Friday – 6.9.2017

2;17 AM – Is it just my imagination or does that squirrel look fat? If not actually obese, at least very well padded. Well, he should be overweight, along with all the other feeder rodents, what with the volume of bird food they’ve been eating. What to do, what to do.

Mrs. Cardinal doesn’t look too happy over the picked over sunflower seed selection. It’s the end of the day, and the feeder needs to be replenished (THANKS, Mr. Squirrel). Too bad. She’ll just have to make do with one of the other two platform feeders, or one of the three vertical Squirrel Buster feeders, or – and this is popular with Mr. C – the mealworm feeder. We may be spoiling these backyard animals.

Thursday – 6.8.2017

4:13 AM – We put the suet feeder back in front of the camera. The finch sock that was there got no traffic, and the Squirrel Buster was easy prey for squirrels and raccoons. We loaded the suet cage with “pepper” suet, to discourage the pests. The usual suet fans showed up right away. The first one – a Red-bellied Woodpecker – looks like it’s been injured, but I think it’s just molting. No way to really tell what’s going on. The other birds are the Downy Woodpecker, the White Breasted Nuthatch and Carolina Chickadee.

The juvenile bluebirds continue to get more color – the blue on this one is coming in.

Blue Jay cracking a seed:

Wednesday – 6.7.2017

7:40 AM – There’s not much going on today, just the regulars.For a change of pace, here’s a video experiment. In order, the birds are sparrows, finches and sparrows, Brown Headed Cowbirds and Cedar Waxwings.

Back to normal – just a Red-bellied Woodpecker and a bluebird grazing the mealworm feeder. Notice the woodpecker flying off with a big mouthful of worms.

 

Tuesday – 6.6.2017

3:54 AM – Those juvenile bluebirds are still around, though they’re exclusively at the mealworm feeder these days.

We’ll be moving this feeder shortly – it’s so close to the tree trunk that the squirrels, or raccoons in this case, can avoid putting pressure on the bales that shut them out of the food chamber. Enjoy it while you can, Mr. R.

 

Monday – 6.5.2017

3:02 AM – The Eastern Towhee was back for a second day. This is a much better video.

A few days ago we had a video of birds taking food away from the feeders. We’re seeing a lot of it – not just the birds on this video and the previous one. It will be interesting to see if we have new crops of young birds in a couple of months. Hope so.

The sparrows tend to be extras in the great bird dramas of the Foodcourt, even the relatively colorful ones like this Chipping Sparrow. Here he’s looking for intact seed after one of the squirrels has ravaged the platform feeder.

Sunday – 6.4.2017

12:04 AM – We enjoyed going through the archives last Sunday, so we thought we’d make a regular thing of it. This, then, is the second Greatest Hits Sunday.

The raccoon hasn’t been around for a while, but he’s not forgotten. Here’s one of his less successful visits from last February.

This one is from January, this year. A pack of sparrows crowd the feeder. We still have sparrows, but not anything like this crowd.

From February, the Purple Finch and Goldfinches, along with the usual crowd of sparrows. We’re hoping we’ll see this kind of thing again next winter.

Saturday – 6.3.2017

3:21 AM – We’ve got a ravenous squirrel problem. Those rodents are in the platform feeder off and on, for about half the day. They pretty much eat everything that’s in there. It is not news, of course, that squirrels are a nuisance, but the amount of seed they’re consuming has drastically increased this summer, not to mention the amount of time they squat in the feeder, shutting out the other ravenous animals (birds). We’re not sure what to do about it, but we’re working on a few ideas. But not with optimism. Squirrels are tough. . Since about half the video we get is squirrel lately, I’ll share some here:

The juvenile bluebirds appear to be getting their adult coloring. Notice the orange patch on the flank of these two, and compare with the adult.

This short, not-too-good video is the first sight of an Eastern Towhee for several weeks. They were once all over the place, for a while anyway. We hope we see more of them.

Friday – 6.2.2017

1:27 AM – We moved the mealworm feeder (and MealwormCam) to get videos with less glare. It seems to be working. Here’s one of a kind of rare event: a Carolina Chickadee feeding at the same time as a bluebird. Now that the bluebirds are older, they seem to be less aggressive.

More mealworm feeder patrons – a Carolina Wren and Tufted Titmouse:

We really like these Blue Jays. Never get tired of how colorful they are.

Thursday – 6.1.2017

4:22 AM – Where are they now? These are some of the birds that visited for one day, or maybe a week, then flew off somewhere. Maybe they were migrating, and we’ll see them again in the Fall. Maybe they got a better offer at a Foodcourt down the block. Anyway, here are videos of their visits.

Indigo Bunting

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Goldfinch

Easter Towhee

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Cedar Waxwing

Dark-eyed Junco

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Redwing Blackbird

And finally, our favorite, the Brown Headed Cowbirds

Backyard Birds in Central Alabama