1:00 AM – After the frequent videos of the small gray Finches, here’s a nice contrast: A couple of big colorful birds. Well, the Brown Thrasher is kind of colorful, and no Blue Jays showed up.
While the Finch migrants are around, we’re going to see more of this: A slow infiltration of the platform feeder, and the departure of those big colorful birds. For now, anyway. With all the recent warm weather it seems the winter is quickly coming to an end, and the visitors will go back up north.
1:00 AM – The flood of Finches has slowed somewhat, though there are still plenty around. In the slow times between Finch surges the local birds come out for something to eat. In this clip, a sequence of brief appearances by the year-round residents. At the end, of course, another Finch Flood.
We like the Brown Thrashers, especially the yellow eyes.
1:00 AM – More squabbling Finches. It goes on all day long.
Just for a change, here’s a slightly older video with no (zero) Finches in it.
1:00 AM – At this point I’m pretty sure these are Finches, at some stage of development where they have vivid stripes and some yellow on the sides and wings. I think so, anyway. Anyway, they’re still here. In this video we see a good old fashioned Finch brawl.
In this one, we see that the recent flood of squabbling birds is taking it’s toll on the resident birds. Here’s a nervous Cardinal intimidated by one Finch. He seems to be eating as fast as possible. In his defense, that’s a mean looking Finch.
1:00 AM – Cardinal drinking from the ‘birdbath’ we placed down in the thicket at the far corner of the yard. We’ve been mostly getting videos of raccoons and squirrels, but the birds sometimes stop by. I wonder if this is one that also drinks from the deck birdbath. Maybe there’s a whole different community on that side of the yard.
Bluejay going after the peanuts we’ve been putting out. They really like peanuts.
1:00 AM – Mourning Dove gradually ruffles his feathers out until he’s a big fluffy ball. The whole process took about a minute and a half. He stayed puffed up for several minutes, every now and then contracting a little, then expanding again. It looked like he might be bathing, but he didn’t get in the water. Presumably he was just airing himself out.
Here’s an irritable Cardinal running off a Nuthatch and Sparrow. In slow motion.
3:51 AM – A flock of Sparrows have been around for a few days. Here’s a video of them sharing the platform feeder with a Cardinal and Dove. They aren’t spooked by the bigger birds, and keep right on eating.
Another birdbath video, this one with a Robin, Purple Finch and Bluebird. They’re probably very happy the ice is gone. For now, anyway.
3:53 AM – Variety of birds on the cylinder feeder, including Cardinal, Downy Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Mockingbird, Bluebird and Squirrel. Notice the squirrel giving up after a few bites. Pepper seed works, usually.
Plus one more cylinder bird, this one a Pine Warbler. He’s about the same color as some whole hard-boiled egg yolks I’ve seen.
3:36 AM – We put a kind of jury-rigged bird bath at the far end of the yard, hoping to capture videos of wild creatures at night. That’s a plastic gallon water jug cut down, with rocks to weigh it. Instead of exotic wild animals, our first customer was a standard variety Robin. We’ll see what we get at night.
This is about four minutes of various birds coming and going on the platform feeder. We have these birds coming and going and coming back again: Cardinal, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Brown-headed Nuthatch, female Purple Finch, Purple Finch and a Sparrow.
3:46 AM – Typical action on the platform feeder, except for the Red-bellied Woodpecker. He’s just an occasional visitor, preferring the suet and compressed seed cylinder.
More platform feeder birds, this time Carolina Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Purple Finch, Sparrows and more Cardinals.