1:42 PM – Another video of one of those young bluebirds with interesting markings. It looks like they’re wearing a fleecy sheepskin vest.
Nothing unusual here, just a Tufted Titmouse and a Carolina Wren gorging on mealworms. Quiet day at the food court.
3:27 AM – The young Red-bellied Woodpecker at the mealworm feeder. His crest gets a little redder every day.
Bluebird with unusual markings.
Blue Jay after being caught in the rain.
3:23 AM – This Red-bellied Woodpecker appears to be a young (immature) one, as indicated by the gray (instead of red) head, and not a molting one. This is the first of these we’ve seen.
Most of the Grackles have moved on, but there are two or three that still show up at the feeders. We can live with that, since they don’t consume any more than the doves or blue jays etc. It’s only when the numbers get out of control that we try to move them on.
None of these bluebirds at the mealworm feeder are fully grown, judging by the various immature plumage on them. At this point we’ve lost track of the generations.
5:01 AM – Another Retro-Sunday.
At the time this was recorded, March 22, 2017, I didn’t realize that a molting bird can lose his tail feathers. This Carolina Wren was not the victim of anything as dramatic as a last second escape from a pouncing cat. Probably.
Here’s one from March 21, 2017 of a bluebird at the ‘suet’ feeder. That’s actually compressed seeds, not suet, but we got used to calling it suet because it’s served in the suet cage. The bluebird seems to like it just fine.
We like this one because of the squirrels panicked expression. It’s a joke because we never made a serious try to hurt one. Even when we used the slingshot and a steel ball bearing, the shot was so weak (on purpose) it just bounced off a squirrels back – he didn’t even move, just sat there until he was ready to scamper off. From March, 28, 2017.
5:24 AM – This bluebird collects a beak-full of mealworms to take back to the nest.
Cardinals don’t usually come around the suet feeder, but lately we’ve seen them a lot. Maybe they developed a taste for the pepper suet while the mealworm feeder was out of commission. Anyway, here’s one sharing the feeder with a Downy Woodpecker.
We don’t often see two Blue Jays on a feeder at the same time. Bluebirds, yes. They run in a pack (or small flock) of two or three. But not the Jays.
3:52 AM – The Mourning Doves are now the most frequent visitor to the open platform feeders, and it looks like they’re feeling possessive. This one sure doesn’t want Blue Jays hanging around.
Since the cylinder suet cage is back in action, we’ve been getting a steady stream of bird customers (and a couple of attempts by squirrels). These were there over the last few days: Downy Woodpecker,White Breasted Nuthatch, Bluebird, Cardinal, Carolina Chickadee and Red-bellied Woodpecker. The Cardinal is new to the suet feeder, probably because the mealworm feeder wasn’t up that day. Same for the bluebird with the attractive pattern of back feathers.
Here’s that squirrel we mentioned. He takes a good sniff and decided to have lunch somewhere else. We really like pepper suet.
5:06 AM – Retro-Sunday, once again.
From April, 2017, father bluebird taking care of the first generation of young.
Cedar Waxwings swarming the birdbath, in April 2017. We hope they come back on their way up north.
March, 2017. Raccoon spills mealworms out of the feeder onto the ground, for easy access. Raccoons are clever.
7:31 AM – This is a new one for us, a bald-headed Blue Jay. No feathers, no crest. Presumably, he’s molting.
Yesterday we had a clip of a bluebird declining to eat from the suet cylinder. Later, after the cylinder had been pecked at a good bit, and there were crumbs in the tray, it was a different story. Evidently the bluebird does like suet, he just doesn’t want to peck it out of the cylinder.
It looks like we have a third generation of bluebirds in the yard. The one on the right still has trouble perching, and his feathers don’t have much color. The other one is either first or second generation, it’s getting hard to tell them apart.
11:07 AM – The new pepper suet is a success. The birds like it, and we’ve seen no squirrels on it yet. Here’s a Tufted Titmouse, and a Red-bellied Woodpecker.
This bluebird checks out the new pepper suet cylinder, and decides it’s not for him. I wonder if it were compressed seeds if he would like it.
This video shows a squirrel sampling the next pepper seed/feed. He stops eating right away, gets a drink of water, and scampers off. That’s what’s supposed to happen. I’m disappointed to report that later in the day another squirrel spent five minutes hogging down the hot seeds. It didn’t seem to bother him at all. I guess the effectiveness depends on the squirrel, but we have had very few lengthy squirrel visits since we put out the hot stuff.
6:33 AM – After the squirrels destroyed the old compressed seed cylinder, we put up a pepper suet cylinder. At first we hung it by itself, with no cage, but only got a few customers (like the Downy Woodpecker shown here) . Today we put it in the cage, making it easier for the birds to cling. We’ll see if they can reach the small cylinder through the bars.
Cardinal update: Looks like one of the males is about done molting, but another (not shown here) is still pretty bald. One of the females is also molting, though she seems almost finished with it. Note her taking a mealworm away at the end of the video. Presumably she’s got chicks to feed.
Bluebirds are really blue. This adult (or maybe it’s two different birds) really has a vividly blue back. Not less vivid than the Blue Jays, just a different shade.