1:00 AM – Here’s a Carolina Wren taking a vigorous bath, splashing water on the camera lens.
This was taken with the Nikon camera. It’s shaky because I’m not using a tripod, unfortunately. The cat is grooming himself, but he’s in a good position to watch the birds and squirrels feeding all over the yard.
Another hand-held video taken with the Nikon. The birds, and particularly the squirrels are a lot less skittish. I can sit on the deck and they’ll go ahead and feed. Like this cheeky squirrel. I was sitting about two yards away.
1:00 AM – One of my favorites, the White Breasted Nuthatch. This one is really going after the new compressed seed cylinder. Right side up, and upside down.
Here’s a few short videos. In the first, look for the cat sitting on the path grooming itself. Very nonchalant. Nothing to see here, birds, nothing to see. When the birds in the platform fly off, he strolls across the deck.
Since Robins are ground feeders, we don’t usually see them in the feeders. Here’s a very brief video of one sitting on the deck railing.
3:54 AM – Several Bluebirds, and a full mealworm feeder, so we have some squabbling.
One of the local cats picking the peanuts out of the bird seed, like the raccoon did a few days ago. Always feel sorry for the ‘wild’ cats, though for all I know he/she lives in a nice house down the street, with plenty of food to eat etc.
3:13 AM – I think the bird at the far end of the feeder is a Dark-eyed Junco. The colors are right, and the beak looks like the pictures on the Cornell website. The other birds are the Tufted Titmouse and Pine Warbler.
One of the semi-feral cats that roam the neighborhood. Sometimes they catch a bird, once right in front of the camera. We hate to see that, but there’s not much we can do to stop it. It’s just Nature.
3:24 AM – Thirsty squirrels, a cat and the very popular raccoon take their turn.
I still have a hard time telling the difference between the varieties of Sparrows. I think these might be Song Sparrows, but those are supposed to have stripes on the chest. They also look like White Throated Sparrows but they don’t really have white throats. Whatever brand of Sparrow these are, there are several of them, which is nice, as they haven’t been around much lately. A femaile Purple Finch is also there, until finally a Cardinal runs the whole lot of them off.
2:49 AM – We moved the big birdbath in front of the camera, and we’re getting a nice variety of visitors. Here we have (in order of appearance) another line-up of visitors: a Bluebird, Cardinal, Brown Thrasher, Carolina Wren, squirrel (two eared variety) and a midnight cat.
Cardinal and Chickadee sharing the Squirrel Buster feeder. As usual, the Cardinal stays put and feeds, while the Chickadee darts in and out.
1:21 AM – I know it’s all natural, but I still hate to see the local feral cats get one of the birds. This video has a brief but graphic moment at the end when a Mourning Dove gets taken. There will be more pleasant videos to watch tomorrow.
WARNING – GRAPHIC VIOLENCE
Did that Blue Jay just try to steal a seed out of his buddy’s beak? It sure looks like it.
5:02 AM – Yesterday was an ordinary day at the Foodcourt. Here’s a few birds at the suet feeder, including that Mockingbird we were looking for yesterday. He’s followed by the Red-bellied Woodpecker and an acrobatic White Breasted Nuthatch.
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Ordinary day with Cardinals at the platform feeder. A sluggish looking Mourning Dove shares the feeder with Mr. Cardinal for a bit.
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Finally, an ordinary night with a cat prowling around.
This Yellow-rumped Warbler has very distinct and attractive markings. The Cornell Lab website says this is the usual Spring/Summer plumage for the male. Since we’ve only been watching the backyard birds since this past Winter we’re used to seeing these warblers in their drab cold weather uniforms.
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We thought there were only three immature bluebirds, but this video shows, for a brief moment, four of them.
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Last vidoe: a cat at the birdbath. We see more of them at night, but this one was on a daytime scouting mission.