1:00 AM – The finch sock ran out of thistle, and most of the Finches have relocated somewhere else. That leaves room on the feeder for the ‘regular’ birds, in this case a Dove, a straggling Finch and a Blue Jay.
Sometimes these female/immature Finches have really vivid markings. Not sure if these are Purple or House Finches.
3:51 AM – A flock of Sparrows have been around for a few days. Here’s a video of them sharing the platform feeder with a Cardinal and Dove. They aren’t spooked by the bigger birds, and keep right on eating.
Another birdbath video, this one with a Robin, Purple Finch and Bluebird. They’re probably very happy the ice is gone. For now, anyway.
1:58 AM – The squirrels have become very bold. Here’s one feasting on the platform feeder. When D comes out to shoo him off, he’s not impressed. When she’s almost close enough to grab his tail and swing him around he decides to make a break for it.
The missing Blue Jays have returned. We’re glad to see them, but it’s clear they only love us for our peanuts. Like this one. In the brief clip we see him tuck one away, then eat one and finally hop over a dove to the rail, where there are plenty more.
This Red-bellied Woodpecker is really mining the seed cylinder for something special. He gets it, too.
2:32 AM – Lots of Doves on the platform feeder recently. They’re getting aggressive with each other, maybe due to overcrowding, or maybe they’re just bad tempered.
Another series of birds drinking. In this case, a couple of Bluebirds, a Yellow Warbler, and our friend the One-eared Squirrel.
3:21 AM – The birdbath froze again the other night, providing us with this video of Birds on Ice. In order of appearance, we have a Bluebird, a Pine Warbler, a Dove and a Yellow-rumped Warbler. Not long after these clips were recorded, we dumped the ice and filled the bath with fresh, liquid water.
Not only Birds on Ice, but Squirrels on Ice too.
1:39 AM – Birds drinking – a Bluebird, Yellow Warbler and Robin.
Typical traffic on the Squirrel Buster. The Purple Finch is pushing everyone around, though he gets some kickback from a Sparrow or two.
First in a series of Bluebirds Behaving Badly. We have a number of these clips of juvenile Bluebirds terrorizing the other birds. In this one, a young Bluebird takes on a Dove twice his size, runs him off, then looks around for more victims.
3:22 AM – We have plenty of current videos on hand, so we’re skipping the Retro-Sunday feature until next week.
Another ‘snow video’, this one some random birds eating during a lull in the snow fall. Although it snowed all day, it was not a very heavy snow fall. The birds were able to get out and feed throughout most of the day.
And, trying to drink from the frozen birdbaths. We put some liquid water in them, so every bird got their thirst quenched.
From before the snow, colorful birds on the Squirrel Buster – a House Finch and Pine Warbler.
2:16 AM – Video from the relocated Squirrel Buster cam. This feeder has a mix of bird seed with no sunflower seeds, This keeps the number of Cardinals down – actually, we haven’t seen any here. They prefer the platform with plenty of the black oil sunflowers. In this one a Red-bellied Woodpecker eats, then takes off. We slowed that part down to about quarter speed.
Some drama on the platform feeder. Mockingbird and Dove puff up their feathers at each other. Then some Dove on Dove excitement. Never a dull moment among the birds.
4:08 AM – Doves are flooding the place. You can see them lined up on the rail, waiting to get onto the platform feeder. One ‘power dove’ manages to hold them at bay for a while, but another ‘more powerful dove’ shows up and takes over. Life in the dove world is no picnic.
Squirrels are pests, it’s true, but they can be cute, too. Like this one getting a drink of water. He looks like a squirrel-nerd – he just needs a pair of taped-up glasses.
2:59 AM – Another ‘drinking birds’ video. We have so many because there’s so much traffic at the birdbath. All the birds (and other critters) have to drink water.
One from the December, 2016 archives. This Mockingbird is not happy about the floating fountain in his birdbath. This bird was originally misidentified as a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.