Tuesday – 1.10.2017

1:30 PM – The birdbath that was damaged by ice has been converted into a platform feeder. D put it up at about 11:30, by 11:32 there were birds in it. Seems to be very popular with the Tufted Titmouse, so far. This is a video of a couple Purple Finches having a snack.

Speaking of Purple Finches, this video shows what I think is actually a House Finch. The House variety have red head and breast. It’s hard to tell the difference. So far, the research I did only says that the Purple Finches are slightly smaller and ‘neater’ than the House Finch. Whatever that means. So, here is a House Finch, probably. Maybe.

 

Sunday – 1.8.2017

10:30 AM – We had some snow, but mostly sleet that froze into solid ice on the deck. Friday night we pulled the cameras in, but this morning, I set them up again.

Over the last few days I tried to keep some liquid water in the birdbaths. The sub-freeing temperatures put a layer of ice on the water, even in the day time. At night, the water froze solid into one big slab. I carelessly left one of the birdbath pans out over night, with water in it. Of course the water froze, expanded and cracked the plastic. We’re using a kitchen container temporarily, until we can decide what to replace it with .

The birds ate a tremendous amount of food in the cold spell. I guess they need to, to keep fueled up and warm. I don’t know. Maybe cold weather just makes them hungry.

Here’s a couple of videos from this morning. A Tufted Titmouse gets a drink:

And a squirrel drinks and sits for a few moments thinking about something. He ought to be thinking about how good he has it here in the Backyard Food Court, but I doubt that he was:

Friday – 1.6.2017

9:40 AM – Tonight we’re supposed to get a couple of inches of snow. The temps will be below freezing, so tomorrow morning we’ll replace the ice with water in the baths, and keep an eye on it during the day.

Some activity this morning, nothing exciting, but this site is all about bird videos. So, here’s one of a Purple Finch sitting at the bath, thinking about something. His crest is clearly visible – I hadn’t noticed it before.

Here’s a Robin getting a long drink of water:

Finally, from yesterday, a Caroline Wren bathing:

Tuesday – 1.3.2017

3:25 PM – The last few days have been quite rainy, so the traffic at the birdbaths was down to zero. I guess no need to fly over to the food court for a drink if there’s water dripping all around you. And you can bath by flying around in the rain. The feeders, however, were busy.

Today it’s drier, so we’e seeing some birds. Here’s Mrs. Cardinal taking a bath.

 

Friday – 12.30.2016

9:00 AM – Lot more birds today. We’ve had the Purple Finches, White Throated Sparrow, Tufted Titmouse and Cardinals, in other words, the usual crowd. The Cardinal is the male that was injured. You can see the gash on his neck. He’s joined in this video by one of the Bluebirds.

8:15 AM – Activity at the birdbaths so far this morning:

Two Bluejays:

Bluebird and Bluegray Gnatcatchers:

Bluebird:

Backyard Birds in Central Alabama