Tag Archives: Cardinals

Saturday – 6.17.2017

8:16 AM – Two of our cameras are down, leaving the one at the mealworm feeder. Which explains why todays videos are all of birds eating worms. We’re rearranging feeders and cameras, and should be back to normal in a few days.

The first video is a good one of a bluebird eating worms. Just that, but it’s a good clear video. So there you are.

The next one shows Mr. Cardinal’s unfortunate table manners.

And finally, the  bluebird and cardinal together (briefly) at the mealworm bar. That looks like a female (or juvenile) House Finch trying to butt in.

Monday – 6.12.2017

3:43 AM – Male Cardinal ‘displays’ his crest, and chases off another male. What with the aggressions, and all the food being carried away from feeders – and not just by Cardinals – it must be the time of year for mating, guarding eggs or raising chicks.

The Tufted Titmice are always around, so much so they’re often overlooked. This pair are getting their fair share of mealworms – and note the male (with prominent crest) flying off with a worm in his beak.

The Downy Woodpeckers usually stick to the suet feeder, but sometimes they like a change. There are two different females here, one somewhat smaller than the other. We’re not sure if it’s a juvenile or not, but maybe.

Friday – 6.9.2017

2;17 AM – Is it just my imagination or does that squirrel look fat? If not actually obese, at least very well padded. Well, he should be overweight, along with all the other feeder rodents, what with the volume of bird food they’ve been eating. What to do, what to do.

Mrs. Cardinal doesn’t look too happy over the picked over sunflower seed selection. It’s the end of the day, and the feeder needs to be replenished (THANKS, Mr. Squirrel). Too bad. She’ll just have to make do with one of the other two platform feeders, or one of the three vertical Squirrel Buster feeders, or – and this is popular with Mr. C – the mealworm feeder. We may be spoiling these backyard animals.

Monday – 5.29.2017

4:55 AM – The Red-bellied Woodpecker doesn’t usually feed at the platform feeder, but we’ve been seeing him everywhere this last month. He’s been at the mealworm feeder, the Squirrel Buster, the suet feeder, the platform feeder and even on trees, going right to the source for some live insects. What a bird.

From  yesterdays videos, these two win the prize for vivid color:

Carolina Chickadees, fast and furious session on the mealworm feeder. You’d think the food was going to disappear any second.

Sunday – 5.28.2017

1:42 AM – Some days there’s just nothing exciting going on in the Foodcourt. We’ve got video of the usual Cardinals, doves, squirrels, woodpeckers, chickadees etc, and none of them are doing anything other than gorging themselves. And not in a cute or entertaining way. So, we’re going back over the last six months of video, looking for a few of the more interesting ones.

Here’s the fabulous swarm of Brown Headed Cowbirds from February. Since then we’ve seen exactly one Cowbird, by himself, on one occasion. But we’re hoping they’ll come through again in Fall.

I like this one – the squirrel get-away:

I always liked seeing the cardinals sharing food. This went on for a few month, but not lately.

And last, Goldfinches after a heavy rain. The Goldfinches come and go, like the Purples. Right now all we’ve got are House Finches, but we expect the more colorful ones to return eventually.

Friday – 5.26.2017

12:10 AM – Bruno the neighbor dog came by twice today – this is the second time. We didn’t know about it until we reviewed the ‘tapes’. Bruno really, really wants to come in our house.

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Before we moved the mealworm feeder back in front of the camera, we found that most of the traffic at the Squirrel Buster feeder we recorded were Finches (and some Chickadees). Here’s a close up of a female House Finch cracking a seed and extracting the meat. They’re really adept with their beaks, these birds.

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Now that the camera is back on the mealworms we’re starting to see some of the old, regular customers there, like this Red-bellied Woodpecker, the Bluebird, a Cardinal and a Chickadee. We get a lot more variety with mealworms than with the Squirrel Buster and it’s Black Oil Mixture.

Tuesday – 5.23.2017

1:47 AM – This is a video of some random birds that showed up at the Foodcourt yesterday. In order, we have a Blue Jay, female House Finch and small (possibly juvenile) Carolina Wren.

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This is a creepy picture of Mrs. Cardinal soaking wet, eating seeds in the dark and rain. I thought she might be too soaked to fly, but no, she flits off with no trouble.

Friday – 5.19.2017

4:57 AM – The Cardinals are still the most frequent visitors, in spite of the recent Blue Jay activity. They start eating early, and are usually the last ones we see on camera at the end of the day. Here’s some general Cardinal eating, drinking, bathing, making territorial displays etc.

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This one started as an illustration of the size difference between the Mockingbird and others – the point being that the Mockingbird is bigger than I thought. But the video doesn’t really do a good job of showing that. I’m posting it anyway because 1) it’s done and ready, and 2) it’s got cool ‘freeze frame’ technique. These videos are done with iMovie. I’m still learning the software. Next on my list is split screen shots.

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Nothing new about a squirrel hogging the feeder, but I liked these shots of a small one (presumably one of the crop born this year) helping himself.

Wednesday – 5.17.2017

1:23 AM – Mr. Cardinal, in a pugnacious mood, runs the Carolina Wren off the platform feeder. I guess he didn’t feel like sharing just then.

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This should have gone on yesterdays mealworm feeder video. I’ll post it anyway, because any closeup of the Red-bellied Woodpecker is cool.

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As a follow up to the previous video, here’s the Red-bellied Woodpecker enthusiastically eating those mealworms.