#86: Wilson's Warbler; My backyard in lovely Kanata!; August 26, 2010
Now I have come to wonder about this egoistic Wilson dude. I mean, he must have named every bird he found after HIMSELF! So far, I have seen a Wilson's Warbler, a Wilson's Phalarope, and a Wilson's snipe. Anyways, maybe Wilson needs a little bit of recognition...so who the heck was he?
Well, I did a little research to find out, so here is your history lesson for the day. Wilson (1766-1813) was born in Scotland where he was a poet and weaver. He moved to the U.S.A. and that is where he got the birding bug. He decided to make an illustrated set of books of the birds of North America, and this was what inspired Audubon. So now you know.
That little yellow finch feeder has been great. I got rid of the sunflower/regular mix one because the squirrels and chipmunks were devouring the stuff, so I got the thistle seed feeder. It took a while to get visitors, but there are tons now and they seem to empty it in 2-3 days (even though I never see them...as I discovered today, they like to visit during business hours...oh the joy of working from home!). I may put the other one up again for the fall though, and see what I can get!
Now, this may rank as the worst photo on my blog. All I have is my point and shoot, and I just sort of realized that I might complain about my cheapie 70-300mm, but it's still infinitely better than my point and shoot! Just a few more days....unfortunately won't have my camera back to do any shooting on the weekend...again. I'm starting to panic again....am I going to get to 100?? Anyways, I'm going to sit by the window watching the feeder to try and catch another one!
Well, that was a long entry for such a little picture!
2 comments:
your story checks out - turns out Wilson drowned (ironically?) in 1813 in a river while pursuing a bird...so the lesson here is always wear your life jacket while birding
About the sunflower seed feeder and the regular feed. It may bring pigeons, starlings, squirrels and mourning doves, but those bring hawks and owls. My parents keep thistle feeders near a big window, but they keep a regular mix out back. They bring a different mix of birds, but those pigeons will attract hawks and owls. The leftover seed will bring mice and voles which will bring owls, especially during their migration.
Of note, my parents` general mix feeder is what brought the Indigo Bunting, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Fox Sparrow, Brown Thrasher and Eastern Towhee to the backyard. The last three all like to scratch, so leafy piles with some seed scattered throughout will attact those birds. Also look into a suet feeder if you want woodpeckers.
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