose the mud.

[chanter1944]

Oh, yay! Red-winged blackbirds and goldfinches are all over the place here in the upper Midwest. Redwings are delightful and distinctive singers. :)

[movingfinger]

At this time of year some birds are still home shopping, so you may be getting birds now you won't see or hear in a month! Sparrows tend to hang out in mixed flocks. ETA: Flickers like suet. Towhees like leaf litter to dig in for invertebrates---they have a charming hop-hop-scuff method. I see them working under bushes and in older bark mulch, they like some cover.

I don't know what your yard looks like, but the shrubs and bushy landscaping dense enough to provide cover are what keeps them hanging around mine. They love the hedge across the back, and they bop around in there, try nesting various ill-advised places near ground level in the dense little shrubs on the slope near the house, and eat bugs and berries they find on holly, forsythia, lilacs, etc. The vine maples are too airy to be good nesting locations (squirrels and crows). They like the climbing hydrangea on the fence and the wisteria, good hiding places.

If you don't have a bird bath of some kind, get at least one! Water is a big attractor in the summer. The recirculating ones are very popular with some birds, others prefer the flat shallow dish without excitement. Hose and refill daily. A really big plant saucer on an upended pot is stable and cheap. Plastic is fine and won't spall in winter. Keep it shallow.

Condolences on the arrival of deer! They are hoofed locusts in a garden. One of the goals in redoing mine was to make at least part of it inaccessible to deer (and, subsequently, to rabbits because the rabbits were eating the flowers off the lower-growing plants like candytuft). It turned out I had a lot of daylilies that looked like weeds and that the deer had been eating the buds off those and the crocosmia...

They may well be swimming over from Jersey, but they are not swimming back, and if the local government doesn't act to control them, you'll have a big problem very soon... We get black bears swimming over occasionally here. I believe that there are two or three hiding out in the interior, more wooded areas now.

[conuly]

Our yard right now is very dug up. Getting rid of this awful weed is my only priority even if the birds like it, which they do.

[bibliofile]

So cool, all these birds. Yay for modern technology.