All posts by parmacetti

Friday – 1.20.2017

2:00 PM – The new feeder/birdbath arrangement is up. The food is now in the larger pan, closer to the water. It can accommodate at least seven White Throated Sparrows at one time. See video below:

8:00 AM – The rain last night filled the birdbath we’ve been using as a platform feeder, covering up the seeds. Here’s a Tufted Titmouse at dawn, expecting a morning snack and finding…nothing.

7:05 AM – A few weeks back I saw a male Cardinal that had be mauled by something – maybe a hawk or cat. There was an ugly gash between neck and wing. I think I saw him again, and the wound had healed. This video shows the before and after:

In this video we get a brief view of a squirrel with a bite taken out of it’s ear. It’s not the same one-eared squirrel I saw a few days ago. Evidently this kind of injury is common due to fights over territory, or dominance. It’s no picnic being a wild animal.

Thursday – 1.19.2017

10:30 AM – D filled the platform feeder again. Minutes later the place was overrun with hungry birds. Here are female House Finches (the ones with striped breasts) and White Throated Sparrows sharing. I think those sparrows are the White Throated variety, but they don’t exactly look like the pictures on the Cornell Lab bird ID site.

A few minutes later, while the sparrows are still feeding, a Red-Bellied Woodpecker flies in. When he tries to step into the feeder, he slides down to the bottom. The feeder is really a birdbath, and not well suited for feeding, but for now it will have to do.

8:10 AM – D took down the platform feeder (previously bird bath) because the seeds were soaked through from the rain. She’s going to replace it with fresh food, but before she could, the birds discovered that their favorite feeder was gone. Here’s the Carolina Wren scavenging in the upside down feeder, then giving up:

And here’s a bewildered Tufted Titmouse. He tries a peanut, but that’s not good. One last look at the camera, and he’s gone:

5:20 AM – These White Throated Sparrows are always around the feeders, but I don’t post videos of them very often. The ‘color’ birds (Jays and Cards) get all the press. But I like the markings on these little Sparrows. Here’s a couple feeding, before getting run off by Mr. Cardinal (naturally).

Wednesday – 1.18.2017

5:35 AM – One of the ‘wild’ cats spent about 10 minutes at the feeder this morning – actually about a half hour ago. He seems to be picking out the chopped nuts D added to the mix yesterday.

Lots of Blue Jay activity. In this clip two Jays appear. One is slightly smaller than the other, and the chest marking is a little different. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website (the best), male and female Blue Jays look about the same.

We saw a couple of videos on YouTube showing birds (and squirrels) enthusiastically carrying off peanuts in the shell. Here, a Blue Jay picks up a peanut (in between sessions at the feeder) and flies off. Less than 10 seconds later (before he had time to eat the nut) he’s back at the water trough, so I assume he didn’t care for it.

We post Cardinal videos all the time, but here’s one that has a good view of Mr. Cardinal breaking open and eating Black Oil Sunflower seeds. He’s really good (naturally) at cracking the seed, discarding the chaff and keeping the meat.

Tuesday – 1.17.2017

4:15 AM – I spotted a squirrel with his left ear missing (most of it, anyway). I supposed he got mauled by a cat. I don’t think squirrels fight that viciously, though maybe they do during mating season. Anyway, it doesn’t see to keep him from eating and drinking.

Don’t see Woodpeckers sitting in the platform feeder very often, but this Red-Bellied Woodpecker is right there. Not for long though. Once he gets a few nuts, he flaps away.

Monday – 1.16.2017

9:50 AM – The chopped nuts D puts out are certainly the most popular item, at least with some species. Here’s a one clip (of many) of a Blue Jay wolfing down one.

Mr. Cardinal clears the feeder of White Throated Sparrows. He seems to prefer the Black Oil Sunflower seeds to the chopped nuts.

I’m not sure what species is most numerous in the yard, but it’s probably between the Finches and the Sparrows. Here’s some White Throated Sparrows hogging the feeder:

The camera only caught the head of a woodpecker – probably a Red-Bellied Woodpecker – but you can see a good shot of the very impressive beak. He looks like he could give you a good stabbing.

Sunday – 1.15.201

8:05 AM – Busy morning at the troughs. A Blue jay has breakfast. We’re seeing these guys more and more.

I’m not sure exactly what bird this is, other than some kind of finch. It’s got that yellow patch at the base of the tail, which makes me think it might be a non-reproducing Goldfinch. Not really sure though.

Saturday – 1.14.2017

9:00 AM – Small crowd of White Throated Sparrows gorge on seeds while ignoring the fresh orange specially procured and prepared for them by D. Birds are ingrates.

4:30 AM – The peanuts D puts out for the birds are very popular. Squirrels like them too, of course. Here’s a Blue jay and a Red-Bellied Woodpecker have a sample. The woodpecker is only on the video for a few seconds at the start, he grabs and flies away.

We read that some birds like fruit, so we put a couple of orange halves out for them. One we put on the spike we used for the squirrels corn cob – which turned out to be uninteresting to them. The other we put in the new deck platform feeder. So far, no takers. Here’s a Carolina Wren taking  a look at it.

 

 

Friday – 1.13.2017

8:05 AM – This brief video shows a White Breasted Nuthatch landing in the platform feeder, grabbing a nut and flying off. It’s unusual since the bird doesn’t look like most of the other Nuthatches I’ve seen in the yard. Those have a sort of off white/brownish breast, while this one is bright white. Same bird, though:

4:05 AM – The cat was back last night for a drink of water. Or one of the cats, anyway – it’s hard to tell the difference sometimes, and we have a rotating cast of those animals around here. Actually, he starts to drink, then changes his mind.

Thursday – 1.12.2016

2:20 PM – It’s a lot warmer, up into the 70’s, but the birds are still eating like it’s below freezing – that is to say, a lot. Here’s a Purple Finch and a Cardinal at the lunch counter:

These Cardinals have really strong beaks. Here’s a video of a male making short work of sunflower seeds:

And finally, a couple of really hungry Finches:

 

Wednesday – 1.11.2017

1:00 AM – Since the new platform feeder went up there’s a lot of activity on the deck. Here are some videos of typical bird action. The squirrels haven’t visited the new feeder yet. That will be interesting to watch.

Lots of Purple Finches, and one White Throated Sparrow:

Cardinal and Finch – the Finch isn’t intimidated by the bigger bird:

Pigeon (Mourning Dove) swilling non-stop:

Purple Finch runs off the other birds: