2017 February and March Bird Lists

American Dipper in Wyoming, not Kansas

We have recently acquired a stand for more bird feeders and have been enjoying the increased traffic outside our kitchen windows. We added a little finch feeder (like these) and a suet feeder. (The bird bath, however, blew away within a day or two in the our breezy Kansas country.) Second Daughter has also been delightedly choosing recipes from Cooking for the Birds.

Here are some of the bird sightings we've had:

February

• the ubiquitous red-tailed hawk
• red-bellied woodpecker
• blue jay
• cardinal
• house finch
• house sparrow
• song sparrow
• white-crowned sparrow (These are usually seen in brushy areas adjacent to open country rather than a backyard bird feeder, but you can apparently attract them if you keep the areas near your house brushy and wild, as we have done.)
• Harris's sparrow
• ruby-crowned kinglet
• Eastern meadowlark (only heard near home; but spotted along the roadside)

March - much of the same and also...

• horned lark (wandering the yard, not at our feeder)
• red-winged blackbirds
• robins (usually in our backyard rather than the feeder)
• Northern mockingbird
• Eastern bluebird
• downy woodpecker (at Grammy's house)
• purple finch (along the roadside)
• goldfinch (within a day of putting up our finch feeder)
• golden eagle (a regular though unusual sight in March along a bit of road we traveled regularly)
• common grackle

We always see a few bluebirds in the spring but they haven't stuck around. I'm contemplating installing a bluebird house or two over the winter so we might be able to attract some to nest next year.

Don't go bird watching in Kansas without The Guide to Kansas Birds and Birding Hotspots, one of my favorite books! (Our library has lots of copies for local folks.)