[Mnbird] Surprising berry eaters

[Betsy Kerr]

There's a bit of competition in our Golden Valley backyard today for our
abundant Juniper and Winterberry berries.  I'm accustomed to the flocks of
Robins coming through (and Cedar Waxwings a bit later), but I was surprised
today to see White-Throated Sparrows and a few Yellow-Rumped Warblers
joining in on the feeding.  I tend to think of WTS as ground feeders and am
used to seeing Butterbuts hawking for insects.  I guess they are all
opportunists, which is a good thing.

Another surprise: an Immature Northern Cardinal with a totally dark beak
has been frequenting the feeder, with and without an adult female.  Our
resident pair must have had a rather late brood.  I learned yesterday (from
Tammy Mercer, the naturalist leading the Eloise Butler Early Bird bird
walk--which is a great group, if you're in the area) that Cardinals can
have as many as four broods.  They apparently move on quickly from one
brood to the next.

Betsy Kerr
Golden Valley, MN
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.lists.mnbird.net/pipermail/mnbird_lists.mnbird.net/attachments/20211008/eb9bb062/attachment.htm>