5:39 AM – The theme for the day is bird couples on a dinner date. The Cardinals sharing black oil sunflower seeds at the platform – no ‘mate feeding’, but still a nice domestic scene.
Then the Bluebirds at the mealworm trough. I’m not sure they’re actually together. Their separate visits may just overlap. It’s usually one bird at a time at the mealworm feeder.
11:03 AM – This unfortunate Carolina Wren lost his tail feathers, probably to one of the cats. That doesn’t seem to affect his flying/hopping/feeding ability, I’m happy to say. Now that we pay attention to these small backyard animals we’re seeing these kinds of injuries, evidence of the fact that they are wild animals and prey to other wild animals.
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We now have a flock of Purple Finches at the platform feeder. The males are the purple ones, the brown striped ones are females. In this video, we start with females, by the end we have four very purple males in the feeding pan.
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Cardinals don’t usually show up at the mealworm feeder, but I guess he felt like a change of diet. He flaps off, and is, of course, immediately replaced by a Bluebird.
5:20 AM – What’s going on with these Cardinals? I’d like to say it’s a kiss, but after looking closely Mr. Cardinal is feeding Mrs. Cardinal a black oil sunflower seed. Not sure why he’s treating her like a chick.
1:49 PM – MORE on those Cardinals. This is taken from a website called Sciencing.
“Mate feeding” is actually a common occurrence in bird species. In cardinals, it is seen both before mating and while the female is incubating her clutch of eggs. No one knows for sure why this ritual takes place, but there are several schools of thought.
When mate feeding occurs prior to egg-laying, it’s possible that the extra nutrition helps the female when it’s time to lay her eggs. Another theory is that it may increase the likelihood that the female will mate with the male–a form of courtship. Females may also judge the parenting ability of the prospective mate by how well he provides for her.
When mate feeding happens during the incubation period, it may also serve to help with pair-bonding. This can be important to keep the pair together during the short breeding season. Additionally, it may allow the female to remain on the eggs longer than if she had to constantly forage for food.
So that’s what was going on there. Not exactly a kiss, but still part of the courtship ritual.
1:57 PM – It’s been very windy today, so windy the platform feeder was blown out of it’s frame. Here’s a disappointed Cardinal looking for sunflower seeds. You can almost hear him call “Service! Service! Let’s have some seeds over here!”
### This Downy Woodpecker is riding the swinging suet feeder to eat. It doesn’t seem to bother him very much.
1:02 PM – This Cardinal is a regular. I don’t think he’s the one that had a gash on his neck/upper breast, unless it healed up really well. In this video he’s eating sunflower seeds, looking into the camera (it seems). These are beautiful birds, but up close they look kind of mean.
The birds have adjusted to the relocation of the mealworm and suet feeders. I like the way these White Breasted Nuthatches walk and feed head pointed down.
It rained this morning, make the platform feeder into a sea of birdseed. We really need to get a proper feeder, with drainage. This one is actually a birdbath. Here’s the Goldfinches – still around – doing the best they can. I like the one wader.
10:42 AM – And, he’s back. That black cat has evidently made the deck his hunting ground today. He’s not pouncing in this one, just patrolling.
10:10 AM – I’ve been waiting for this to happen. This video shows a cat almost catching a Goldfinch at the platform feeder. The cat is not one of usual ones I see around here. I feel bad for these feral/outdoor cats, it’s a tough life. But I’d just as soon they confine their hunting to rats. I understand that in the big picture, cats cull out the weak, and make the birds overall a healthier group. Still don’t like to see this. Today, it was a cat – eventually it will be a hawk – we’ve got plenty of them cruising the neighborhood.
The cat jumps into the video about half way through it:
4:27 AM – We had no visit from the raccoon last night, and so no video of him foraging on the deck. That’s good news. Instead of that, here are a few from the last few days.
Birds feeding in the rain:
Before we put on the feeders in the morning. Mr. Cardinal wants his breakfast:
This is a Warbler of some kind, maybe Yellow. maybe a Pine Warbler. I can’t tell from the camera angle. One way or another, it’s not a Goldfinch as originally ID’d:
The Purple Finch trio is back. Note Mr. Cardinal getting a drink in the background:
7:38 AM – For the Cardinal fans, here’s Mr. Cardinal at the platform feeder. We don’t see as much of the cardinals as we did before our bird population increased so much.
6:18 PM – From a few days ago – a Bluebird feeding on meal worms. He flies off, and a few seconds later, another arrives. A few seconds after that, and a Red Bellied Woodpecker shows up, spooking the Bluebird. In a few days we’ll have the Bluebird house installed, and with any luck, occupied before too long.
3:15 PM – The rain filled the deck platform feeder with water. It covered up the small seeds the Sparrows eat, resulting in some disappointed birds:
However, the black oil sunflower seeds preferred by the Cardinals floats. He experienced no interruption in service due to weather.
This Mourning Dove has a big enough beak to get whatever he wants out of the water.
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10:25 AM – Plenty of White Throated Sparrows this morning. They moved on and some Purple Finches took over. It’s interesting to watch the interaction between the male and female Finches. The male drives off one female, but allows another to stay in the feeder. His mate?
In the following clip, immediately afterwards, the male and female couple are sharing the feeder. When another female approaches, the male again drives her off.
In subsequent clips, the female finch drives off other females. I conclude that the male and female Finches are a couple, and have higher status than the ‘single’ females that approach the feeder. Or maybe not. One thing is clear, Mr. and Mrs. Purple Finch don’t like to share.
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12:50 AM – The cat that visits periodically came around a while ago, looking for nuts. We took in the deck platform feeder so as not to attract ‘Rocky’ Raccoon, so he had no luck. I’d put out food for the animal but I don’t want him there all the time, and don’t want all the other cats, raccons and possums that would follow him.
2:00 PM – The new feeder/birdbath arrangement is up. The food is now in the larger pan, closer to the water. It can accommodate at least seven White Throated Sparrows at one time. See video below:
8:00 AM – The rain last night filled the birdbath we’ve been using as a platform feeder, covering up the seeds. Here’s a Tufted Titmouse at dawn, expecting a morning snack and finding…nothing.
7:05 AM – A few weeks back I saw a male Cardinal that had be mauled by something – maybe a hawk or cat. There was an ugly gash between neck and wing. I think I saw him again, and the wound had healed. This video shows the before and after:
In this video we get a brief view of a squirrel with a bite taken out of it’s ear. It’s not the same one-eared squirrel I saw a few days ago. Evidently this kind of injury is common due to fights over territory, or dominance. It’s no picnic being a wild animal.
5:35 AM – One of the ‘wild’ cats spent about 10 minutes at the feeder this morning – actually about a half hour ago. He seems to be picking out the chopped nuts D added to the mix yesterday.
Lots of Blue Jay activity. In this clip two Jays appear. One is slightly smaller than the other, and the chest marking is a little different. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website (the best), male and female Blue Jays look about the same.
We saw a couple of videos on YouTube showing birds (and squirrels) enthusiastically carrying off peanuts in the shell. Here, a Blue Jay picks up a peanut (in between sessions at the feeder) and flies off. Less than 10 seconds later (before he had time to eat the nut) he’s back at the water trough, so I assume he didn’t care for it.
We post Cardinal videos all the time, but here’s one that has a good view of Mr. Cardinal breaking open and eating Black Oil Sunflower seeds. He’s really good (naturally) at cracking the seed, discarding the chaff and keeping the meat.