Thank you to those who’ve sent in bird sightings. The latest include a red-tailed hawk being mobbed by crows on the bank of the Penobscot River in Bradley.

Another was a rare sighting of a Carolina wren. The wren’s usual range extends into upstate New York to the southernmost areas of Vermont and New Hampshire. Fields Pond Nature Center director Judy Markowsky reported two sightings in the past five years on Christmas bird counts (including this year).

The wrens like peanut butter and suet, and while they may be able to survive on feeders through a mild winter, a severe season may spell disaster to unfortunate birds caught this far north, she said.

Carolina wrens are distinguished from Maine’s two most common wrens, the winter wren and the house wren, by their light reddish-brown plumage, white throat and prominent white eyebrow.

While these unexpected sightings may be a treat, there is much to be said for our more common birds that stay through the long winters. For example, northern cardinals provide blazing, beautiful color in our cold landscape.

A woman wrote in a couple of weeks ago about seeing a male cardinal and what she thought was a female cardinal outside her window. Female cardinals do have more subdued coloration, exhibiting a light, grayish-brown, buff, or olive plumage. Even their beaks are lighter – a pale peach in contrast to the male’s bright red. Juvenile birds resemble the female, but their beaks are dark in color.

Unlike most songbirds, female cardinals sing just as much as males. In fact, what many people think are two males singing in response to each other is actually a male and female singing a duet.

Spring is not too far away, and it will provide many opportunities to be serenaded by these birds. It also will showcase a tender breeding behavior – mate feeding. A backyard bird feeder will enable you to observe the male bringing food to the female, and he may do this as many as four times per minute. He will continue to feed his mate until the eggs hatch.

Cardinals originally inhabited the Southeast, but within the last 100 years have gradually extended their range as far north as the southern Maritime Provinces. During the 1800s they were trapped extensively in the South and shipped to the North and overseas, coveted as cage birds for their song and color. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 curtailed this practice.

It is so much more exciting to enjoy birds in the wild. Here in Maine we have ample opportunity to do so. Happy bird-watching!

Bird sightings should be sent to Chris Corio, Fields Pond Nature Center volunteer, fieldspond@

juno.com