Jericho VT Birds and Their Words

These Jericho backyard bird (Nov-Feb) photos were (nearly all) taken through our kitchen window with a Cannon SX50 point and shoot, and a few with Nikon d3300 (35mm digital). 

We feed wild birds in our Jericho, Vt backyard during the winter with the following: Black-oil sunflower seeds, shelled black-oil sunflower coarse chips, mixed seeed (Black-oil sunflower, Safflower, white millet, sunflower chips, and peanut pieces),  mixed nuts (chips), peanuts, peanut-butter, and suet.) Utilized 298 lbs. of bird food during winter of 2019. 

We participate in Project Feeder Watch. In the time span of Nov-Feb, we have observed and recorded 25 species. We record sightings 2 consecutive days per week. 

by Bernie

Some day perhaps, we will converse with birds – have two way conversations – learn what a bird’s eye view might encompass; how might that influence our perspectives on life? For now, let’s drop in on a few Jericho backyard birds and listen in on their thoughts, desires, worries, and what they enjoy about being in Jericho.

Blue Jay: They call me Grandpa Jay; you can call me Grandpa “J”. My mantra is, ‘Healthy ecology, healthy economy, healthy community’. Been around this neighborhood you call Jericho nearly all my life. I have seen some changes in my time, some good, some disconcerting.  The recent Natural Resources Overlay for the Land Use Regulations gives me hope. The views and vistas of Jericho are dear to my heart. The networks of connected lands: Large forest blocks (anchors of connectivity), smaller forest blocks that are stepping-stones between the large forest blocks, wildlife crossings, and streamside or riparian forest corridors are essential to my family and our relatives. Maintaining life diversity requires physical landscape diversity, ecological healthy environments, and physical land connections. Happy to see Jericho residents managing the landscape as a natural resource for all life forms – preserve, conserve, and protect natural resources of Jericho by preserving their ecological qualities and preventing degradation of their ecological functions.  

Tree Sparrow: I get no respect. A sparrow is a sparrow is a sparrow – NOT. I am a tree sparrow, not a house sparrow, nor a song sparrow. How could anyone confuse me with a White-crowned Sparrow, a White-Throated Sparrow, or even though there are some similarities, a Lark Sparrow? Whatever happened to respecting each individual life form? Conceive of the human being as a part of nature, and not its master – that is my perspective and mantra. Anthony J. Cichoke in Secrets of Native American Herbal Remedies, states that “almost every Native American culture believes that everything -  every animal, living creature, plant, rock, tree, mountain, and even water - has a soul. Therefore, all of nature must be treated with respect and honored”. Birds and all of nature are not just tourist attractions - they are life just as humans are. Building a close fraternal relationship with animals, plants and other wildlife demonstrates humans are part of the web of life, not its string masters. It is ‘Time to hug the world folks!’ Every creature (diversity) is special, unique, deserving of honor for the role each plays.

Chickadee Working is my sole mantra - finding food - seeds and insects. Every hour of daylight is required to keep food on the table. Fly in with the daring of a scout, when no other bird is about, choose a feeding station, choose a seed with care weighing each one, discarding any considered too light or too dry – must insure energy gained is greater than energy expended. Come spring, when it is time to raise a family, the grocery bill is ever so much higher. Fortunately, insects provide the protein needed for fast growing chicks. Still, the mass of insects appear on a steep decline; what once was a food delectable buffet is approaching a desert menu. We (nesting birds) need insects to feed our chicks. The insects need native plants to feed their young. The amount of native plants determines boom or bust for our (birds) population. By the way, love that patch of native plants Jericho residents planted on the green next to the Jericho Country store. What a great example of people getting together on an exemplary native garden project. 

Mourning dove   There are so many predators looking for a meal and me nice and plump and easy picking. Peace and love are my mantra. Weddings, birthday parties, and other ceremonial releases make use of my good traits: peace, hope, love, goodwill, and family. Pacifism requires a strong, brave, and enduring soul, because being a dove in a hawkish world is sometimes perilous. Carrying an olive branch is challenging enough when there are olive branches or any branches to find. Blessed are those who plant trees they may never sit under. The newly planted trees in the Jericho green are looking good! Perhaps you will see one of us while you eat lunch on a summer day on the green. PS don’t you just love my eye makeup?

American Crow There is a Lenape Indian legend (When the Animals Left Lenape Land) about giants and crows that taught people a lesson about respecting animals. In summary, the story relates how long ago there was a time when the animals disappeared. Hunters dispatched to find this needed food source. They found the animals imprisoned by the Giants and their friends, the Crows. Warriors attacked the Giants and Crows but to little avail. Strangely, the imprisoned animals showed no desire for release. When asked why, they responded that the humans (in this case the Lenape) have wasted our flesh, desecrated our forest homes; dishonored us and yourselves. We can live without you, but you cannot live without us! The Lenape asked how they could make right the wrongs to the animals. In response the animals stated, Honor and respect our lives, our beings, in life and death. And so my (Crow) mantra is Waste not, want not. 

Some day we will understand bird language.
I think this one is saying plenty with looks alone.

Red squirrels enjoy the feast as well as the birds. 

Hairy Woodpecker                                            Downy Woodpecker

Woodpeckers  All is not black and white is our shared (Downy, Hairy and Pileated Woodpecker) mantra. Scientists are warning of a sixth mass extinction event underway. Billions of animals have reportedly been lost in recent decades due to human overpopulation and overconsumption. Species are becoming extinct at a significantly faster rate than for millions of years before. Perhaps as critical are the biomass losses – where species are losing populations as their ranges shrink. Scientists conclude that humans will pay a high price for the resulting biological annihilation – serious ecological, economic and social consequences. Culprits include overhunting, toxic pollution, invasive species, and climate change. The overriding cause is overpopulation and over consumption. Perhaps many species, through natural selection will survive the human onslaught. However, without the biodiversity enjoyed up to the recent past, ecosystems humans depend on - from crop pollination to supplying food from the sea - may falter, diminish, and even evaporate entirely. Many factors are at play, the problems and solutions are not black and white - however there are things people can do even at an individual level to discover, observe, learn about, and protect if not nourish all forms of  life in nature. 

Pileated Woodpecker. (These two photos were not taken in our backyard)

White-breasted Nuthatch Acrobat of the avian world - balance, agility, motor coordination, the beak is quicker than the eye, comfortable walking straight up, down, and sideways. I am sleek, slender, and surreal. My mantra is we all have talents suitable for something. My fellow bird fraternity often asks how I can walk straight down a tree to which I reply, how do you – woodpecker - pound away all day on hard tree surfaces, and how do you, owl, fly about in dim to dark nights? Each of us has special traits and talents. We each have strong skills, some not yet discovered, and some waiting to be enhanced, refined, or developed. It is up to each of us individually to aspire, follow our desire, and build our talents for our good and the good of others - during our working years as well as when we retire. 

This dove needs a tuque (winter hat).

An old couple still on good terms at a distance. 



Dark-eyed Junco signalling a left turn.

Dark-eyed Junco  During fall and winter I can be found in Jericho foraging on the ground, come spring and summer you will need to look up to the mountains to find me nearby. You can recognize me by my crisp (though extremely variable) markings and bright white tail feathers I habitually flash in flight. Unbelievably perhaps, I am in the family of sparrows.  As a male, I am slate colored - mostly gray with a white belly. While many songbirds that feast at backyard feeders prefer tray and perched settings above the ground, I on the other hand reap the benefit of fallen seed on the ground. My motto is look up, look down, look all around – avian and nature in general is all around. 

Northern Cardinal 

Northern Cardinal  What speaks of love, friendship, and bonding as much as a pair of  Cardinals?  As a male cardinal, I wear my heart not on my sleeve but all over for the world to see and for my partner to know how healthy and vibrant I am. My partner and I stay together year-round. We sometimes sing together before nesting. During our courtship, I may collect food and feed my mate beak to beak in a bonding ritual.  My motto is my partner for life is the love of my life. I want to stay healthy and strong, and always show my true heart to all.

Time to invest in some goggles. 








Grandpa Jay needs to trim his eyebrows. 






Frozen tears. 








European Starling  My mother should have named me Victor or Valentino given the ‘v’ designations on my breast. Fortunately, I inherited my father’s long strong sharp beak – to pounce on anyone who mocks my name or calls me an outsider.  Yes, I came from Europe, but hey so did many of you, who now call yourselves Americans.  Well established here, this is my home too. Let us all be proud of our heritage and that of those in some ways dissimilar from ourselves. My motto is Celebrate diversity and ethnicity. All life on earth is precious. We have but one home we all share – Earth. 





House Finch





Purple Finch

Purple Finch and House Finch   One finch dipped into the raspberry jam and fell in the jar, the other only dipped into the jar staining less of its apparel and remaining slimmer to the effect of the jam. The first being the male Purple Finch, the latter being the male House Finch.  We have soft brown beady little eyes, and conical beaks. We love sunflower seeds and will sit on a perch and eat them while we chat for long stretches of time. Our motto is Look-alikes may look alike; however, the details make all the difference. Even a single bird species can have many slight variations. So much so that some ardent backyard bird feeding folks assure us, they can make out individuals. 

Female Purple Finch

Carolina Wren   Oh dear, what am I doing still here in Jericho in the winter? Most of my avian cousins migrated south for the winter. I often keep my tail cocked upwards (perhaps to keep it off the cold ground). I have a large head with very little neck with a long slender and down curved bill. My long white eye stripe is an accoutrement that sets me in high accord – I think, don’t you? Wanting so much for spring, I sing early in the morning even in February. I will scold and chase off intruders, however I am a bit shy so if you want to view me stand still or move slowly. My motto is “Stand your ground when you have to, but sing your heart out for pure pleasure the rest of the time.” There is always something to be worried about in this world. Let us not forget all that is good, enjoyable, simple and easily accessible and often beautiful – in nature. 

Evening Grosbeak   An irruptive species am I. Irruptions are irregular large-scale migrations of  birds to areas south of their normal wintering grounds usually prompted by food shortages. Eastern Canada’s recent seed crop (spruce cones etc), was poor, so the folks in New England are treated with the likes of Evening Grosbeaks for a brief time. However to migrate back and forth, like all birds we must deal with ‘skyglow’ – the diffuse luminance of the night sky, apart from the discrete light sources such as the Moon and visible individual stars. Skyglow is light pollution. Most birds migrate during the evening, when the stars can help guide their path. Light pollutions during the nighttime can cause migrating birds to waste energy circling or investigating the lit areas. In addition, birds are more likely to collide with night lit structures. Our motto is “Star light, star bright, lead us safely home tonight”. At nighttime, consider turning off house, building, and yard lights that project outside. 

Male in the middle listening to the females talk about him - he hopes.









Pine Siskins

















Pine Siskins   Another irruption species are we. Unlike the Snowy Owl and the Evening Grosbeak, we are but a small species similar in size to the Goldfinch. We like small seed such as thistle, millet, or hulled sunflower seeds as well as dandelion and other so-called weed seeds. Watch for us to arrive in flocks, hop about on the ground or on a tray feeder to feed. These brown-streaked acrobats flash yellow wing markings as they dash away together in flight. Our motto is one for all and all for one. 

Goldfinch   Drab un-streaked brown with two blackish wings in winter. Sort of how Vermonters dress in winter. However, come spring and summer the males are bright yellow with black forehead, and black wings with white markings. Sort of like how some Vermonters break out the flashy shorts in early spring even though it is only 55 degrees outside.  Our motto is gold is to behold for a while, release for a while then repeat. 

                                                                                        Somebody had one too many





Tufted Titmouse   Mice have nothing on me; hey, I can fly – what more need I say? Ok, I can say more. I am one of the best groomed birds, I think, here and about. I sing a high whistled peter-peter-peter .  I am thankful for supplemental food at feeders as this (along with our innate curiosity) has facilitated my species expansion beyond the southern United States. Our motto is “If you feed us we will come.” Sort of like Uncle Fred!







Wild Turkey   We want a recount. Benjamin Franklin's vote was not counted. That darn lazy Bald Eagle who steals fish from Ospreys and is afraid of even a kingbird is no match for us Wild Turkeys. We are a bird of courage and the only recognition we get is on Thanksgiving when we end up on a platter instead of on the capitol. Our motto is “Gobble, gobble, suck it up and persevere”.

Barred Owl   Wise, but I am often hungry especially during ‘hard packed snow’ times – at which point I may come sit atop your feeders. Not for seed, but for the mice and rabbits that may come around to feed on the fallen seed. My motto is “Be wise in how you expend your energy and get plenty of rest when you can”

Oh, the “Give a Hoot, don’t pollute” did not come from me, but I endorse the message. I take credit for all the nifty crafty and wise owl sayings otherwise!

Barred Owl...

on top of lunch, dinner, and supper. 

                                                       Napkin please



Love birds

Love Birds   Our motto is “In order to see birds it is necessary to become part of the silence. ~Robert Lynd.   

Stop, Look, and Listen. Nature will astound you.  ~Bernie


Feed them and they will come.