'Tis the season for increased bird activity

As we move into early August, readers start to notice more bird activity in their yards, and I begin to receive lots of questions.

A few weeks ago, Mac and Nadine McFarland noticed a downy woodpecker visiting their hummingbird feeder and wondered how common that was. It is somewhat unusual, but woodpeckers are known to come to hummingbird feeders and, every once in a while, will begin to peck the feeder to pieces. So far, I haven’t encountered one of the destructive birds at my house, but I do have a red-bellied woodpecker that will occasionally attempt a sip of sugar water.

Brenda Fitts, of Sweet Briar, had a bluebird box with young in the nest and something happened to the male. The female was left to try to raise the babies on her own. Her kind landlord provided the harried mother with plenty of mealworms to supplement the available insects that the “single parent” could find. At last report, the young were fully feathered and almost ready to fledge.

Edith Burns, of Clifford, wrote to ask about two hawks that appeared recently in her yard. At this time of year, young raptors leave the nest but are still unable to hunt for themselves. They often hang out close to one another and wait for the adults to bring them food. Sometimes, the young hawks are quite noisy as they screech at their parents about how hungry they are becoming while waiting for breakfast.

Dan Warden noticed a bird at his niger feeder that appeared to be very much like a house finch, except that instead of being red, it was yellow. Although not pictured in the field guides, some house finches are yellow, and the shade can actually vary toward a brilliant orange. We don’t often have that color variation in Central Virginia, but I do sometimes see birds like that during the winter.

Many kind readers commented on my recent search for migrating wading birds and noted that they had recently seen great blue herons. Both the great blue and green herons breed in our area. I am looking for species that are not normally found here, such as snowy or cattle egrets, as well as little blue and tri-colored herons. I’d also be really happy if someone could point me toward any kind of ibis in this region.

News and notes
The shorebird migration is already underway, and I’ve had reports of birds from Staunton River State Park and Pittsylvania County. Rexanne Bruno found a solitary sandpiper in Amherst County on Aug. 1. A semi-palmated plover was observed in Augusta County, and Mike Purdy reported a pectoral sandpiper in Roanoke.

Peggy Lyons had an early chestnut-sided warbler in her yard at Concord on Aug. 1, and I saw an immature summer tanager at my feeder on July 30.