It certainly wasn’t something I was expecting to see. I pulled into my driveway yesterday evening and a bit of motion caught my eye. A little fluttering movement off to the side. It was a bird.
Not that I don’t expect to see birds in my back yard. But they don’t tend to get too close. At least, not since the feeders came down.
I enjoy checking out the birds in the back yard, and since last year, when we were spending a lot more time a lot closer to home, I started trying to keep track of them. I knew this was something I hadn’t yet added to my list. I could tell that, just from a quick glance.
But as I say, there is no feeder to attract them. If you follow the Nova Scotia Bird Society, you probably realize they have been asking for several years now for feeders to come down and bird baths to be disabled when overnight temperatures stop dipping below zero. For a few years now, there have been cases of trichmonosis, a parasite that infects small birds. It gets passed from bird to bird in common gathering areas, like feeders and bird baths. Thus, the request to take such things down for the summer. Once you get freezing temperatures, the parasite can’t survive, so you can put them back up.
This bird seemed to be feeding on something. It kept flying around and hovering over my… compost bin?
The bird soon took off, so I hurried inside to grab a bird book while it was still fresh in my mind. Not that I would forget this bird. It was about the size of a chickadee, but had bright orange patches on black feathers. A colour scheme like that sort of jumps out at you. Orange and black aren’t really good camouflage.
I suspected something along the lines of a warbler of some type, based on the size and the bright colour. I was close. It was an American redstart. The bird book went on to say they tend to feed on flies. So that’s what it was doing. It also said it was one of the most abundant birds around. Although if it’s so abundant, why have I never seen one before?
I generally give my compost bin a quick rinse when it gets emptied. This week, I was in a hurry and didn’t get the chance to do that, so it would seem my compost bin had become a breeding ground for flies. Or, looking at it from a bird point of view, a bird feeder. But since this is the type feeder where the birds have to catch dinner in mid air and not stick their little faces in a common pile of seeds, it would seem this one might be okay to have around.
It was not something I expected. That my laziness would create a bird feeder. But it seemed to work. And even brought a new bird I had yet to add to my list.
So if you want me, I’ll be out back. Checking out what’s flying over the compost bin.
