1. Male cardinal heard singing, then seen at feeder2. Bluejay killing chickadee
3. Hyper-hormonal white-breasted nuthatch courting titmouse
Not only does this seem early for cardinals, but they don't come up here. In 15 years I've never seen or heard one above the village level. As for bluejays, I knew they were omnivorous and robbed nests but never knew they could take a bird in flight. This one drove the chickadee against the window (or snagged it at the feeder and hit the house with it) before taking it up to a branch, killing it, and flying off with it. Then there was the nuthatch, hanging from the bottom of a branch above the feeder doing an elaborate umbrella dance, snapping its wings open and closed as it turned back and forth in semi-circles. The apparent object of this display was an oblivious titmouse on the feeder, but whether the nuthatch was courting or threatening, I don't know. Its dance just looked a lot like one of those tropical birds on a David Attenborough video.



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