7:45 AM – Just before we put out the feeders this morning this Yellow-rumped Warbler was hopping around, first in line for the platform seeds. He’s got a cool yellow racing stripe on his head.
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1:41 AM – One of the bluebird fledgling videos from the last few days:
10:29 AM – Bruno the neighbor dog jumped the fence again this morning. In the first section he’s in the bottom left corner – he pauses briefly to listen to, and ignore, his owner calling him. We always enjoy our visits from Bruno, and he seems to have a good time.
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9:14 AM – Bluebird fledglings are back. There are three of them, and they seem to be getting stronger, better at flying and hopping. Not always though. Here’s one trying to take off from the birdbath and getting an involuntary dunking.
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7:56 AM – Early morning Hummingbird.
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4:06 AM – The bluebirds made a brief appearance yesterday morning, but that was it. With any luck, we’ll get some good footage of them today. In the meantime, here’s a couple of standard variety Carolina Chickadees. These little hoppers are among of my favorites.
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Heavy traffic at the mealworm feeder.
12:05 AM – This is great. I had no idea these young bluebirds could be so aggressive.
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One of the fledglings takes his first bath (probably). I guess he’s a little preoccupied when dad comes by with a snack. Which must have annoyed Mr. Bluebird, since he seems to spend every moment of the day ferrying mealworms from the feeder to a bird-mouth.
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Here’s a break from the many home movies the bluebird parents now have of the kids growing up. We had a Ruby-throated Hummingbird have a nice long drink of nectar. We’re really looking forward to swarms of them this summer.
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Finally, this Yellow-rumped Warbler has some markings we haven’t seen before. He’s a little small and rotund, and we’re wondering if he might be a fledgling, or maybe a little older.
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7:32 AM – First thing this morning we have fledgling bluebirds at the platform feeder. Following are several videos. In the first, we see Mrs. Bluebird feeding one a mealworm, while one of the chicks makes a stab at feeding himself.
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Here’s one landing in the feeder. They’re still a little awkward.
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This little one is still working on his hopping skills:
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Fledglings in the feeder, good shot of one of them getting fed by mama Bluebird.
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Two fledglings are visited briefly by a goldfinch.
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Mrs. Bluebird feeding the fledglings, and the new birds drinking:
The fledglings don’t look like they’re going anywhere, so we should have more videos later today, or, more likely, tomorrow morning. We don’t want to overdose on bluebird cuteness this morning.
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1:35 AM – From yesterday’s activity, here’s something you don’t see everyday. The strong wind gives Mrs. Cardinal an unexpected ‘punk’ style crest.
1:17 AM – A few days ago we had a video showing the Bluebird taking mealworms away from the feeder, presumably to it’s mate, or chicks. They’re not the only ones doing that. Here we see the same thing with the Carolina Wren (in this case, the Half-tailed Wren), and a Carolina Chickadee.
The Chickadee:
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We’ve never seen the Red-bellied Woodpecker at the mealworm feeder, but here he is. Compared to the usual mealworm snackbar patrons, he’s huge.
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This raccoon casually takes a shortcut across the deck. The coon-deterrent floodlight we put on the porch doesn’t faze him at all. Nor does the fact that D and the dog were just on the deck minutes before, and that we were right inside moving around. Oh well. At least he hasn’t built a den right under the deck (I think).
2:14 AM – We had a second hummingbird sighting late yesterday afternoon, this one a little longer. It’s a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, for sure.
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The Carolina Wren with no tail disappeared, and in it’s place appeared a wren with partial tail feathers. I’m assuming it’s the same bird due to the ‘coincidence’ of the no-tail disappearing just as the partial-tail arrives on the scene. The wren seems to have regenerated it’s tail feathers. A little research told us that this is not only possible, but normal. How little we know about birds. In the wrens case, it seems that only some of the tail feathers are back. The tail looks suspiciously narrow. If the follicles at the base of the tail are damaged, no tail feathers. Incidentally, it looks as if the wren, like the bluebirds, is carrying off mealworms, presumably to a mate or chicks.
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A busy day at the mealworm feeder. The first bird is the new-tailed Carolina Wren.
1:50 AM – The first hummingbird of the season, and the first to be captured on our Hummer Cam (formerly the Suet Cam). He’s only visible for less than a second, but this shows the hummers are here, and the security cameras can record them.
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4:10 AM – We haven’t seen any female Bluebirds for several days now, and the male is still carrying food off somewhere – presumably to her. We’re looking forward to seeing small Bluebirds eventually.
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Here’s a Ghost Cardinal in the rain.
1:05 AM – The Cardinals continue to share food. We assume it’s part of the spring mating process. Wonder how long it will go on.
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The Bluebirds are now taking mealworms away from the feeder. More mating/chick producing behavior, evidently.
12:23 AM – A flock of Cedar Waxwings swarmed the two birdbaths yesterday. I’ve never seen one live and in person. I think they came by 3 or 4 times in the morning. Presumably they went off to feed somewhere else, as they didn’t hit any of the feeders.
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Nice closeup of the Cardinals sharing. They have been doing this frequently the last few days.
3:20 AM – One more video of Cardinals sharing food. This is my favorite, so far:
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In this video, a male Bluebird, in sort of a feeding frenzy, knocks the mealworm feeder off it’s pole onto the ground. We returned the feeder to service, more firmly secured. Our blue friends can be furiously enthusiastic, everyone knows that, so we weren’t too shocked by the incident.