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.
One of my neighbors lets her cat roam the neighborhood so I didn't want to take my eyes off this little guy until he was in a safe spot.
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!
Warning! Sad story ahead :(
I peaked in the nest and noticed the little guy left was quite a bit smaller than his sibling and didn't quite look ready to leave the nest so I thought he might stay in there a little longer. Well, he had other ideas! Not even an hour later, I checked on him and this is what I saw...
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...
The little guy was trying so hard to fly up and over my fence to get into the backyard and so I opened the gate for him and coaxed him through it.
He quickly found another hiding spot and stayed there awhile.
As an aside, it may not look like it but during this whole ordeal I tried to give this little guy his space so mom and dad could watch over him, feed him and know where he was. I was just keeping an eye out for the cat!
After he left this spot, his mom came down and tried to show him how to fly in this short video.
After flight school with mom, he hopped himself to a nice shady, hidden spot between a fence and our shed. Once there, he slept for a few hours. As it started getting darker, he nestled down in the rocks but kept chirping. The rest of his family had all bedded down for the evening somewhere else and I felt so bad leaving this guy all alone for the night. I just had a feeling he wasn't going to make it with that cat prowling around...and fox and
racoons, etc. When the sun went down, he was sleeping quietly so we didn't interfere.
Morning came and to my relief he was still there! Yay! He was still staying in the same area behind the shed but was moving around a bit and chirping away. I didn't take any pictures of him this morning but I took this little video of him looking up at his dad on the fence...
I checked on him very frequently as I wanted to keep track of where he might go. I went inside for about 10 minutes and when I came back out I saw my neighbor's black cat dart from behind the shed, scurry under the bushes and hop the fence. The baby bird has not bee seen since :(
Now a bit of a vent from me: I know the period of time after a bird leaves the nest and before it learns to fly is a very vulnerable time because of the multitude of predators but what angers me is the cat that killed this baby bird is someones pet and doesn't need to hunt for food to survive, it does it purely for the sport of it (yes, I know, that's what cats do yada-yada, blah, blah). It came into MY yard as it does on a regular basis. I choose not to own a cat yet I have to deal with someone else's cat coming into my yard using my sandbox and grass as a litterbox! It irks me quite a bit to say the least. If you choose to own a cat, keep it indoors...your cat-less neighbors will thank you for it! There, done venting!
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...
