ALWAYS IN SEASON: Juncos, goldfinches, woodpeckers among faithful feeder birds

Dark-eyed juncos have been the most faithful species at Dave Lambeth's feeders on the south side of Grand Forks.

Just north of town, a yellow-bellied sapsucker has been showing up at feeders.

At my place west of Gilby, N.D., American goldfinches have been the most consistent and most numerous species.

All of these are a little unusual.

Juncos are very common migrants in our area. In late October, it's hardly possible to walk half a block without encountering a flock of juncos.

In the country, every brush patch seems to have its complement of juncos.

At that time of year, they are frequent feeder visitors.

Juncos are largely ground feeders, taking seed that's spilled from feeders, and snow cover discourages them.

Last year, I found a party of juncos at a little pile of grain a neighbor of mine had spilled. The juncos hung out there well into December, after cold weather had arrived.

But I didn't see them after the first heavy snow.

A sapsucker in Grand Forks in the winter is a rarity. This is the first wintering sapsucker I've heard of.

Yet, sapsuckers are woodpeckers and woodpeckers as a clan are tough birds, so it's not too surprising that a sapsucker would be comfortable here in the winter.

Goldfinches are a different case from either sapsuckers or juncos. They are common summer birds here, and probably always have been since they seek open country with patches of brush for cover and thistle for food.

The Red River Valley has always provided these.

Yet, goldfinches were unusual in winter a decade or so ago. When Suezette and I first moved to our place in Gilby, we had goldfinches in summer but not in winter.

This year, we have 30 to 50 at our feeders every day.

Of course, our site has changed quite a bit since we moved there. We've built new buildings. We've planted trees, grass and other plants. We've let weeds stand in the fall.

Most especially, we've provided food in the form of thistle seed and sunflower.

And goldfinches have responded.

But whether this is a result of our largesse or the generally milder winters is impossible to know.

Notice, I said milder winters, not less snowy. The trend seems to me to be toward warmer temperatures and higher snowfall.

So long as goldfinches can find food, the snow doesn't trouble them.

But likely there would be high mortality if really cold weather settled in for a really long time.

The only other birds that show up regularly at my feeder are dependable winter species, black-capped chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches and two kinds of woodpeckers, hairy and downy.

Hairy woodpeckers could be considered the most faithful of my avian visitors. They show up every day.

But they are never numerous.

I believe there are exactly two of them at my place, a male and a female -- easily distinguished one from the other because the male has a blaze of red on the back of his head, and the female does not.

Blue jays made an appearance last week.

Blue jays are here year-round, but they can be quite secretive and quite skittish.

My guess is that the blue jays are stressed by this relatively difficult winter, unable to find wild food that otherwise sustains them and so prone to wander in search of easier pickings.

Any feeder operation provides these, of course.

Another possibility is that the blue jay's cupboard has grown bare or perhaps inaccessible because of snow.

Blue jays are hoarders. They cache food, recovering it when it's needed.

But if the cache is short or unavailable, they need to find food elsewhere.

This might mean that the appearance of blue jays should be taken as a sign of spring.

Or the blue jays may simply have become more conspicuous (mostly because they've become more raucous) because the days are growing longer.

It's early February yet, of course -- but not too early to look for signs of spring.

Jacobs is editor and publisher of the Herald. This column appears Sundays on the Herald's Outdoor page.