Although they are now listed as "uncommon" in bird books, I have read accounts from early settlers which describe seeing flocks of hundreds of birds.
This fall, we were quick to notice the arrival of a particular Solitaire as he insisted on constantly banging into the windows of the garage. Like most western ranches, we have a number of buildings that contain windows. We have decals on most of them and that has cut way down on the number of bird strikes we see but this guy was obviously intent on fighting his reflection. Upon advice from a number of experts in the field, I covered the garage windows as much as possible at which point he moved on to the bunkhouse. I did the same there and then he headed for our home. We took turns chasing him as he attacked; our biggest concern being that he would injure himself in his single-mindedness. Over a period of weeks he showed his persistence as he would wait until we left and then immediately attack the window or, if we were equally persistent, he would find any shiny object he could to attack his reflected twin.
Then, suddenly, he stopped. It didn't take long to see why - instead of one Solitaire we now had two! I don't know if they are a male and a female or two males but our buddy is no longer interested in beating up windows and instead spends much of his day hanging out with his new friend. Despite the unusually snowy and cold winter we have experienced, both birds have hung in. During the worst of the snow I actually watched them diving into snow banks to reach the juniper berries underneath even though we were feeding other birds seed at the feeder. They are smart. They wait just out of reach each morning for me to fill the llama's water tank and then they land on the edge to drink the water at its highest point when it is easy to reach. On days when the sun comes out, they land on the edge of the roof and drink the snowmelt as it runs off.
I am just so glad our Solitaire is solitary no more!
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