Hi Eben, White-throated Sparrows are common migrants in our area but quite uncommon as breeders (We're at the southern edge of their breeding range). So, they're not typical feeder birds for us in summer.
Indigo Buntings, on the other hand, are common breeders here. So you need a different explanation for not seeing much of them at your feeders in summer. I'd suggest that insects are that explanation. Insects and spiders form a big part of the Indigo Bunting's summer diet. So these birds arrive well behind the White-throated Sparrow pulse, just as insect populations are exploding. Soon their favorite foods are plentiful in the wild, and feeders just become less attractive. -Geo Kloppel On May 9, 2014, at 6:11 PM, Eben McLane <etmcl...@gmail.com> wrote: > I am curious if anyone knows about migrating birds that appear regularly at > feeders (home, CLO, anywhere bird feeders are maintained) and then disappear > after a week or so. Do they use the feeders as a staging area, so to speak, > for dispersal locally, or as a roadside tavern for a longer journey north? I > suspect maybe a combination of these two, plus other possibilities that I > can’t think of, which is why I throw the question out to you. > > I understand that the White-crowned Sparrows at my feeders for the last three > weeks are headed farther north, and probably soon. But I don’t understand why > White-throated Sparrows (in abundance, and now singing lustily) also > disappear around the same time. Maybe they’re North Ontario birds and > migrating with the White-crowned? This goes on year after year, by my > observation. Indigo Buntings also spend a week or so at the feeders, then > simply disappear. In summer, I see the latter two species in habitats not > much different from the land right around my house. So, I’m a little confused. > > Any thoughts? > > Eben McLane > -- > > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html > 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds > 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- > -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
