ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 24, 1997 TAG: 9702250148
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
A few warm days this past week, and the bluebirds begin flitting around birdhouses, the brick-red breasts of robins were adding color to winter-yellow lawns, woodcocks were buzzing about like wind-up toys and the red-winged blackbirds were adding the sound of ``Tonk-a-leee'' to the marshes.
Maybe no one was saying anything foolish, like, ``It looks like spring is finally here,'' but at least some of the signs of spring were being flaunted in winter's face.
There was irony to the fact that the birds of spring had begun to return at a time when the birds of winter were yet to arrive.
It has been a strange year for bird-watchers. Talk among birders this winter often has centered around the scarcity of birds at backyard feeders. In many cases, feeders swaying from tree limbs have been more like decorations than dinner tables. Seed and suet bills have been soft on the budget.
``I just got back from a meeting of the Virginia Society of Ornithology on Eastern Shore, and we were all discussing it,'' said Linda Cory, president of the Roanoke Valley Bird Club.
Cory has not had to wear a path in her back yard near the foot of Bent Mountain to keep her five feeders full. Take the one that contains thistle seed: ``I have only filled that twice this winter. Before, I would probably fill it every two weeks.''
The National Audubon Society is using the shortage of birds around feeders this winter to support its campaign to raise money to protect bird habitat.
In a letter that reached many Audubon members this past week, Walter Pomeroy, the regional vice president, asked: ``Are there fewer birds at your bird feeder than even a year or two ago?''
For local birders, the answer might be yes and no.
This past winter, birds lined up to wolf down the offerings in feeders. The previous winter, birds ignored the hand that fed them, leaving action around feeders so slow it might have been called a ``silent'' winter.
``We had deeper snows last year, and I think birds flocked to feeders more,'' said Barry Kinzie, a Botetourt County orchardist who turned 65 acres of his property into a nature center called Woodpecker Ridge.
Maybe last year's abundance of birds has made this season appear more disconcerting than it really is. Certainly, one of the ingredients lacking this winter has been Northern birds.
``We didn't get any kind of push of Northern birds,'' Kinzie said. ``There are a few purple finches around, but red-breasted nuthatches just didn't come down this time; grosbeaks didn't come down; pine siskins didn't come down.''
As for theories on their absence, Kinzie said: ``I don't know. Some people say it has to do with the cone crop on the conifers up North, but I really don't know. I don't think that says it all. Some years they come, and some they don't. Anytime we get a real rough winter, we get plenty of those Northern birds.''
The best bird-watching around feeders this winter is to come, Kinzie predicts.
``It has really picked up the last two weeks,'' he said. ``By now, they have eaten up a lot of the wild food. Now they are hitting the feeders. I think the next month will be the biggest time. It is that way any year.''
What might be classified as a lackluster year has been brightened in the minds of some birders by a couple of rare, albinistic birds that have been spotted throughout the winter in the Poages Mill area of Roanoke County. One feeder has been attracting a partly albino cardinal and partly albino titmouse.
``What is so odd is to have both of them at the same feeder,'' Cory said.
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: JANEL RHODA/Staff. A chickadee takes advantage of suetby CNBat a Roanoke County feeding station. The cardinal with a white head
(below) is one of the rare birds Linda Cory (lower right) has
observed and photographed this winter in the Poages Mill area of
Roanoke County. Cory is president of the Roanoke Valley Bird Club.
color.