1:02 AM – I’m not completely clear on the ‘food sharing’ between the male and female cardinals, but it’s been going on for several weeks now. And they’re still at it.
—
We haven’t seen the bluebird kids around the platform feeder much the last week or so, but they’re all over the mealworm feeder. Here are three of them on it at the same time. This is a record number for any kind of bird.
—
Here’s yesterday’s wet Blue Jay all dried out, and hungry.
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.
—
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.
—
This closeup rearview of one of the Blue Jays shows this back and tail – the color is vivid, and the pattern is almost digital.
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.
—
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.
—-
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.
—
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.
—
The Blue Jay seems to have become a regular, I’m pleased to say.
—
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.
12:14 AM – Today it’s all about bluebirds again. The young ones continue to use the mealworm feeder, in some cases two at a time:
—
The young ones are now joining the adult male on the feeder. The young one can more or less feed itself, but father bluebird keeps shoveling mealworms down its throat whenever asked.
—
Finally, this brief but cool clip of one of the young bluebird thugs hogging the platform feeder. This is in slow motion, though it’s hard to tell that – the incident was over in a small fraction of a second, real time.
12:20 AM – We haven’t seen a Mockingbird for quite a while. This one seems to be checking things out.
—
We’ve been waiting for the young bluebirds to start feeding themselves at the mealworm feeder, and this one finally is trying it out. He’s spilling a lot more than he’s eating, but he’s getting there.
—
A Purple Finch and a young bluebird are sharing the watering hole, peacefully for a change. Then they move over to the platform feeder. Watch the bluebird try to bathe in the seeds. His instincts are good, but he hasn’t quite grasped the concept.
4:05 AM – For a little variety, we swapped the finch sock for the suet feeder, so we could get some video of the different finches. Evidently it takes a little time for them to get used to the change, as we haven’t seen the first finch. We have, however, seen this Downy Woodpecker. I didn’t know they used the finch sock, but, okay.
—
We have more conflict at the platform feeder. This Titmouse goes for the Purple Finch. I guess it’s all natural. I like the way the finch pops right back after the Titmouse leaves, though I see him looking around, to be sure the coast is clear.
—
And now for some bluebirds. Here are four of the young ones, hanging out.
—
And here are two of them, bathing together.
1:52 AM – I don’t know what’s gotten into these birds. Usually the sparrows (all varieties) mind their own business. This one lights into a Tufted Titmouse, gets thrown back, circles around and attacks again. Flies right into his little flank. Wow. Maybe it’s all the rowdy adolescent bluebirds, infecting the whole Foodcourt.
—
Later the same afternoon, a couple of the Bluebird Gang (now numbering four males and a female) were hanging around the water when a Purple Finch stopped for a drink. Surprisingly, they didn’t attack him. After a bit, he flew off. Then more of the bluebirds came – there were four males in all. This is the first real verification of the numbers.
3:28 AM – A few days ago we reported our scheme to seed the platform feeder with pieces of the ‘pepper’ suet, with the expectation that it would repel the squirrels and raccoons. We had a video showing a squirrel checking out the feeder, and then moving on. Well, it turns out that, no, the squirrels didn’t fall for this trick. See here, as this one takes a victory lap around the feeder and birdbath, then parks himself in the middle of the pepper suet/black oil seed mix. Our only hope is that the juvenile delinquent bluebirds will show up and run him off.
—
The Red-bellied Woodpecker is a much more frequent visitor than he used to be. He used to stick to the suet feeder, but he’s now at the platform and mealworm feeders also.
—
The young bluebirds are still around. In this video, they’re getting feed by the adult male bluebird. They don’t assault any of the other bird species, for a change.