The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note of any observations you have made of the world around you. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds and/or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
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Castro Valley, CA
Continued below the orange bird nest
Every year I try to remember to note the last day that I see white crowns here. They come, a small flock, which I duly note, and then depart. At some point I go through the "gee, it's been a while since I last saw a white crown, I wonder when they left?" routine. Shortly after I did so this year, I noticed one still here, one. One straggler all alone, feeding in the thistle feeder tray.
I have noticed this feeding behavior before. The bird does feed on the ground like a proper white crown, and it does feed in my elevated platform feeder, like all the other birds in my yard, but it also does this wierd thing with one of the thistle feeders. The feeder in question is a plastic tube feeder with a seed catcher to catch spilled seed and the husks from seed eaten by the goldfinches on the perches. It is designed for goldfinches, and pretty much only they can access the thistle seed directly. For years now, however, a white crowned sparrow, or maybe more, but never more than one at once, acts as a self-appointed clean up crew, parking himself in the seed catcher and rummaging through the refuse there to find and eat whole seed dropped by the goldfinches.
Now, said sparrow is here long after his flock has vanished. I can't help but wonder if he will become resident, or maybe if he already is and I have failed to note it in prior years. At any rate, it is yet another case of "if you watch, birds will always do something unusual or unexpected".
Your turn
OK, it is time for you to report your sightings (along with the general location of their occurrence). I will be tending the diary erratically, as we are up to our eyeballs in other things, but I will check in off and on throughout the day. Thanks for posting your observations.