4:27 AM – As mentioned before, peanuts are very popular, particularly in freezing weather. Here are a couple of montage videos of heavy traffic on the platform feeder.
In the first clip (in order of appearance) we have a Bluebird, male Cardinal, Brown-headed Nuthatch, White Breasted Nuthatch, female Cardinal.
Second clip has a Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, Sparrows and a Dark-eyed Junco.
3:56 AM – The White-breasted Nuthatch is a small, very active bird. He darts in, grabs a seed, and flies off. Here he is on the platform feeder. Today, he’s mostly after peanuts, a big favorite in cold weather. A Carolina Chickadee makes a guest appearance, and finally a big male Cardinal. The Nuthatch isn’t intimidated by the bigger bird – he just flies in, picks out his peanut and takes off.
I’ve got no idea what this Mockingbird is pecking at. Or maybe eating.
4:02 AM – Brief video close-up of the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.
The birds are getting used to us. Here’s a White-breasted Nuthatch landing on the platform feeder, while I’m sitting a few feet away. It was cold and I had a poncho on.
One more, to make up for the brevity of the first two clips. Here’s a Cardinal and a Dark-eyed Junco feeding. Nothing exciting happens. It’s that way a lot of the time with the birds. They just eat, excrete and flap around, mostly. Every now and then they squabble. That’s life in the wild.
2:46 AM – This is a long clip – about three minutes – of the action on one of our ‘satellite’ feeders. It’s a Squirrel Buster stationed away from the deck out in the yard. The video was taken with our new camera, so the quality of the video is a little better than that of the security cams.
There are several parts. In approximate order of appearance are Sparrows, White Breasted Nuthatch, Red-bellied Woodpecker, House Finches. The last clip is a dance between a House Finch and Sparrow, around the feeder.
To balance the previous lengthy video, we present a short clip of our new resident, the Eastern Phoebe. We hadn’t seen one for a couple of weeks, but it looks like they’re here to stay, for a while. This one (or more) are carrying off mealworms, I assume to nesting mates or chicks.
3:02 AM – The White Breasted Nuthatch darts in and out quickly – the second and third clips are a 50% speed. I notice he (or she) likes to get a seed then deliberately drop it on the ground. Maybe he’s got a partner down there collecting them.
We put some peanuts out, hoping to attract the Blue Jays, but they were a no-show. We did get this female Cardinal. In the bird world, you take what you can get.
3:40 AM – We get more suet feeder traffic in cold weather – it’s in the 50’s, a little chilly for Alabama in October. In order of appearance: Pine Warbler, Purple Finch, Bluebird, White Breasted Nuthatch, Downy Woodpecker, Carolina Wren and Red-bellied Woodpecker. I’m surprised we didn’t see a Cardinal and Chickadee in the lineup.
The other morning, around 4:30 AM, we had a raccoon visit. We were sitting right inside, but didn’t hear anything. If we have to have varmints, I’d rather have the coon than the possum. I prefer the bushy ringed tail to the possum’s naked rat tail.
3:17 AM – White Breasted Nuthatch adventures. In the first one he’s avoiding an unpleasant looking Cardinal on the Squirrel Buster. In the second part a Cardinal attacks him on the suet feeder. But the Nuthatch perseveres.
Another video of questionable Cardinal behavior, this time against a Purple Finch.
2:57 AM – Assorted birds on the Squirrel Buster feeder. We have a Cardinal, a female House Finch and a White Breasted Nuthatch. The Finch and Nuthatch come and go, but nothing keeps the Cardinal from his meal.
It’s sometimes hard to tell the Purple Finch from the House Finch. The mediocre quality of our cameras doesn’t help (though they do pretty well for budget security cams). In this case, the color of the bird looks purple, not red. But he’s got stripes on his belly, which Cornell Labs tells me is the mark of the House Finch. On the other hand, I’ve found images of the Purple with stripes too. I’ll call it a Purple Finch. It’s a pretty bird, either way.
12:58 AM – Every now and then D likes to set out some luxury food for the birds, in this case, some peanuts. A White Breasted Nuthatch spots them, and gets the jump on the other birds. He manages eight trips to the feeder, one after another, carrying away a peanut each time. Eventually other birds caught on, and the Great Peanut Grab was over.
The camera is back up on the cylinder feeder, just in time to catch these two varieties of woodpecker. The Downy Woodpecker is first, then the Red-bellied. The size difference is really apparent here.
2:02 AM – The young Red-bellied Woodpecker is still around. Those Red-bellies win the prize of biggest and strongest beaks.
More from the cylinder feeder. Here’s an acrobatic White Breasted Nuthatch, and a couple of Carolina Chickadees.