Tag Archives: Bluebirds

Friday – 7.14.2017

5:38 AM – Now that we have two generations of young bluebirds, plus the adults, we get plenty of videos of bluebirds eating, drinking, squabbling and so on. I don’t know if these three are the same young toughs we saw at the waterhole yesterday. But they could be.

The Cardinal who had molted away his head feathers seems to be making progress in recovering. As can be seen here, he’s got most of his head feathers back, but still has some bare areas around the neck. I think one online source said it takes about 6 weeks to go through the entire process.

This Tufted Titmouse doesn’t have much of a crest, if any at all. I presume it’s also molting, since this seems to  be the season for it.

Thursday – 7.13.2017

5:07 AM – All of our cameras have been out of commission for the last few days, for one reason or another. That means no recent videos. Instead, here’s a special Thursday edition of our regular Sunday “Greatest Hits” posting.

Here’s a weird video of a Blue Jay celebrating the ousting of another Jay from the birdbath, with a hopping dance. From April 29, 2017.

A Yellow-rumped Warbler and a bluebird at the mealworm feeder, from April 15, 2017. We haven’t seen the warblers for a few months now.

From April 12, 2017,  a Purple Finch feeding an immature finch. Actually, that might be a House Finch, the color reproduction of these videos isn’t always right on target, so it might be purple, might be red.

Wednesday – 7.12.2017

8:27 AM – Bluebirds, particularly the young ones, seem to be a quarrelsome lot. The next two videos illustrate this. In the first a couple of them are squabbling on the mealworm feeder.

Here a bluebird juvenile shares the water with a young house finch for a while, but finally he flies into the finch and drives him off. That part is in slow motion, since it happens so quickly.

And last, these three young bluebirds are just hanging out at the birdbath. They’re not drinking, or bathing. They remind me of delinquents loitering in front of a liquor store, waiting for trouble.

Monday – 7.10.2017

12:25 AM – We’ve seen robins – American Robins, that is – many times before, but this is the first juvenile that’s wandered in front of our cameras.

More of the young robin, this time approaching (and scattering) the young bluebirds. These young ones are a mottled colorful lot.

For some reason this Generation 2 young bluebird seems fascinated by the camera.

Saturday – 7.8.2017

1:11 AM – This bird looks like a molting female Cardinal, but it might be a juvenile. Probably molting – the sparse feathers in the crest look like those of the molting male.

Just a short clip of a nice looking adult male bluebird. At one time we didn’t see many of them, but putting out the mealworms really attracts them.

We see this young House Finch frequently the last few days. This one, or one of it’s siblings.

Friday – 7.7.2017

4:44 AM – The color of these Blue Jays is really amazing.

The mealworm feeder was down to zero worms this morning. After we restocked it, the birds came from everywhere. How can they eat so much? I guess they use a lot of energy flying. Here we have a Chickadee, a Carolina Wren and a bluebird.

This young House Finch sits on our camera for a few moments. This is how they (the cameras) get knocked to the ground. That’s actually not true – it’s always the bad boys of the yard, the squirrels and raccoons who do it.

Sunday – 7.2.2017

3:10 AM – The Sunday Nostalgia Post starts with footage of the Generation One young bluebirds on the open feeder, attacking one goldfinch after another as they try to land. The Gen-1 birds were a rowdy bunch. From April 18, 2017.

From March 22, 2017 here’s the Carolina Wren I was concerned about. It looked like a cat (or something) had bit his tail off. A little research revealed that when Wrens (and other birds) molt, they sometimes lose their tail feathers. Sure enough, a month or so later the bird had a tail. I’m pretty sure it was the same one, based on markings and behavior.

From February 27, 2017, we have this video of the aftermath of a good hard rain. The open feeder we were using then didn’t have drainage holes, resulting in some Goldfinches wading around in a  small lake of birdseed slurry,

Saturday – 7.1.2017

2:59 AM – We put the birdbath (and camera) back up on the deck railing – the only bird hardware we’ll install until the deck is sealed. We taped an immature House Finch, and a squirrel who was curious about the camera.

Is this an immature cardinal? Or an adult female? If it’s the adult female, it’s the first time one has been on the mealworm feeder – so far it’s only been the males that use that feeder, for some reason.

Another video of the new Gen-2 bluebirds. They’re at the feeder almost constantly.

Friday – 6.30.2017

3:17 AM – The birds in this video look like juvenile bluebirds – but not the same juveniles we’ve been watching for several months. The feathers on these show much less blue than those on the first generation of immatures. Take a look at the first generation bird at the end of the video, to compare.

This second generation hasn’t been acting like the first. The latter were usually found  at the open platform feeder being fed mealworms by the parents. Of course, right now the platform feeder is not available to them, due to deck maintenance. Now, all this could be wrong. For all I know the older juveniles are just molting, losing their ‘baby feathers’, and will turn up with full blue/orange adult coloring in a few days, or weeks. There’s lots I don’t know about birds. But I’m pretty sure we’ve got a second brood now.

As a break from the bluebirds, here’s another cute Carolina Chickadee.

Now, back to the bluebirds. Here’s an adult, then one of the second gens – just to show the contrast between the fully mature and immature bird.