Thursday – 9.28.2017

3:01 AM – Here’s a Cardinal flapping his wings and quivering. He can’t be too distressed – he keeps eating all through the performance. Presumably he’s displaying to some bird we can’t see in the video.

Activity at the mealworm feeder. Carolina Chickadees are regulars there, but they are usually hit-and-run feeders, picking up a mealworm and flying off. In this case, the Chickadee stays around for a while and eats on site. Next, the Carolina Wren stabs at the worms so fast it’s hard to tell if he’s eating them, or just knocking them down on the ground. A slow motion view (not shown) revealed that he’s doing both.

 

Wednesday – 9.27.2017

1:05 AM – Close up videos of a couple of juvenile bluebirds on the mealworm feeder.

The Carolina Chickadees again. In the first clip, compare the color of the Chickadee’s and Cardinals breast feathers. The Chickadee’s coloring is really a lot richer than it’s supposed to be (at least, according to the Internet).

 

Tuesday – 9.26.2017

4:05 AM – Noisy Blue Jay opening seeds while a cardinal looks on. What the video doesn’t show is a long showdown between the two birds, with some impressive feather display by the Cardinal. Didn’t do him any good, though. Blue Jays prevail.

Mrs. Cardinal posturing on the Squirrel Buster. My favorite part is at the end, when she bends over and shows us her bird rear end before flapping away. Take that, video camera!!

Monday – 9.25.2017

2:41 AM – Now that we have the camera pointed at the mealworm feeder we’re getting lots of video of the bluebirds. In this one, it’s a couple of adults, but there are a lot of juveniles around too (video of them to come soon).

Here we have Mrs. Cardinal – looking good in richly colored brown feathers – displaced by Mr. Cardinal. A Carolina Chickadee shares the feeder for a little bit. That loud noise that startles Mr. Cardinal, and makes him so vigilant, is a hickory nut hitting the deck.

Sunday – 9.24.2019

12:33 AM – Sunday we have videos from the past.

Three juvenile bluebirds are hanging around the birdbath, until a juvenile American Robin shows up. I wasn’t sure what that bird was, so I confirmed with Cornell Lab’s website – yes, it’s a young robin.

Next, a robin having a good, splashy bath, water flying everywhere.

Saturday – 9.23.2017

3:47 AM – It’s a tale of two wrens. Carolina Wrens, that is.  One of them has tail feathers, the other doesn’t. Both of them navigate the feeder just fine.

It looks like molting time is over for the cardinals. Here’s one that has almost all his feathers back, and they’re really bright red.

Friday – 9.22.2017

12:01 AM – We moved the mealworm feeder in front of a camera, so we’re getting videos of all those birds that really like mealworms. In this case, it’s bluebirds, young and adult, and a Red-bellied Woodpecker.

Sparrows are not as numerous around here, at this time of the year. I’m not sure exactly which kind this is. I’m calling it a White-throated Sparrow, but it could be some variety of Song or House Sparrow.

Thursday – 9.21.2017

1;38 AM – This is a video from a few days ago – a Red-bellied Woodpecker dominating a couple of Blue Jays. Here it is again, with a soundtrack, an original score.

We try to keep the feeders filled up, but sometimes they can stay empty for half day or more. This Blue Jay is clearly not happy about it. I like the part where he snouts (or beaks) the chaff around, demonstrating the lack of the good stuff. At the end, I swear he understands that we’re seeing him on camera, and he’s sending us a clear message: “This is sloppy work, you backyard birders! It’s time for a fill-up!” Then turns his back on us.

There was a lot of traffic on the Squirrel Buster feeder today. We got video of these, in order of appearance: A big, bright Cardinal, Carolina Chickadee with unusual coloring, a Brown-headed Nuthatch, and a female Purple Finch (she’s brown striped, not purple). The Brown-headed Nuthatch is pretty rare in our yard.

Wednesday – 9.20.2017

3:35 AM – This Carolina Wren has no tail. We’ve seen this before, about six months ago. Since we’re inexperienced backyard-birders, we didn’t think the loss of tail feathers might be natural molting. We assumed it was caused by a narrow escape from a cat. Who knows, maybe it was, but molting is more likely. One way or another, the wren doesn’t have any trouble getting around.

This batch of Carolina Chickadees are in-and-out, one after another, while Mrs. Cardinal placidly grazes at the Squirrel Buster feeder. Chickadees are a lot of fun to watch.

 

 

Backyard Birds in Central Alabama