I noticed a new bird at my feeder several days ago and quickly snapped a few photos through the window. They were terrible pictures but enough that I could post them to the FeederWatch forum for identification. Turns out it's a White-Breasted Nuthatch. I've been waiting patiently for him to return and he finally did! This time I was waiting for him with my camera ready! I was lucky to catch the Downy in the same shot!!!
I spotted this fellow amongst the Mallards at my local pond. I wish I would've had my better camera. I always have my point-and-shoot just in case I spot something interesting.
I've seen and heard lots of these little guys at and around my feeder but they're so quick I can never get a good photo of one. I was finally determined to sit in my yard until I did!
I was thinking about offering seut in addition to the black oil sunflower seeds so I bought this functional feeder! It holds 5 lbs of seed and 2 suet blocks. It's been about a week now and the birds have barely touched the suet. They took to the feeder right away, though.
For several weeks now I suspected this Flicker was emptying my feeder just about everyday! I saw him at my feeder on occasion but it didn't seem like he was there long enough to eat a whole feeder of seed in one day. Then I noticed tons of uncracked seeds on the ground below the feeder. I Finally caught him in the act. He was at my feeder just pecking at all the seeds and throwing them all to the ground like he was looking for something better. Can you see all the seeds piled up under his feet??? Of course I have two squirrels that are dining very well right below the feeder these days. I'm not sure what to do to deter him from doing this because it's getting expensive having to fill it everyday. I was thinking about getting a Suet feeder so he'll go there instead.
My latest backyard visitor! In my quest to identify this bird I found that a Brewer's Sparrow and a Chipping Sparrow(winter plumage) are hard to distinguish. After looking at many pictures of both, I'm pretty sure this is a winter-plumage Chipping Sparrow! Frame created by KimB! Next topic...
Greg mounted a nice bracket and ran an extension cord out to the shed, getting it all hooked up safely to last the winter months. A closer look at his handywork of slicone and electrical tape....
You can never be too safe when it comes to electricity AND water!
Me, filling it up to test it out!
It needed to be weighted down with a rock so it wouldn't float but seems to be working nicely. All we neednow is some sub-zero weather to test it :)
It's only October 28th and we our in the midst of our first major snowstorm here in Colorado! With the snow came a new species to my feeder today! I happened to glance out my window and had to take a double-take at these incredibly fat birds (like little Robins on steroids!). I grabbed my camera and didn't get the most colorful pictures but I'm glad I at least got these as they didn't stay long.
A Blue Jay grabbing a peanut from my feeder! I think this is the first time I've actually seen a Blue Jay although I've heard their unmistakable call my whole life:)
Now this bird I had to research to identify. Turns out it is a Red-breasted Nuthatch! I only saw it at my feeder two times one day and luckily the second time I had my camera! In the picture below, I like how the finch is peeking around the corner watching the other bird with interest :)
All summer long the only birds I saw at my feeder were house finches and the occasional house sparrow so I was thrilled to have a chance to photograph some birds with a little color for a change! I recently bought some bird food with peanuts in it so that may be the reason for the new visitors. I hope to see more but with winter approaching I really have no idea what kind of birds I'll see as I never watched birds in the winter before :)
This photo I took just minutes before the 3rd one flew out of the nest! 2 had already left when I wasn't around and the final one left about a day after this one after constant coaxing and fly-by's from mama bird!
That will be about it for the nests this season and I'm already looking forward to next spring!
I don't know what he's got in his mouth (not sure I want to) but he stole it from another crow on one roof, carried it to another roof (pics above) and ate it in peace. It was quite comical watching him try to keep it from rolling off the roof while pecking away at it. I think a lot of people hate crows (along with pigeons) but I find them interesting and quite beautiful! I really don't know if this is a Raven or not but I think because of his size, maybe it was.
Remember this nest?? Well, it has 4 new eggs in it! I wasn't sure if house finches re-use old nests but I guess they do. Of course I don't know if it's the same mom or a different one that happened upon a good nest but it's exciting to have them around. In the following picture, I reached a mirror up there to see how many eggs!
After the babies left the satellite dish(see previous post), I checked the pine tree in the front yard to see if any of those babies have left the nest and it looked like 2 had left and the two in the photo above were still there. I checked on them again yesterday morning and noticed one was perched on the edge of the nest so I knew it was going to leave soon, too. I just happened to look out my window and see the first one fly out and land in my front yard.
He stayed her for about an hour...
and then he fell asleep! Finally he flew up but landed in the same spot and stayed there for quite some time again. Then he flew again and made it to the roof!
I was thrilled he was now a bit safer from the cat but I feared a hawk would snatch him up as he was right out in the open. Then it flew to a safe spot in my backyard tree! Yay, I was thrilled. I finally got to witness a successful journey from egg to flight!
He stayed her for a looooong time trying to work up the nerve to leave...
He finally did it and hopped into a shady spot on the side of the house. Once again, being a prime target for the cat...
They are getting bigger and starting to look a little more like birds now! I expect they will leave the nest sometime this week.
The squirrel deflector under the bird feeder has been working like a charm but they still like to hang out under it catching all the droped seeds. It doesn't bother me and it's fun to watch Kayla stalk them! Most of the time she just intimidates them by staring them down but every once in awhile she actually darts toward them and gives them a scare. In her younger days she would've been able to catch them but her arthritis has slowed her down :)
I've never noticed too many squirrels in my yard but when I put up the bird feeder, they showed up. On the first day, a squirrel just sat on the fence and starred at it most of the day then left and I didn't see him for a few days. I figured he gave up. I was wrong because when he came back he went right over to the feeder and climbed right up the pole and sat on my birdfeeder and helped himself. I wish I would've had my camera handy for that shot! Off I went to search the net for a solution. When I was about to head off to the local garden shop to buy one, my husband, being the craftsman that he is informed me he had all the supplies he needed to whip up a quick baffler himself. This is how he did it...
Cut some sheet metal...
Bent the edges in so they wouldn't be sharp...
Crimped the edges together to form a cone...
Formed a piece of wood to fit snuggly under the cone, around the pole...
Some screws to make it adjustable...
The finshed baffler looks like this...
So far it works like charm!
I was sitting under my tree and a little house finch and her mate stopped by to grab some nesting material from the old robin's nest. I'd like to think it was the finch couple from my gutter making a new, hopefully better located nest :)
Well, I was really hoping the rain would hold off until the nestlings fledged but no such luck. We had a fairly heavy rainstorm Saturday night while I wasn't home and I was worried how the nest would hold up. To my surprise, she was still sitting up there the next day. This picture was taken to show how her nest is damming up our downspout and all the water is spilling over the edge.
Here's dad after he stopped by to feed mom...
As I was taking a picture of this nest, the mom and dad were on my neighbor's roof keeping and eye on me. I took this picture of them and then I was lucky enough to get a photo of the dad feeding mom!
It didn't take long after finding this nest for me to become obsessed with the idea of watching this bird raise a family right in my yard. I envisioned all the great photo opportunities I would get as the nestlings beame fledglings and took their first flight. I immediatley got online and learned all there was to learn about American Robins. I could tell when she was laying her eggs and I knew when she was done because she rarely left the nest and when she did it was for a very short time. I became very curious to see how many eggs she had so I waited patiently for her to fly a safe distance away and I climbed on the shed roof and quickly took this photo on May 7, 2009 ...
I watched this robin sit on these eggs for 3 more days and on Mother's day I didn't see the robin anymore. I was so worried something may have happened to her and I kept an eye on the nest most of the day and still no robin. Finally, my husband went out to investigate. Much to our disappointment, the eggs were gone and there were a few blue eggshells scattered on the ground beneath. I was heartbroken over this and immediately needed to know what happened so I could prevent it from happening again...was it a cat, raccoon, squirrel? I'll never know for sure but I have an idea about what may have happened. I still need to do more research but I feel strongly that maybe it has something to do with this male House Sparrow that's guarding a nest on my neighbor's roof...
I noticed as the robin was building her nest, when she would leave this sparrow would come and steal nesting material from her. I also noticed that after her eggs were gone he was at her nest quite a bit. I climebed up ther one day and noticed the nest is all filled in with twigs and grass as to make it unusable for another bird. Well, I guess it's one of those mysteries that will never be solved.
At first I was thinking she was a House Wren but it seemed that her beak was too short. After spending some time watching her I noticed her mate and he was more identifiable due to his coloring. I did a search to find common birds for my area and came to the conclusion that thay are House Finches. Here a pic of the male and I fianally got a better pic of the girl when she landed on my neighbor's roof...
Here's another peak at her watching me. She's getting use to all the time we spend in the yard and doesn't seem quite as skittish as she first did.
Although it's way to high for me to see, I know she has eggs in there as she hardly ever leaves the nest and I saw the male come and feed her once.As I was sitting on my patio one morning, I saw that house sparrow from next door come and try to get in her nest twice but she (and I) scared him away. I'm a little concerned about her choice of a nest sight. As you can see it's in a gutter and right above it is a downspout. As if that's not bad enough, it's about a 15 feet drop to my concrete patio. I fear the thought of a heavy downpour and if they survive that, it will be a long drop if a nestling falls out or when the fledglings try to take their first flight. We shall see!
So that's about it for now. I'm hoping to have some exciting pictures in the coming weeks as the eggs hatch and hopefully there will be some successful fledglings taking flight! Thanks for stopping by!
