Things have slowed down
and migration for some birds has already started. I haven’t seen Grosbeaks in a couple of days, and Oriole activity has also slowed down. There is the occasional Hummingbird but nothing like in previous years, fitting for this slightly underwhelming season. But there are still lots of young birds around, and I love watching them with their interesting markings and adorable faces. Young Redwinged Blackbirds are particularly cool looking, with their peachy faces and pink beak corners. At some point, they molt into adult feathers, and you can see some of that in different stages here too.
The evenings are getting cooler
but the garden still thrives, and there are sill many many baby birds around. This is the time where I like to put a camera to the ground to try and capture some of the more camera-shy visitors. The Blue Jays are very entertaining and all over the yard, the Grackle youngster are getting teen feathers, the Redwinged Blackbirds are bringing their peachy-faced babies, there are still Grosbeaks around, and today, a teen Cardinal visited too. As always when a cam is on the ground, some furries have access too.
Baby Blue Jays
are all over the backyard right now, and I love to watch them. This is fun time because they are all kinds of ages, some already quite independent while others look like fresh out the nest. What they all have in common is that they are super adorable and they all look like they came just out of the laundry.
This week,
the Blue Jay, Grosbeak and Oriole babies have started to come out, creating a beautifully chaotic symphony and fun behavior to watch. All babies seem to love the pond, so it is worth checking out the stream.
It was hard narrowing things down, so I am posting a larger selection here and smaller numbers on social media. I hope you enjoy the fluffy cuteness of these baby birds. (species names in ALT text)
Another busy week has passed,
and I was finally able to solve my computer issues by upgrading. And I took some time for photos too. There are still no hummingbirds, which is a bummer, but I am still keeping up hope. The baby birds are pretty much ruling the backyard, and it is tough to find good shots because they have that toddler energy 😆
There are bird babies
all over the yard right now. The Chickadees and Bluebirds have fledged (I have posted videos on all my social media platforms and Youtube and may make a separate post here soon too), and it is the most wonderful yet funny to listen to when outside. Most of them you can see at the pond livestream (babies of Orioles, Grosbeaks, Robins, Grackles, Starlings love to hang out there), and the others are starting to find the feeders. Today the first baby Blue Jay visited, along with a cute Grack. You can tell them by behavior and cuteness but also by their unusually colored gapes, the soft edges of the beaks. I love the color combinations of these youngsters! A funny Grosbeak and MoDo shot in the middle. Have a lovely 4th of July weekend and be easy on the fireworks - I cannot imagine all the young wildlife being super thrilled about it.
The Grackles were the first ones
to start bringing their babies. They look and sound adorable, and I will never get tired of their cute squawks. The one in the middle followed the parent to the feeder bowl, begging for food from the left bottom corner. My favorite pose of theirs is "downward Grack", showing off their elegance and beauty.
Nestbox news: We are still mid-nesting season,
and activity is on the lower end because everybody feeds babies right now. The nestboxes have been the most exciting thing recently, so here is a little update on these. In the Bluebird box, all five eggs have hatched about a week ago, and the babies are looking good. Sadly, though, it seems like the male has gone MIA, I have not seen him in at least a day. I did see a male yesterday but he was sitting on the Chickadee box, and I am not sure if that is a different male or the old one. I also saw one youngster from the first brood but I doubt the female is going to recurit it for help because it never learned how to go underneath the wren guard. The female is working her tush off to feed these babies, and I am just happy that the weather is not scorching or too wet and that she is a good hunter. I have ordered some live mealworms to help her a bit if needed, and hope that all goes well or the male miraculously returns,
TheChickadee nest has been a source of constant joy, it is just so much fun to watch them do their thing. There was a little scare two days ago when suddenly a House Wren did go under the Wren guard and looked into the nest but at around 12-14 days, the babies should be too big already so the Wren can do no harm. They are starting to look and sound like Chickaddees, and the parents are some of the busiest bird parents I have watched. There is a constant stream of food coming in. Seven of the eight seem to have made it and even if there is a runt, it becomes less obvious by the day now. I have removed the Wren guard so the babies can start looking out and get ready for their big day.
Here are some of the most recent videos. I try to upload them to Youtube in a timely manner so I can embed them here, but most of the times it is quicker and easier to post videos on my social media channels.
The weather
has been interesting, with lots of rain and cooler temps after the hot and dry weeks. I am happy to see the lawn and garden grow, also because I know that all the baby birds that are growing everywhere are getting good nutrition from all the bugs and worms. After a bit of a hiatus the Orioles have returned in full force today, a good sign that their babies are getting bigger and ready to fledge. I loved seeing the very beautiful female Cardinal, the adorable baby Grack, and seeing the return of the most interesting Redbellied Woodpecker (in photo 2). Is it a boy? Is it a girl? The last photo is a regular male. It is the calm before baby birds are flooding the yard. Good times.
Video: Hatch day for the Robins!
The Robins started hatching today! Mom and Dad share feeding and diaper duties, and they are such fresh parents that they still seem to be unsure how to do it. You can see Dad bringing some food and Mom wanting to feed it to the baby but then letting him do it when he seemingly insists. She's eating the diaper instead. You can watch this cam live here in my livestream section and on my Birdsy channel.
Video: Baby Blue!
The Bluebird couple has been bringing their babies from brood 1 that they raised in a different spot down to the backyard recently to introduce them to feeders and bath. The female is spending a lot of time in the box but I don’t think she is done laying yet. As of this morning, she has four eggs. This was an early morning scene at the pond, first she comes in, then a baby. You can hear the others faintly in the background. It is kind of neat to have them here without all the worry during their nesting.
Video: FOY Grack baby!
Very early this morning, the first baby Grack appeared at the pond. The parents seem to like "parking" the babies there while they forage, and it always reminds me of childhood days at a public swimming pool or lake, with lots of swimming and the occasional snack. The bird you can hear in the back is a Baltimore Oriole.
Spring and summer
are my favorite seasons because it always feels like something new happens or visits every day. July is a major baby bird month, and just like in previous years, we had loads and loads of Blue Jays. I love baby Blue Jays because they are wonderfully adorable in looks as well as behavior. For the calendar, I started thinking about July with the beautiful sunny photo of the adult, lured by the vibrancy and detail. But then I looked at photos of the youngsters. All three are cute and quite typical but I found the “mohawk” one the most interesting to look at, so that was the choice for July. The calendars are on sale starting today (once approved by the website) and continue until Sunday. Get yours here.
There is really no bird
that I see more often misidentified than this one, and I had my issues in the beginning too. All of these are the same species a Brownheaded Cowbird. The first two are youngsters. A juvenile that is morphing into adult feathers, a stage that I love, it looks so cool because they all have different markings. The one next to it is a baby, and I was a little surprised to see that yesterday, so late in the season. The pink edges of the beak, the speckled brown feathers and the cute appearance are tells. The other two are adults - a female and a male. They get a bad reputation but are fascinating native birds and do not act out of malice. If you are interested to learn more about them, Audubon has a great article about them here.
Nestbox news: What a great season!
The Bluebird babies have fledged, and with that, the season is concluded. Three of the four left the nest on Friday in the evening, after a day of teasing. The last one spent the night in the nest and left at 8 am Saturday. As far as I could tell, they took off right away and looked like strong fliers. All that space in the larger box helped them gaining enough strength. Along with the clips I saved and shared throughout the nesting, I also set the camera to record two timelapses. The first one was planned from nestbuilding to a couple of days after hatching but powerouts stopped it before hatching. The second timelapse I started when the babies were about 3-4 days old and went all the way to yesterday. I added some clips of hatching and young days and at the end slowed things down for the fledge. Timelapse 2 is a lot smoother, apparently I did not set the intervals the same way (mental note to make notes next time!). I also do realize that the nest cavity seems to shift from the right to the left between egg laying and hatching. This is where the first timelapse stopped. It is all the same nest, though. My theory is that she moved the nest gradually with the change of the angle of the sun, which is rather noticeable from July to August. Anyways, what a great nesting season! There are 14 new Bluebirds in the world thanks to Gayle and Mr. Business. I am so happy the new larger box worked out and also that I started using a Wren guard - I can attest it works. Now I am waiting to see the parents bring the babies back to the yard. Usually, a larger group is staying here all year, creating delightful sights when migratory birds have gone.
Nestbox news: Sitting tight
Gayle and Mr. Business are doing a great job raising their four babies from the third brood. It is always interesting to see what they bring them, and this time around I see lots of larger maggots, spiders and flying insects. This little scene happened a day ago. He is always eager to feed the babies, and while he gives her part of the loot here, he also still goes in. They have a little interaction, and then a warning call can be heard from outside. They hunker down and sat it out (took a couple of minutes), and when another call is audible, they both leave. The babies are 8 and 7 days old today, and I removed the Wren guard. I am sure Gayle will appreciate it, she loves to peek out. Everything looks good so far. I am so happy.
I am currently waiting
for a bird food delivery, so I had to stretch things a bit and only put very little out in the last couple of days. This also helps a bit with the feeder-hogging MoDo issue. However, they still have their lookouts and see me coming out or probably even recognize the sound of the door. And even the little ones know how to hog 🤣. This baby Dove tried everything to get the older bird to share. The new seed comes tomorrow, then hopefully things can mellow out here a bit. Have a great Saturday!
Sometimes, there are individual birds
that I recognize because of certain mannerisms or looks. This young Blue Jay that we call Frazzle or Frazzolino is one of these. I wrote about him here before. He seems to have suffered a head injury at some point and his head feathers are slow to grow back. He is a bit different than his siblings, a bit slower, maybe a bit more tame, but otherwise a very typical Blue Jay and very adorable. I love seeing him around and it will be interesting to see if he stays continues to hang around.
Nestbox news: Everybody is thriving
The temperatures are very lovely at the moment, not too hot, not too cool. The garden is visibly regaining juice and strength, and the Bluebird babies are thriving. I was so happy to see that the fourth egg hatched yesterday in the morning too. I hope with only four, the runt will quickly catch up. Also, believe it or not, I am still fascinated and enamoured watching this whole process even if it is the third time this season. Bluebirds are just so charming and entertaining. Here it looks like Gayle does not really like Mr. Business to come in and feed the babies. But at the same time, she is also quickly following him when he leaves. He does get his alone time with te babies too, though.
