Tag Archives: Cardinals

Saturday – 4.15.2017

12:34 AM – We don’t see that many Robins at the feeders. More often, they’re feeding on the lawn. This one is getting a drink of water. He stares down a couple of Mourning Doves.

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Male Northern Cardinal having lunch, and looking around for someone. This looks like more than the normal alertness-for-cats-and-hawks, so I suppose he’s looking for Mrs. Cardinal, or possibly other males.

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This is a good video of a Yellow-rumped Warbler on the mealworm feeder. He moves to the other side of the feeder, out of our sight, then a bluebird flies right at him, and he disappears somewhere. I can’t actually see him flying away from the feeder, but in an instant the bluebird is sitting where there once was a warbler.

Friday- 4.14.2017

1:03 AM – Here are a few video clips from the last few days.

In this one, three species of birds share the feeder and water – Mrs. Cardinal, a Purple Finch couple, and for a few seconds a tiny Carolina Chickadee.

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The Blue Jays are still around, I happy to say:

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We’re seeing the male cardinal at the mealworm feeder a lot more lately. Here’s an extreme closeup.

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Once more, the big Red-bellied Woodpecker helps himself to mealworms. His beak looks really big and strong.

Wednesday – 4.12.2017

12:15 AM – The Blue Jays are back. Here’s one at the platform feeder. We really like these birds. By the way, look in the lower left background of the video for a Cardinal getting a drink of water from a very small water container.

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Here’s something new: a Purple Finch feeding what looks like an immature finch.

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The Eastern Bluebirds continue to feed young ones:

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This video of a Red-bellied Woodpecker clinging to the mealworm feeder is cool, but kind of creepy. He’s so big that we only see his head and claws, like a close-up shot of King Kong clinging to the Empire State building.

Tuesday – 4.11.2017

1:52 AM – The immature bluebirds were around again yesterday. We were reading about them. Evidently at this stage they’re out of the nest for good (of course), do they spend the next few weeks eating and hiding. Here’s one doing exactly that:

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It’s still the season for Cardinal food sharing:

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The spotlight has been on the immature bluebirds lately, and the ‘kissing’ cardinals, but the other birds are still there in the background. Here’s a Purple Finch, though not one of the realy dramatically raspberry colored ones.

Sunday – 4.9.2017

10:29 AM – Bruno the neighbor dog jumped the fence again this morning. In the first section he’s in the bottom left corner – he pauses briefly to listen to, and ignore, his owner calling him. We always enjoy our visits from Bruno, and he seems to have a good time.

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9:14 AM – Bluebird fledglings are back. There are three of them, and they seem to be getting stronger, better at flying and hopping. Not always though. Here’s one trying to take off from the birdbath and getting an involuntary dunking.

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7:56 AM – Early morning Hummingbird.

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4:06 AM – The bluebirds made a brief appearance yesterday morning, but that was it. With any luck, we’ll get some good footage of them today. In the meantime, here’s a couple of standard variety Carolina Chickadees. These little hoppers are among of my favorites.

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Heavy traffic at the mealworm feeder.

Friday – 4.7.2017

7:32 AM – First thing this morning we have fledgling bluebirds at the platform feeder. Following are several videos. In the first, we see Mrs. Bluebird feeding one a mealworm, while one of the chicks makes a stab at feeding himself.

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Here’s one landing in the feeder. They’re still a little awkward.

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This little one is still working on his hopping skills:

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Fledglings in the feeder, good shot of one of them getting fed by mama Bluebird.

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Two fledglings are visited briefly by a goldfinch.

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Mrs. Bluebird feeding the fledglings, and the new birds drinking:

The fledglings don’t look like they’re going anywhere, so we should have more videos later today, or, more likely, tomorrow morning. We don’t want to overdose on bluebird cuteness this morning.

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1:35 AM – From yesterday’s activity, here’s something you don’t see everyday. The strong wind gives Mrs. Cardinal an unexpected ‘punk’ style crest.

Wednesday – 4.5.2017

2:14 AM – We had a second hummingbird sighting late yesterday afternoon, this one a little longer. It’s a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, for sure.

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The Carolina Wren with no tail disappeared, and in it’s place appeared a wren with partial tail feathers. I’m assuming it’s the same bird due to the ‘coincidence’ of the no-tail disappearing just as the partial-tail arrives on the scene. The wren seems to have regenerated it’s tail feathers. A little research told us that this is not only possible, but normal. How little we know about birds. In the wrens case, it seems that only some of the tail feathers are back. The tail looks suspiciously narrow. If the follicles at the base of the tail are damaged, no tail feathers. Incidentally, it looks as if the wren, like the bluebirds, is carrying off mealworms, presumably to a mate or chicks.

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A busy day at the mealworm feeder. The first bird is the new-tailed Carolina Wren.

Tuesday – 4.4.2017

1:50 AM – The first hummingbird of the season, and the first to be captured on our Hummer Cam (formerly the Suet Cam). He’s only visible for less than a second, but this shows the hummers are here, and the security cameras can record them.

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4:10 AM – We haven’t seen any female Bluebirds for several days now, and the male is still carrying food off somewhere – presumably to her. We’re looking forward to seeing small Bluebirds eventually.

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Here’s a Ghost Cardinal in the rain.

Monday – 4.3.2017

1:05 AM – The Cardinals continue to share food. We assume it’s part of the spring mating process. Wonder how long it will go on.

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The Bluebirds are now taking mealworms away from the feeder. More mating/chick producing behavior, evidently.

Sunday – 4.2.2017

12:23 AM – A flock of Cedar Waxwings swarmed the two birdbaths yesterday. I’ve never seen one live and in person. I think they came by 3 or 4 times in the morning. Presumably they went off to feed somewhere else, as they didn’t hit any of the feeders.

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Nice closeup of the Cardinals sharing. They have been doing this frequently the last few days.