3:47 AM – Our wireless router failed, which means no transmissions from the bird-cams. We still have a few ready to go, however.
Blue Jay drinking, and calling.
The squirrel looks like he’s savoring his cylinder seed lunch, munching with his eyes closed. But I’m afraid there’s something wrong with him, since it’s only one eye. We really hate to see these animals get injured, if that’s what this is. Maybe not, though.
Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal, both looking a little scruffy from molting, dining out at the mealworm feeder.
4:04 AM – This is a cardinal with a completely black head, and only a wisp of a crest. At first I thought it might be a new species, but the Internet tells me it’s just a regular cardinal who’s molting, and has temporarily lost it’s head feathers. Since the skin under the feathers is black, we get a ‘new’ species. When the feathers grow out, he’ll look like a regular cardinal again.
The vulnerable cylinder feeder got hit by the raccoon last night. That part at the end was when he knocked the camera off it’s mount, onto the ground. Tomorrow we’re getting a pepper cylinder, and it’s all over for raccoon, and squirrel too.
This young finch appears to be listening for something so intently he forgets to eat. I like the markings on these immature birds, like little drab clown suits.
1:47 AM – Tufted Titmouse on the mealworm feeder reaches out and pecks the camera, right in the eye. Slow motion instant replay after the action.
This Carolina Wren is repeated taking mealworms away, presumably back to the nest, for mate and young birds. He aways flies slightly to the right of the feeder, toward the corner of the fence. .There’s a lot of dense shrubbery on the other side.
On our last trip to Wild Birds Unlimited they were out of the pepper impregnated version of these bird seed cylinders, so we got the regular kind. The birds like them, but also, of course, the squirrels. We moved the cylinder cage to in front of the camera yesterday, and caught these images (among many others) of a squirrel going to town on the compressed bird food. He might as well enjoy himself now – we’re making a run back to Birds Unlimited in a few days, and we expect they’ll have the good, squirrel-proof stuff in stock.
2:59 AM – We put the birdbath (and camera) back up on the deck railing – the only bird hardware we’ll install until the deck is sealed. We taped an immature House Finch, and a squirrel who was curious about the camera.
Is this an immature cardinal? Or an adult female? If it’s the adult female, it’s the first time one has been on the mealworm feeder – so far it’s only been the males that use that feeder, for some reason.
Another video of the new Gen-2 bluebirds. They’re at the feeder almost constantly.
1:58 AM – The finches usually feed at one of the Squirrel Busters, but this bright male House Finch (and a couple of his female friends) are using the open/platform feeder. Toward the end of the clip one of the females snaps at him, and there’s a surprise visitor.
We replaced the remnants of the suet with a new cake a few days ago. This White Breasted Nuthatch was the first visitor.
This is a common sight, especially lately, after five days of rain. It’s hard to tell but the rain is increasing and the Mourning Doves seem to be considering their options.
6:11 AM – There’s a new Blue Jay around, a little smaller than the others. Presumably it’s a young bird, one of the recent crop of chicks of all the bird variety. In this clip, he learns who’s in charge of the feeders (for now, anyway). Notice in the last part of the video that he’s in the background, sitting on the rail waiting his turn.
The small brown birds are either female or juvenile House Finches. Lots of them around the last few days. The female Cardinal seems pretty relaxed about the little finch sharing the feeder. That’s not always the case.
The pepper seed keeps the squirrels from hogging the feeder. However, we added some black oil sunflower seeds to the mix, for the Cardinals and Blue Jays, and of course, the squirrels arrived to take advantage. Here’s one picking through the pepper seeds to find the good stuff.
In a few of the recent videos you may have noticed that the water bowl/bird bath is empty. There’s a crack in it (caused by a raccoon visit some time ago). We repaired it with tape, but it’s finally deteriorated to the point it won’t hold water. Fortunately, there’s a much larger bowl on the other side of the deck, so no bird goes thirsty. We’ve ordered a replacement for the camera bowl.
3:53 AM – We were concerned that we might lose the Cardinals and Blue Jays when we retired the open feeders – that’s their favorite venue. So we bought some ‘squirrel repellent’ seed for the platform feeder. It seems to work pretty well. Here are a Cardinal, Blue Jay, Mourning Dove, House Finch (female) and Titmouse sampling the new menu.
And here’s a customers that isn’t so happy. The pepper repellent doesn’t always work – we had some pepper powder we sprinkled on the black oil sunflower seeds that the squirrels seemed to find delicious – but these seeds are doing their job.
2:29 PM – Here’s a bonus clip. We swapped out the open platform feeder for the Squirrel Buster to discourage the squirrels. They were sitting in the feeder for several hours a day, continually eating the birds seed. Watch what happens with this one realized the game has changed.
3:43 AM – A typical day at the mealworm feeder, birds coming and going. In this case, the Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Chickadee and Bluebird.
We haven’t see these House Finches at the platform feeder for several weeks, though they do show up at the Squirrel Busters.
And here’s the One-eared Squirrel, still alive and foraging.
12:37 AM – We’ve had so many squirrels hogging the feeder that I feel obliged to show a video of one. Here it is, with a special fast action sequence at the end.
The Carolina Wren is shown here in a series of brief visits to the mealworm feeder. Lately, like many other birds, he carries food away with him.
Finally, a male Downy Woodpecker having a go at the suet feeder.
2;17 AM – Is it just my imagination or does that squirrel look fat? If not actually obese, at least very well padded. Well, he should be overweight, along with all the other feeder rodents, what with the volume of bird food they’ve been eating. What to do, what to do.
Mrs. Cardinal doesn’t look too happy over the picked over sunflower seed selection. It’s the end of the day, and the feeder needs to be replenished (THANKS, Mr. Squirrel). Too bad. She’ll just have to make do with one of the other two platform feeders, or one of the three vertical Squirrel Buster feeders, or – and this is popular with Mr. C – the mealworm feeder. We may be spoiling these backyard animals.