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November, 2004

Every year I tell myself I should record the date I see certain birds as they show up in the yard.  Of course dogs, cats, and pigs will fly before I ever get organized enough to chronicle such events.  But I should; so then I could mesmerize my few friends with such important data as, “Do you realize the Juncos are three days late this year?”  I guess they would put me in the bug house for statements like that.  But actually, it might be interesting to record when I see the first Junco, the first hummingbird, the first Robin, and a host of “firsts” as they come and go every year. 

Juncos should be on such a list as they are the most abundant birds which come to our North American feeders during the winter months.  They will eat sunflower seeds, suet, suet mixtures, scratch (used for young chickens), sorghum, millet, canary seed, rape, peanut hearts, doughnuts, cornbread, most nut meats, and white bread.  I sometimes get a small, inexpensive – compared to most bird seed-bag of chicken scratch to throw out for the “ground feeders” on dry, winter days.  The Juncos, Mourning Doves, as well as the finches and sparrows all seem to feed on it.  On rainy days, chicken scratch is next to worthless as it soaks up water. If you live outside of Washington, NJ, you may even have pheasants coming to your feeders – along with other birds.  After being introduced from Asia, pheasants now nest in Warren County, NJ.

Benjamin Franklin’s son-in-law, Richard Bache, was the first person to try to establish pheasants in the colonies, but the 1760 experiment here in New Jersey failed.  In 1881 Judge O.N. Denny, the U.S. consul general in Shanghai, China, sent 30 birds back home to Oregon’s Willamette Valley, where they flourished so well he soon supplemented them with a second flock.  By the early 1890’s, pheasants had also become established at the Rutherford Stuyvesant estate – near Tranquility – in Morris and Warren Counties, NJ. 

The pheasant has become so acclimated to areas to the United States, many young whippersnappers (anyone under 40) probably think the Ring-neck Pheasants were here for the first Thanksgiving.  Of course, we know better.  And to top off the insanity of the whole mess, the state of South Dakota has proclaimed the Ring-Neck Pheasant as its state bird- which probably means most people in South Dakota are under 40.

Actually, it means South Dakota has enough natural calcium in the soil to support a pheasant population. It seems calcium is the critical factor when a bunch of young pheasants are let go from their game-farm hatching.  In order to reproduce, the pheasants need to pick up enough natural calcium to promote egg production for survival of the species in the wild.  Luckily we have the required calcium here in Warren County, and many “natural” pheasants enjoy a meal under bird feeders.  If you have Ring-necks coming to your feeder, you can give them corn on the cob, whole kernels of corn, wheat, oats, barley, and most of the other seeds given to other birds.  When they are hungry, they are not picky.

On a different subject; I think one of the most interesting thing I have read concerning our feathered friends was a study done in Canada.  It found that there are more species of birds found in areas where there are large trees than in areas where the trees are small or simply not mature.  I hope the Canadian government did not spend a lot of cash on this study because any birdwatcher could have told them the same thing.  But someone up there actually counted species using an area with large, old trees and another (younger) suburb with less mature tress, and finally – you guessed it – a newly built development.  Of course they soon realized the naked truth:  more species were found in the older, more mature tree-lined suburbs than in the new developments.

Please enter the above paragraph in to your computers and you’ll realize why I get so cranky when Washington’s larger trees come down.  Big Al, my husband, says I get down-right maudlin.  My favorite tree in Washington is the beech on the lawn of the second house on the west side of Belvidere Avenue, after turning right on to Belvidere from Carlton here in Washington, NJ.  That is one magnificent tree!  The foresight of the resident who planted it years ago should be grandly applauded.  I hope that tree outlives me by two hundred years. 

For New Jersey residents, it still isn’t too late to go to Hawk Mountain. Please go. Or take an afternoon and drive to Merrill Creek Reservoir Visitor’s Center.  The hummingbirds have flown, but there are many birds, such as Ring-neck Pheasants, and the ubiquitous Dark-eyed Junco to make the afternoon an adventure.

Keep Looking UP!

Julianne Weinmann, Copyright © 2005 Julianne Weinmann. All rights reserved.  Revised: June 10, 2008 .