Tag Archives: Carolina Chickadees

Thursday – 9.21.2017

1;38 AM – This is a video from a few days ago – a Red-bellied Woodpecker dominating a couple of Blue Jays. Here it is again, with a soundtrack, an original score.

We try to keep the feeders filled up, but sometimes they can stay empty for half day or more. This Blue Jay is clearly not happy about it. I like the part where he snouts (or beaks) the chaff around, demonstrating the lack of the good stuff. At the end, I swear he understands that we’re seeing him on camera, and he’s sending us a clear message: “This is sloppy work, you backyard birders! It’s time for a fill-up!” Then turns his back on us.

There was a lot of traffic on the Squirrel Buster feeder today. We got video of these, in order of appearance: A big, bright Cardinal, Carolina Chickadee with unusual coloring, a Brown-headed Nuthatch, and a female Purple Finch (she’s brown striped, not purple). The Brown-headed Nuthatch is pretty rare in our yard.

Wednesday – 9.20.2017

3:35 AM – This Carolina Wren has no tail. We’ve seen this before, about six months ago. Since we’re inexperienced backyard-birders, we didn’t think the loss of tail feathers might be natural molting. We assumed it was caused by a narrow escape from a cat. Who knows, maybe it was, but molting is more likely. One way or another, the wren doesn’t have any trouble getting around.

This batch of Carolina Chickadees are in-and-out, one after another, while Mrs. Cardinal placidly grazes at the Squirrel Buster feeder. Chickadees are a lot of fun to watch.

 

 

Monday – 9.18.2017

1:24 AM – The Cardinals are getting their head feathers back, vivid red and thick, and it seems to make them aggressive. This video shows one male loudly confronting several doves.

We are delighted to see that the One-eared Squirrel is still around. We’re not so delighted to see that he seems to have adapted to the hot pepper seed. That stuff seems to repel most other squirrels, but most other squirrels aren’t as tough and resilient as the One-ear.

 

 

Saturday – 9.16.2017

1:44 AM – We moved some of the feeders to new locations, and pointed the cameras at them. This video of a Cardinal at the Squirrel Buster feeder is from that new set up. Otherwise, it’s just a clip of a  bird that likes to eat.

According to the Cornell Labs website, the Carolina Chickadee and the Black-capped Chickadee look pretty much the same, except for the more colorful sides/breast of the Black-capped. And more important, the location. The Black-capped Chickadees are found up North, and in the mid-west, while the Carolina’s are found in the South. Since we live in Alabama, this is probably a Carolina Chickadee, but it’s the most colorful Chickadee we’ve seen so far.

Wednesday – 8.9.2017

4:21 AM – This Carolina Chickadee doesn’t have an easy time getting out the mealworms, but he’s a persistent little guy. Eventually, success, and he flies off with one. We saw this small struggle repeated several times. He always gets his worm.

We can’t tell if the feathers on this Cardinal are coming or going, but we sure hope those bare patches  will be filling in soon.

Friday – 8.4.2017

4:39 AM – This is clearly the season for young birds. I think this one is a juvenile Blue Jay, based on his size and indistinct color and pattern of feathers.  We’re new to back yard bird watching, and we’re still learning about these things. We have seen plenty of juvenile Bluebirds, but this is really the first Jay that I’m pretty sure is a young one.

The Red-bellied Woodpecker doesn’t do much platform feeding, but this young one stopped by for a few minutes. Note that the top of his head is getting a little red.

The little Carolina Chickadee probably got it’s feathers ruffled in a rain shower that passed through that afternoon. He’s so small, with a tiny beak, that he has to break the mealworms apart to eat them. We like chickadees.

Friday – 7.28.2017

4:49 AM – This platform feeder drama went on for almost six minutes. Two doves versus one Blue Jay, for control of the bird seed. At one point they tried sharing, each pecking up some seed. One dove flew off, and the other moved in to take his place. Eventual he went for the Blue Jay. The Jay, however, didn’t fly away. He just retreated a few feet along the rail and kept on staring. Then he advance to the water and the Dove broke, and flew off. It was interesting , but I doubt anything was permanently settled.

The new suet we’re using is very popular with the customers, drawing birds that don’t ordinarily feed at the suet cage. I like these two videos (combined) because the show the difference between the biggest and smallest suet fans, a Red-bellied Woodpecker and a Carolina Chickadee.

At first I thought this might be the first Blue Jay visitor to the suet cage. but it turns out there were two other visits filmed. Still a rare event though. This one looks like an immature one.

 

Monday – 7.24.2017

3:52 AM – The Mourning Doves are now the most frequent visitor to the open platform feeders, and it looks like they’re feeling possessive. This one sure doesn’t want Blue Jays hanging around.

Since the cylinder suet cage is back in action, we’ve been getting a steady stream of bird customers (and a couple of attempts by squirrels). These were there over the last few days: Downy Woodpecker,White Breasted Nuthatch, Bluebird, Cardinal, Carolina Chickadee and Red-bellied Woodpecker. The Cardinal is new to the suet feeder, probably because the mealworm feeder wasn’t up that day. Same for the bluebird with the attractive pattern of back feathers.

Here’s that squirrel we mentioned. He takes a good sniff and decided to have lunch somewhere else. We really like pepper suet.