5:47 AM – We had some rain yesterday afternoon. This is what a Blue Jay looks like after it’s rained on for a while. Of course, this doesn’t stop it from eating.
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One of the squirrels was also out in the rain. This really looks like he’s using his tail as an umbrella.
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From a few days ago, here’s a Blue Jay having lunch, and discovering some peanuts D added to the mix. Peanuts are very popular around here.
1:33 AM – It’s been interesting watching the young bluebirds develop. Even though the adult male still feeds them sometimes, this clip shows they’ve pretty much mastered the mealworm eating technique. We wonder how long they’re fully grown and move on. Maybe they won’t, and we’ll have a large, permanent bluebird colony.
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We’re seeing more hummers. We’d like to have so many the sound of them is so loud we have to wear hearing protection.
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This closeup rearview of one of the Blue Jays shows this back and tail – the color is vivid, and the pattern is almost digital.
3:40 AM – We replaced the shabby old birdbath we were using as a feeder with a nice one, made of wood with a screen floor. The birds probably don’t care, but it does look better. Here is a parade of birds trying it out: Cardinal, White Breasted Nuthatch, Sparrow and North Carolina Chickadee.
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We don’t have clouds of hummingbirds yet, but we’re starting to see an increase in traffic.
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The Blue Jays are now at the feeder off and on, all day. I think they’re nesting in a tree across the yard by the back fence. This is interesting – one Jay flies into the other, knocking him off the feeder, then does a kind of hopping victory dance. The last part of the clip shows this in slow motion.
6:09 AM – We haven’t seen the female bluebird around for a few weeks now, since the young bluebirds showed up. It’s been the male that feeds them continually (it seems). She’s back now. We don’t know what that means in terms of the bluebirds mating/nesting/hatching cycle. Bluebirds can have three or four broods a year, we understand. Since this is our first year watching, we don’t really know if that applies to this lot of birds.
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Now we know for sure there are at least two Blue Jays. Check out the little hopping dance one of them does – slow motion version at the end of the clip.
3:57 AM – We’re not sure, but it looks like we’ve got at least two different Blue Jays. Take a look.
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Here’s a couple of the bluebird kids sharing the mealworm feeder. Their coloring seems to be getting a little clearer. The one on the right is a male, and getting bluer, while the other is probably a female, and staying gray.
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Finally, this video combines a couple of visitors we haven’t seen for a while – a Hummingbird (Ruby Throated, I think) returns to the Foodcourt, and the squirrel with one ear is back. At least I think it’s the same one-eared guy. I couldn’t find the old video to compare, but how many one-ears can there be in one Foodcourt?
12:03 AM – Recently Mrs. Cardinal tangled with one of the delinquent bluebirds, and come out second best. Evidently she was surprised the first time. This time it goes a little differently. The action part is repeated in slow motion. All that’s followed by a brief food sharing episode with Mr. Cardinal.
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The Blue Jay seems to have become a regular, I’m pleased to say.
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We have focused on the bluebirds and Blue Jays so much lately it’s easy to forget there are a lot of other birds in the Foodcourt. Here’s a couple of those – a very handsome Yellow-rumped Warbler and a White Breasted Nuthatch – just going about their business.
1:01 AM – Blue Jay at the platform feeder. We want more of these birds. They have the most handsome coloring of all our visitors, equal to the Cardinals.
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Later that afternoon, the Blue Jay returns. A few moments later, a Red-bellied Woodpecker lands on the feeder. They have a brief confrontations. I’d call it a stand off – the woodpecker isn’t intimidated, and the Jay takes his time leaving, getting a seed to-go. But he doesn’t want to get too close to that woodpecker beak. I’m surprised at how small the woodpecker is compared to the Jay. Except for the beak, of course.
Part of this video is slowed down to 25% of normal speed. I wish the quality of our cameras was better, but, it is what it is, as they say around here.
3:44 AM – Starting off with a brief clip of one of the recently returned Blue Jays:
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The young bluebirds are back, this time learning to take baths.
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And finally, some good news about the Foodcourt management problem of voracious squirrels. We recently replaced the cylinder in the suet feeder, the pepper suet feeder. The few bits left from the old cylinder of packed seeds impregnated with pepper juice of some kind, we put into the platform feeder. Watch this squirrel finding that out. If this little bit of pepper suet also works as a deterrent for the raccoons it will save us the aggravation of taking in feeders at night. I almost feel bad for the squirrel, he looks disappointed.
1:03 AM – Here are a few video clips from the last few days.
In this one, three species of birds share the feeder and water – Mrs. Cardinal, a Purple Finch couple, and for a few seconds a tiny Carolina Chickadee.
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The Blue Jays are still around, I happy to say:
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We’re seeing the male cardinal at the mealworm feeder a lot more lately. Here’s an extreme closeup.
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Once more, the big Red-bellied Woodpecker helps himself to mealworms. His beak looks really big and strong.
12:03 AM – Blue Jays at the platform feeder.
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This Yellow-rumped Warbler has very distinct and attractive markings. The Cornell Lab website says this is the usual Spring/Summer plumage for the male. Since we’ve only been watching the backyard birds since this past Winter we’re used to seeing these warblers in their drab cold weather uniforms.
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We thought there were only three immature bluebirds, but this video shows, for a brief moment, four of them.
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Last vidoe: a cat at the birdbath. We see more of them at night, but this one was on a daytime scouting mission.