Lots of undergrowth, berry-bearing bushes, and old-growth trees (and a large lawn that is mowed, but otherwise left to its own devices) means lots of wildlife, especially birds. A few well-placed bird feeders help make the birds feel more welcome. So far, we’ve seen the following varieties of birds on our property.

• Red-bellied Woodpecker and Downy Woodpecker. These woodpeckers not only pester our trees, looking for for insects, they love the suet feeder.
• Northern Cardinal. A male and female have taken up semi-permanent residence on the property. They raise a couple of juveniles a year.
• Mourning Dove. Watching them fly is an exercise in hilarity; they look like they can barely make it off the ground sometimes. Their distinctive call is both haunting and lovely.
• House Finch. The House Finch is described as “an abundant bird often associated closely with human habitation.” That makes sense: We see lots of them. One silly pair built a nest in a natural wreath we’d left up after Christmas.
• Slate-colored dark-eyed Junco. Dark-eyed juncos are known to be common bird-feeder visitors.
• American Robin. We see many, many robins out on the lawn, feasting on worms and insects. Sometimes, they’ll nest in the eaves above our porch. One morning, in very early spring, we looked out and saw literally hundreds of them on the lawn.
• Blue Jay. These guys are aggressive, often driving smaller birds away from the feeders.
• Black-capped Chickadee. Another common bird-feeder visitor.
• White-breasted Nuthatch. It’s fascinating to watch these little ones creep head-first down a tree trunk.
• Tufted Titmouse. We frequently hear their distinctive song (peter, peter, peter).
• Common Grackle. Their iridescent blue-black coloring can make them look somewhat eerie.
• Red-winged Blackbird. These aren’t as common, but they do show up now and then.
• Brown-headed Cowbird. Maybe that’s because there are still some cows around here.
• Pine Grosbeak. We’ve seen them on the ground, near one of the bird feeders.
• White-throated Sparrow. They like to hang out by the bird feeder.
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird. At least, I think that’s the kind of hummingbird we saw. It was hovering around one of the fir trees, about 20 feet above the ground, looking for sap.
• Turkey Vulture. We don’t see them often, but they do stop by. They used to land on the barn roof, when the barn was still there.
• Various species of hawk.