2:48 PM – Unexpected visit from our neighbor Bruno. Like all dogs, Bruno is infatuated with D.
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3:43 AM – Typical day at the Suet Feeder: White Breasted Nuthatch, Downy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Carolina Chickadee, in that order. I don’t know where the Mockingbird went.
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The immature House Finches are still around. Here’s one at the platform feeder. I like the drab harlequin look. It takes longer for these birds to mature (like the bluebirds), than I thought it would.
6:29 AM – There’s been constant activity at the suet feeder. We’ll have to replace the suet cake in a few more days.
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Bluebirds of all kinds: Adult male, adult female and squabbling adolescents. Just like real life.
2:09 AM – What have the squirrels been up to? Let’s see – drinking, eating, avoiding a confrontation with another squirrel, then visiting the hummingbird feeder for desert.
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Sometimes our customers don’t get what they’re looking for. Here a Blue Jay arrives to early for food service, then a White Breasted Nuthatch can’t find what he’s looking for, and finally a surprise late-night visitor is disappointed.
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I guess Cardinals like mealworms too, though for some reason it’s only Mr. Cardinal that goes to the mealworm feeder.
3:40 AM – We replaced the shabby old birdbath we were using as a feeder with a nice one, made of wood with a screen floor. The birds probably don’t care, but it does look better. Here is a parade of birds trying it out: Cardinal, White Breasted Nuthatch, Sparrow and North Carolina Chickadee.
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We don’t have clouds of hummingbirds yet, but we’re starting to see an increase in traffic.
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The Blue Jays are now at the feeder off and on, all day. I think they’re nesting in a tree across the yard by the back fence. This is interesting – one Jay flies into the other, knocking him off the feeder, then does a kind of hopping victory dance. The last part of the clip shows this in slow motion.
12:03 AM – Recently Mrs. Cardinal tangled with one of the delinquent bluebirds, and come out second best. Evidently she was surprised the first time. This time it goes a little differently. The action part is repeated in slow motion. All that’s followed by a brief food sharing episode with Mr. Cardinal.
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The Blue Jay seems to have become a regular, I’m pleased to say.
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We have focused on the bluebirds and Blue Jays so much lately it’s easy to forget there are a lot of other birds in the Foodcourt. Here’s a couple of those – a very handsome Yellow-rumped Warbler and a White Breasted Nuthatch – just going about their business.
1:10 AM – We were pretty sure this was a Yellow-rumped Warbler, even though we hadn’t seen this particular variety. The big vivid yellow path on it’s rump was a big clue. A little research helped us ID this as an adult male version.
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Here’s the same Warbler (probably) taking turns at the platform feeder with a White Breasted Nuthatch. They’re not taking turns so much as the Nuthatch is running the Warbler off, and the Warbler is sneaking back.
1:02 PM – This Cardinal is a regular. I don’t think he’s the one that had a gash on his neck/upper breast, unless it healed up really well. In this video he’s eating sunflower seeds, looking into the camera (it seems). These are beautiful birds, but up close they look kind of mean.
The birds have adjusted to the relocation of the mealworm and suet feeders. I like the way these White Breasted Nuthatches walk and feed head pointed down.
It rained this morning, make the platform feeder into a sea of birdseed. We really need to get a proper feeder, with drainage. This one is actually a birdbath. Here’s the Goldfinches – still around – doing the best they can. I like the one wader.
4:54 AM – Usually it’s Bluebirds at the meal worm feeder, but not always. Following are three clips of other varieties of birds eating meal worms.
Here’s a couple of Carolina Chickadees and Red Bellied Woodpecker.
White Breasted Nuthatch at the meal worm feeder.
A Carolina Wren:
And a female Finch, probably a Goldfinch.
3:12 PM – This Nuthatch, usually seen at the suet feeder, has unusual color. The gray back is almost blue. Actually, I think it is blue.
6:39 AM – Neighbor dog Bruno jumped the fence and is making another early morning run through the yard. He’s on the deck when his owner calls him in.
5:54 AM – No raccoon visits again, last night. Bringing in the feeders, and using pepper suet, seems to be working.
Speaking of pepper suet, we’re going to Birds Unlimited this morning to get more. We’re going to put some in the cylindrical suet feeder on the deck, which now has only the regular non-spicy variety. That should keep the raccoons out, and mean one less feeder to bring in at night.
Here’s a Red Bellied Woodpecker attacking the suet cage. These woodpeckers get the prize for longest, strongest beaks, in the non-predator category.
10:50 AM – The usual overload of Sparrows this morning, with some Chickadees and a few Nuthatches. Here’s video of a Nuthatch in the feeder, joined by a Sparrow. A few moments later the Sparrow gets evicted by a Bluebird. Life goes on in the platform feeder.
1:25 AM – Harlan J. ‘Rocky’ Raccoon was back on the deck and surrounding areas three times last night – at least. Although we took in the deck platform feeder, we left some nuts on the rail. That must have attracted him. In the first video he leaves the deck then stops by the feeder we set up on the path (you can see his shiny eyes). There’s a lot of seeds on the ground, spillage by the birds. He didn’t stay long. In the second, we see a better shot of him, for a few seconds, foraging for more ground seed.