Life Style

Winter Is Prime Birdwatching Season in the Brandywine Valley

Photos by Hank Davis

There’s no better time to commune with birds than in cold weather, starting with your own backyard.

You may not realize it, but a brisk day in winter is prime-time birdwatching. You could join a local group on an organized walk—just don’t expect a cardio workout. “You see a bird, you stop, you watch the bird. Then you walk until you see another bird,” says John Mercer, who runs three-to four-hour field trips for the West Chester Bird Club. “You might walk about a mile in an hour.”

Cardinals

There’s also nothing wrong with a spur-of-the-moment solo walk. “I try to see something different about the birds each time,” says Joseph Francis, president of the Delaware Ornithological Society. And you don’t need a feeder to attract birds to your own backyard. “Many different birds love cracked corn,” says Steve Cottrell, president of the Delaware Audubon Society’s board of directors. “Just spread it on the ground when there isn’t any snow.”

In winter, it’s easier to locate and follow birds in flight because there’s less foliage to hide them. In some cases, they’ll even pose for you on a fence post or power line. Winter is also for ducks. Mercer loves to shepherd watchers via carpool to the Delaware and New Jersey coastal regions, going from pond to pond.

An Eastern bluebird strikes a classic pose.

“It’s very hard to find a bad place to see birds locally,” Francis says. “Delaware is among the top 10 places for birds nationally, so any park or any garden will work. But it’s good to go someplace with a mix of habitats.” According to the Delaware Bird Records Committee, there were 429 species in the state at last count—most local and some more transient. “In early winter, you see birds that breed in the far north and are usually just passing through on their way farther south,” says Francis. “Then there are those in adjacent areas moving up or down looking for food.”
 
As with everything else in modern life, birdwatching has become easier in the digital age, especially for those who love detail. “Start with the birds you already know, like cardinals and bluebirds,” says Francis. “Merlin is especially helpful for beginners.”

A house finch

Apparently, there isn’t a birder alive who doesn’t have Merlin Bird ID, a free phone app created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and first released to the public in 2017. Starting with the date and your location, Merlin utilizes its database of more than 800 million sightings submitted from birders around the world. Then it asks about the bird’s color, size and behavior until you have your answer. The app also helps identify birds by listening to their calls through your cellphone. “Birds have their own accents—just like people,” Francis says. “Calls from the same species can vary from region to region. Part of it is learned by what a bird hears when it’s young.”

The Merlin app makes ample use of eBird. Introduced by Cornell in 2002, it keeps track of your birding experience (what you see and record), using data collected from thousands of birders as fertile ground for research in a variety of fields. In essence, every birder becomes a citizen scientist.

A Northern flicker

Francis shows how he can record and access his list of viewed birds and also be on the alert for other birders’ “hot spots,” where a rare species has been seen. “This summer, the sighting of a black-bellied whistling duck in Dover prompted a hot spot report,” Francis says.

Beyond guide books and Merlin, an avid birder will also want a good set of binoculars and possibly a camera with a telephoto lens. Mercer advises both. “So many birds are far away,” he says.

A tufted titmouse

Mercer’s West Chester Bird Club is one of the best and most active organizations of its kind in the region. One of his favorite spots is the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum, adjacent to Philadelphia International Airport, where as many as 20 duck species might be seen over the course of the winter. Francis suggests the trails along Brandywine Creek, Pierce’s Woods at Longwood Gardens and the Russell W. Peterson Wildlife Refuge near Wilmington.

A red-bellied woodpecker

Another good way to get started is by taking part in the National Audubon Society’s annual Christmas Bird Count, which runs from Dec. 14 to Jan. 5. Local organizations also take part, often on Christmas Day.

Northern Cardinals…In winter, it’s easier to locate and follow birds in flight because there’s less foliage to hide them. In some cases, they’ll even pose for you.

Feeding birds can be as simple as tossing cracked corn on the ground or as elaborate as erecting feeding stations with seeds and suet (animal fat). “The basic bird food is sunflower seeds, with or without shells—and it should be without any filler,” says Vicki Selinger, a backyard bird expert at the Wild Birds Unlimited store in Hockessin. “Birds lose 10% of their body weight in winter, so they also need protein—like suet.”

Improving natural habitats for birds is the most important contribution humans can make. According to a study published by the Cornell Lab, there are 2.9 million fewer birds in the U.S. than there were 50 years ago, mainly due to habitat loss.

If you’re installing a feeder for the first time, don’t expect to be immediately hosting birds without further inducements. “Birds are sight feeders,” Selinger says. “You need to put bark butter [a spreadable suet] on top of the feeder and stick some seeds in it so birds will know food is there.”

Birds also need water—though keeping a bath or other container operative in freezing weather can be a challenge. Francis advises that feeders be cleaned out periodically to prevent contamination and disease among birds. “Bird feeders aren’t bad, but they’re mainly junk food for the birds,” he says. “Birds need the protein they get from insects and other sources.”

A blue jay

Improving natural habitats for birds is the most important contribution humans can make. According to a study published by the Cornell Lab, there are 2.9 million fewer birds in the U.S. than there were 50 years ago, mainly due to habitat loss. “Forests alone have lost one billion birds,” the study notes. “Grassland bird populations collectively have declined by 53% or another 720 million birds”

Certified in the selective use of defoliants, Cottrell spends most of his time getting rid of invasive species in Middle Run Valley Natural Area north of Newark. He’s also heading the eradication of invasive species and improving bird habitats in Newark’s Curtis Mill Park, establishing Delaware Audubon as its official caretaker. Flowers and bushes that attract insects have been planted in the park, and a large bluebird condo towers over its meadows. “It stays full,” Cottrell says, adding that the species will stay year-round if they have shelter and places to nest.

A mourning dove

Francis stresses the importance of using our own backyards and gardens as year-round habitats with shelter and food. Flowers that attract butterflies and insects are important in summer, and plants like winterberry holly provide food in late winter. Francis is a proponent of ecologist Doug Tallamy’s mission to convert individual home and property owners into biodiversity warriors, providing native plants and removing invasive ones. “The idea is that, taken altogether, our backyards are the biggest national park in America,” Francis says.

Visit westchesterbirdclub.org, dosbirds.org and delawareaudubon.org.

Related: Swing by These Festive Holiday Events Around the Brandywine Valley

Roger Morris

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