Let me tell you, moving during a pandemic…don’t really recommend it. But in April I moved right in between the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul to a town called Falcon Heights. Some would call it a suburb, I call it convenient. And before any wiseacre asks are there any falcons in Falcon Heights, it is robust with merlins. So much so that in April not only did I show merlins to friends who visited the yard, one night a male and female came screaming in, locked talons and crash landed on my next door neighbor’s roof. After that they copulated loudly with abandon.

So yeah, there are falcons in Falcon Heights.

There were bird feeders in the yard but they were tucked back in a corner, surrounded by bushy native plants and not as easily viewable as I’d like unless you were standing in one particular spot in the kitchen. That was something that always baffled me when I ran a bird store. Why bother with the expense of a bird feeder and seed if you don’t have it placed somewhere that you can easily view it? The birds really don’t need your seed. You’re essentially providing fast food for the birds, they can’t survive on it alone, it can help but they have their eyes on lots of food out there.

So poles were moved, feeders were added, squirrel baffles adjusted and appropriate seed purchased. Before long the birds took note. After adjust the feeders it took about a week for the birds to be on board. It took even longer for the woodpeckers to get the idea. But I knew from experience that chickadees will check out a new feeder first. Once they start, the others followed. And so it began.

Fly thru feeder is fifteen feet away from a tree trunk or branches. Coupled with a baffle, the squirrels stay out of it. Small suet cage was attractive to small woodpeckers.

Northern flicker tries braving the suet cage. After this comedy show, I decided it was time for a bigger suet feeder.

I love an old woodpile—so much bird potential (and native bees). Some of these were turned into feeders.

The yard came with a good base layer of native plants for Minnesota: chokecherry, pin cherry, wild American plum just to name a few. When spring really began to pop there was also brown-eyed Susan, rose hips, Joe Pye weed, butterfly weed and a host of others. I even tried my hand at planting a few natives and discover that I can actually grow cardinal flower without killing it and that it’s true, hummingbirds really like it.

But I really fell in love with the woodpile. So much bird feeding potential and it makes a great backdrop for taking pictures of birds. Quite a few species lurk around woodpiles looking for insects living in them. But native sparrows love them too. And since I wasn’t traveling or meeting friends for drinks after working in the home office all day, I began timing the end of my work day to coincide with golden hour—that great evening light and set up my digiscoping equipment and an adult beverage and just enjoyed my backyard birds. I even purchased a bag of extra fine sunflower chips and would scatter them far and wide for the native sparrows to pick out in the woodpile.

When I ran a bird store, I sold logs with holes for suet anywhere from $15.99 to $69.99. Not kidding, I sold a $70 holey log. This was a branch from the wood pile with holes drilled by an obliging young man…for free.

White-throated sparrow foraging around the woodpile.

This hollow log gets everything from catbirds to cardinals to shrews to rabbits.

I love a chonky fox sparrow. They are my favorite MInnesota sparrow.

It was gratifying to know that I still “have it” when it comes to bird feeding. There was a planter tray that had been used as a birdbath. I took some pieces of limestone from the crumbling limestone patio and added to that to bird bath, the birds were in like a shot. I don’t know why, but birds seem to find baths faster with rocks. They love shallow water and I’m not sure if wet rocks are easier for them to see, but it makes a difference.

It’s not all drinking and birds. I do wander the neighborhoods quite a bit. I can’t stay idle and generally try to hit my 10,000 steps a day. If I ever get to lead bird walks again, I want to be ready. One day taking one of my many pandemic walks in the neighborhood a van swerved next to me and the driver asked, “Do you want to see a baby owl?”

I didn’t have binoculars on and the woman didn’t look like anyone I’d met in the neighborhood yet. “How did you know I was a birder,” I asked.

She looked confused and said, “I didn’t. I just assumed everyone wants to see a baby owl.”

Well, she’s not wrong in my case.

Turns out her friend lived in the neighborhood and had been posting the owls on her Facebook page. She was so excited that she wanted to share it with the world.

I saw the owls and marveled at how I’d missed the poop on the street. I cut myself some slack since I was relatively new to the hood. I went home to get my scope and came back for photos. I enjoyed watching the rest of their development over the months. This has turned out to be an owly neighborhood. They are hooting like crazy this November which I can only assume is early flirting and they are setting up territory nearby again.

There are worse places to land during a pandemic when a travel writer can’t fly. And it’s been a pleasure getting to know my yard birds again. I have always loved me some brown birds and the sparrow action in April did not disappoint. I did eventually get some colorful birds…but that’s a May story.

Lincoln’s sparrow pass through in April and October.