Hello all,
I've been witnessing a similar behavior with the Broad-tailed Hummingbirds at my house. One will hover near the cement mortar around the brick exterior and then fly in and peck at that mortar, for several times. I've witnessed this on more than one occasion. I also have watched the females fly down to exposed dirt and peck (for lack of a better word) at the dirt. They will even sit on the ground and peck at the dirt. I had thought they might be gathering nesting material, but they just flew up to an overhanging limb and sat there. (This limb is not somewhere they built a nest, just a favorite sitting limb.)
With the cement mortar, I was wondering if they are getting calcium from that....
Open to comments.
Maureen Blackford
Boulder County
8500' elevation
Sent: Tuesday, July 04, 2023 9:04 AM
To: Colorado Birds
Subject: [cobirds] A Goldfinch challenge for David Leatherman
Why would a Goldfinch cling to a brick wall for a minute and a half?
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At 7 AM when I walked into my garden I was treated to a brilliant Amer.
Goldfinch male who flew directly from my Bachelor Button patch to the
side of my yellow-brick garage. The brick has an extremely rough texture,
so it was easy to cling to. Although there were lots of "gnats" in the air,
there weren't any near the wall, which is protected by a 3' overhang. I expected
the bird to immediately move on, but he lingered and lingered, making little
pecking movements at the brick and perhaps at the mortar. It came to mind
that Amazon parrots peck up clay, but it seems unlikely that 80-year-old mortar
would be digestible. Maybe a small spider or spider eggs? After the bird left,
I examined the wall but could see absolutely nothing. If it was a small spider, how
extraordinary that the bird saw it in the shade from 25 yards away.
P.S. to gardeners: Bachelor Buttons are incredibly easy to grow, and they self-sow,
so there's almost no work involved in having a patch. Bees, including some native
bees, love it, and American Goldfinches, Lesser Goldfinches, and House Finches
will come to it from time to time for the developing seeds.
David Gulbenkian, Crown Hill area, Jeffco
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