4:21 AM – The clip starts with the finch and Cardinal peacefully sharing the feeder, and ends with the finch chasing off the other finches. Like a little feathered hog.
A Carolina Wren on the suet feeder. You can see these little acrobats at all the different feeders. They’re not picky eaters
Lots of Blue Jays. We caught four on video, and D saw a few more behind the camera. I wonder what the exact count is. We really have to focus on the Blue Jay ID project.
4:42 AM – At the beginning of this clip notice the Blue Jay dropping a seed, and trying to snatch it out of the air. For some reason that’s a very human gesture. Next, another Jay lands, and they have a beak duel. Then a longer sequence with a Jay and a Cardinal getting some feathers back on her bald head. I still think Cards are more aggressive when they’re molting and irritable.
The Mourning Doves have hogged the platform feeder for so long this Summer that the other birds seem to have gotten used to it. The cheeky little finch and the Jay ignore the bigger bird.
3:58 AM – This Red-bellied Woodpecker, the juvenile with the gray head, seems to have some new feathers coming in. We hope that’s what’s happening, and not an adult molting. Though there’s nothing wrong with molting. Some birds do it several times a year. But it looks sad. Here’s the woodpecker on the cylinder feeder, then making a rare visit to the deck platform.
We’re seeing more finches these days. It’s hard to tell the House Finch (red feathers) from the Purple Finch (purple feathers). They look pretty much the same to me, very often, and the cameras are not completely reliable about capturing the true shade/hue etc. Anyway, here’s a couple of brief clips of finches at the platform feeder, eating and bickering. This one is almost certainly a Purple.
2:10 AM – Another Retro-Sunday, featuring videos from the archives. We started recording and posting these in November of last year, and have only missed a few days. That’s a lot of bird (and squirrel and raccoon) action. These are a few of the earliest ones.
First, a Carolina Wren drinking and bathing.
This one shows Mrs. Cardinal bathing after nudging a little sparrow out of the way.
And finally, purple finches, male and female.
5:07 AM – All of our cameras have been out of commission for the last few days, for one reason or another. That means no recent videos. Instead, here’s a special Thursday edition of our regular Sunday “Greatest Hits” posting.
Here’s a weird video of a Blue Jay celebrating the ousting of another Jay from the birdbath, with a hopping dance. From April 29, 2017.
A Yellow-rumped Warbler and a bluebird at the mealworm feeder, from April 15, 2017. We haven’t seen the warblers for a few months now.
From April 12, 2017, a Purple Finch feeding an immature finch. Actually, that might be a House Finch, the color reproduction of these videos isn’t always right on target, so it might be purple, might be red.
12:04 AM – We enjoyed going through the archives last Sunday, so we thought we’d make a regular thing of it. This, then, is the second Greatest Hits Sunday.
The raccoon hasn’t been around for a while, but he’s not forgotten. Here’s one of his less successful visits from last February.
This one is from January, this year. A pack of sparrows crowd the feeder. We still have sparrows, but not anything like this crowd.
From February, the Purple Finch and Goldfinches, along with the usual crowd of sparrows. We’re hoping we’ll see this kind of thing again next winter.
12:20 AM – We haven’t seen a Mockingbird for quite a while. This one seems to be checking things out.
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We’ve been waiting for the young bluebirds to start feeding themselves at the mealworm feeder, and this one finally is trying it out. He’s spilling a lot more than he’s eating, but he’s getting there.
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A Purple Finch and a young bluebird are sharing the watering hole, peacefully for a change. Then they move over to the platform feeder. Watch the bluebird try to bathe in the seeds. His instincts are good, but he hasn’t quite grasped the concept.
4:05 AM – For a little variety, we swapped the finch sock for the suet feeder, so we could get some video of the different finches. Evidently it takes a little time for them to get used to the change, as we haven’t seen the first finch. We have, however, seen this Downy Woodpecker. I didn’t know they used the finch sock, but, okay.
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We have more conflict at the platform feeder. This Titmouse goes for the Purple Finch. I guess it’s all natural. I like the way the finch pops right back after the Titmouse leaves, though I see him looking around, to be sure the coast is clear.
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And now for some bluebirds. Here are four of the young ones, hanging out.
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And here are two of them, bathing together.
1:52 AM – I don’t know what’s gotten into these birds. Usually the sparrows (all varieties) mind their own business. This one lights into a Tufted Titmouse, gets thrown back, circles around and attacks again. Flies right into his little flank. Wow. Maybe it’s all the rowdy adolescent bluebirds, infecting the whole Foodcourt.
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Later the same afternoon, a couple of the Bluebird Gang (now numbering four males and a female) were hanging around the water when a Purple Finch stopped for a drink. Surprisingly, they didn’t attack him. After a bit, he flew off. Then more of the bluebirds came – there were four males in all. This is the first real verification of the numbers.
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.