Wildlife Feeders

     This winter, 2018-2019, I enjoyed "visiting" four sets of wildlife feeders at different locations through our home computer.  The feeders are at Akron, Ohio, outside Ithica, New York, Ontario in Canada and outside Salem, Iowa.  At least one camera at each group of feeders focuses on the various birds and mammals that come to the feeders daily to dine.  Through those cameras and our computer screen, it's like sitting in the comfort of a mobile home and watching the wildlife through a picture window.
     Feeders at Akron are in a lawn at the edge of woody thickets, and wetlands filled with phragmites.  Swarms of house sparrows often dominate those feeders with their numbers.  Other kinds of birds there include several northern cardinals, blue jays, mourning doves and white-throated sparrows.  And several each of American crows, red-winged blackbirds, common grackles and starlings come to those feeders. 
     Woodland birds come to those feeders as well, including black-capped chickadees, tufted titmice, downy, hairy and red-bellied woodpeckers, and white-breasted nuthatches.  These birds emerge from nearby deciduous thickets.
      Once an adult red-shouldered hawk swooped onto one of the feeders, scattering all diners in fear.  That raptor probably was looking for an easy meal of a bird or squirrel.  
     A couple species of mammals are there regularly, including cottontail rabbits and gray squirrels.  There is, also, a black squirrel there, which is a color phase of gray squirrels.  
     Feeders near Ithica are bordered by woods, lawns and a pond.  Groups of northern cardinals, blue jays, mourning doves, American goldfinches and dark-eyed juncos are, daily, the most common birds at these feeders.  
     Individual black-capped chickadees, tufted titmice, white-breasted nuthatches and downy, hairy and red-bellied woodpeckers come out of the woods to feed at these feeders.  These species add a bit of variety to the flocks of birds at the feeders.
     At least a few tree sparrows were at this set of bird feeders, adding a bit of novelty to them.  Tree sparrows nest between the boreal forests and tundra of Canada and Alaska.
     And a few kinds of mammals are present at the feeders, including cottontail rabbits, gray squirrels and red squirrels.  Red squirrels are a distinct type of northern squirrels.
     Feeders north of Lake Superior in Ontario are in someone's yard near lakes, wetlands and mixed deciduous and coniferous forests.  Black-capped chickadees, red-breasted nuthatches, blue jays and hairy woodpeckers come to those feeders.  And there are other species of birds there that either I've never seen at feeders or usually don't come south for the winter.  Some winter finches are there, including beautiful evening grosbeaks, pine grosbeaks, common redpolls and pine siskins.  And a raven, ruffed grouse and a few gray jays also came to those feeders.  Those feeders are far enough north to have birds we in Pennsylvania don't normally see at feeders, or at all this far south.
     But my favorite wildlife feeder is a hopper full of corn in a deciduous woodlot outside Salem, Iowa.  An interesting variety of birds and mammals visit that hopper day and night.  We can see the night critters because of infrared lighting.
     Sometimes 20 white-tailed deer at once feed from that open hopper of corn.  The deer often are quarrelsome, lifting up on back legs and striking at each other with front legs, but without bloodshed.  They are always alert and quick to flee at any slight disturbance.  Some deer limp from leg injuries and might be eliminated by coyotes in the area.  One viewer posted that three coyotes were chasing a deer.    
     Several each of gray squirrels and fox squirrels come to the corn to feed during the day.  Fox squirrels are larger and chunkier that the grays, and, perhaps, a bit more stately. 
     Never in my life have I seen so many red-headed woodpeckers as at this corn feeder.  We have them here in Pennsylvania, but not so many as outside Salem, Iowa.  There may be as many as five or six beautiful red-heads at that feeder at once, and they are constantly coming and going.  That striking kind of woodpecker must be doing well in the American mid-west where the species originated.
     Several kinds of birds visit this hopper during the day, including red-bellied woodpeckers, wild turkeys, American crows, mourning doves, blue jays, northern cardinals, white-throated sparrows and dark-eyed juncos.  These pretty, active birds, and other kinds, no doubt, liven the corn hopper each day through winter.  
     A few kinds of mammals come to the corn hopper at night.  Viewers can see them clearly, plus their eye shine of reflected light.  Up to a dozen raccoons are the most interesting of these.  They crawl into the hopper and eat corn kernels until they are full.  The coons and deer don't seem to be afraid of each other.  Sometimes a cottontail or an opossum also come to the feeder. 
     But what appears to be deer mice also come to the hopper to get kernels off the ground; one kernel at a time per mouse.  I see the eye shine of the mice and then the little critters themselves as they scurry across the ground.  The coons chase the mice, if they see them.  But I don't know if the raccoons catch any mice to eat or not.
     Though it's not usually necessary to feed wildlife, feeders are interesting to watch.  I have enjoyed them in these far-flung lands.  And we more easily learn what creatures are in any given area.