1:24 AM – The Cardinals are getting their head feathers back, vivid red and thick, and it seems to make them aggressive. This video shows one male loudly confronting several doves.
We are delighted to see that the One-eared Squirrel is still around. We’re not so delighted to see that he seems to have adapted to the hot pepper seed. That stuff seems to repel most other squirrels, but most other squirrels aren’t as tough and resilient as the One-ear.
3:15 AM – Sunday Archive videos:
Goldfinch on the ‘finch sock’, January 2017.
This looks a little like a young bluebird, but according to the Cornell Lab’s website it’s a juvenile robin. It’s bigger than the little bluebirds, and the markings/color exactly match the images on the Cornell site.
Here’s an image of the juvenile robin from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Since the robins are usually ground feeders, we don’t often get videos of them. Thats too bad.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Robin/id
1:44 AM – We moved some of the feeders to new locations, and pointed the cameras at them. This video of a Cardinal at the Squirrel Buster feeder is from that new set up. Otherwise, it’s just a clip of a bird that likes to eat.
According to the Cornell Labs website, the Carolina Chickadee and the Black-capped Chickadee look pretty much the same, except for the more colorful sides/breast of the Black-capped. And more important, the location. The Black-capped Chickadees are found up North, and in the mid-west, while the Carolina’s are found in the South. Since we live in Alabama, this is probably a Carolina Chickadee, but it’s the most colorful Chickadee we’ve seen so far.
12:43 AM – The Red-bellied Woodpecker really dominates the feeder when he’s around. He actually pecks the other birds, instead of ‘displaying’ or feinting.
The Cardinal seems unperturbed by the doves he shares the feeder with, though he keeps a wary eye on the ones that get too close. I’m happy to see his post-molting feathers seem to be coming in nice and bright.
1:21 AM – I know it’s all natural, but I still hate to see the local feral cats get one of the birds. This video has a brief but graphic moment at the end when a Mourning Dove gets taken. There will be more pleasant videos to watch tomorrow.
WARNING – GRAPHIC VIOLENCE
Did that Blue Jay just try to steal a seed out of his buddy’s beak? It sure looks like it.
2:01 AM – The tail end of Hurricane Irma was supposed to pass through here yesterday, but really nothing much happened. In spite of forecasts of winds in the 30’s and up, all we got were some gentle breezes and gentle rain showers. We’d taken in all the feeders and cameras, but went ahead and put the deck platform setup back into operation.
The “storm” didn’t stop the birds from eating. We got video of this wet Cardinal family having lunch.
Another survivor of the weather – this Carolina Wren seem more interested in chirping and hopping than eating. Something must be going on out of camera range.
12:02 AM – A couple of Blue Jays, peacefully feeding together, get evicted from the feeder by a Red-bellied Woodpecker. I don’t blame them – I’d get out of the way too. The Red-belly doesn’t stay long, and the Jay returns, after taking a good look around.
We’ve got a cardinal, a purple finch, a bluebird and what looks like a couple of goldfinches in the background, all at the same time.
2:32 AM – Blue Jay squawking for food, more food! And hanging around with their Blue Jay buddies.
Just to show it’s not always Blue Jays fighting, here are a couple of doves getting into a squabble:
12:06 AM – Videos from the Archives.
From April 18, here’s an Indigo Bunting snubbing us. He lands on the edge of the feeder, looks over the seed, sniff and departs. He never came back. Maybe he prefers more upscale accommodations.
A couple of months ago a flock of Grackles passed through. They don’t seem to have a problem with the quality of the food. No they don’t.
3:24 AM – This is the first sight of a bluebird in several weeks. They used to be all over the place. Here’s one at the cylinder feeder, then some bluebird activity at the platform feeder. These are all juveniles, and so have spots and stripe, and not too much blue on them.
We don’t see many squirrels in the platform feeder since we started using pepper seed – that is, seed impregnated with some kind of hot pepper flavoring. It doesn’t bother the birds, but it usually repels the squirrels and raccoons. Except for this tough customer, who seems to have developed an immunity.