After a summery weekend,
we got snow flurries today. The garden is waking up everywhere but things still feel odd because there are no nesting Bluebirds. I have decided to pull the nest today, since there is no sign of any nesting activity. Interestingly enough, a male and a female BB have showed up to feed. There are still some Redbreasted Nuthatches around, and a couple of Chickadees are showing a lot of interest in my other nestbox.
When nothing much
is going on, there’s still some activity apart from the MoDos. I call them the tiny crowd, and they are usually the first to greet me when I open the buffet in the morning. I often just stand ofr a bit to watch them, and they just make me smile. There’s two kinds of Nuthatches - the very human-friendly teensy Redbreasted and the more shy but equally diligent Whitebreasted. You can tell male and females apart by the color of the broad center stripe on their head. Males have a jetblack one, females more grey. Also belonging to the tiny crowd - the choir in the back, friendly Chickadees and Titmice. Come good into Wednesday!
Happy National Bird Day!
I hope you all got to watch some of our wonderful feathered friends today and got entertained by their antics. It has been another quiet day in my yard and I wonder if the Nuthatches, of which there is a good little number, are happy they get to collect and cache so much stuff without any competition. The Redbreasted are one of my favorites. Tame, vocal & aborbable. I think here we have a female, her dark stripe on the head looks more grey than black.
The year is coming to an end,
and I would like to take the moment to thank everybody who has been following me along. 2022 was an odd year in regards to birds for me, it feels like there was a lot less going on than in previous years. While it is nice to have more time for other hobbies, I am looking forward to a hopefully beautiful spring with an abundance of visitors. With this pensive Whitebreasted Nuthatch I am bidding farewell to 2022 (unless a super awesome bird comes tomorrow 😁).
Be safe this New Year’s Eve, love as much as you can, and see you all fresh and new in 2023. My calendars will still be available for a bit into January, should you decide you would like one.
Redbreasted Nuthatches
are one of my favorite fall visitors. They are constantly busy, have practically no fear of humans and make the funniest little sounds. They are so fast that it can be hard to tell if you have a male or a female in front of you. These photos show their difference. The male has a jetblack “hat” while the female sports a grayish top. (Top two here show a male, bottom two a female.)
It is very interesting
how different things are this November, compared to all the other years I have been here. Temperatures are more than mild, which I think is responsible for the relative quiet in the yard right now. Nature provides an abundance of food, there are still insects around too, so the birds seek feeders less. The Grackle and Redwinged Blackbird are still around too, and today I saw in a local birding group that someone had a Hummingbird on their feeder in Michigan. I am enjoying this mild weather but I really hope we will get some cold too. Anyways, here are some of the current residents, most of which are very busy taking nuts and seeds and hiding them for snowy days.
(Redbreasted Nuthatch, American Goldfinch, Blackcapped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse and House Finch)
Since I've been so busy with work,
it sometimes takes me a bit to go back out and refill the feeders. And that is when I get lots of photos like these that show nice different angles like the side or back. It is great to see Whitebreasted Nuthatches and Titmice again on a regular basis after they’ve been more feeder shy in the summer. (Titmouse, Nuthatch, Bluebird, Starling)
Nothing much is happening,
but I am having a good weekend with very little work for a change. I got some knitting and watching tv done, which I usually do not have a lot of time for. I have had to wear socks for the last two days, it has gotten cooler. And things are slow in the yard. But there are some new visitors. The Red-breasted Nuthatches are here, and I am so happy because they are a complete delight. They sound like little beat boxes and have little to no fear of humans. I walked up to feeders earlier today and just watched with a big grin how they were watching me, doing their noises. A perfectly wonderful bird to cure the little void birdwatchers feel after the summer frenzy.
Video: The sandwich feeder
Starlings like suet, and since they can be very voracious, people are trying to find ways to keep them at bay. I like an innovative feeder, so I got this one a while ago. It's two plates that you fill with bark butter or suet spread, just like a sandwich, but you leave the edges free. Woodpeckers can reach in, anything with shorter tongues and beaks cannot. This is one of the setups I currently have out. The Finches won’t go there, and the MoDos cannot reach it either. I I overfilled it a bit on the first day, so the edges offered a welcome snack for the Red-breasted Nuthatches and Chickadees.
January is slowly
dragging on, and there is not a lot happening right now except for a steady stream of regulars. And with February approaching, I am beginning to think of spring. This is a good time to work and make plans. I have gotten seeds for the garden the other day and think about what plants could be added to make the yard more bird-friendly. Doing that may include planting berry bushes, a pollinator garden and landscaping that accomodates native wildlife. I am also doing some maintenance this weekend which means that the livestream will be off for a couple of days. Have a great Thursday!
(pictured - some of the regulars: Eastern Bluebirds in the top, a Redbreasted Nuthatch, a Blue Jay and a Junco on the bottom)
Video: Light in the winter
is something special, and I love how Michigan is treating me with it on some evenings. Tonight was one of these, and the resident Red-breasted Nuthatch was one of the last ones to come to the feeder to choose that perfect bite for dinner. Here’s to a good Monday!
One of my favorites,
the Red-breasted Nuthatch. Tiny, vocal, bold and very diligent. This is one of the birds that will wait nearby when I refill, and not be scared when I am still right there. One time I had one feeding from my hand, too. Yesterday, he was the first and last bird to appear in my camera roll. I love the evening light.
Video: Owlie has seen some things...
It’s been a week, and Owlie has gotten a lot of attention from the birds here, and has changed a bit in appearance. You can’t see that the back is almost entirely eaten already. I love that this feeder invites several species to eat together, they usually don’t always like to share so much… Here we have one of my favorites, a Redbreasted Nuthatch (I think it is a male, his head cap is all black, the females have grey there), and a Goldfinch. This was taken with the Birdsy Cam, and in case you have not heard yet - they have now launched in the US and you can get a camera in their current Christmas sale. Check out their website at birdsy.com.
It's been an exciting day.
Here are some borbs for your pleasure and relaxation.
(Blackcapped Chickadee, European Starling, Redbreasted Nuthatch)
The sun
is making itself rare these days, which is not doing a lot to lift the overall mood or photo quality. The yard is full of regulars, and I am happily helping them to eat well to make it through the cold. One of the most diligent is this Red-breasted Nuthatch lady. I have two couples at most, and whenever I come out for a refill, she is the first to come, even when I still stand there. I love these birds.
Happy National Bird Day!
Well, to be honest, every day is bird day to me but it is nice to see that there is an official date to celebrate our feathered friends too. My personal bird ambassador this year is the Red-breasted Nuthatch because I am so happy to have them back in my yard after a two-year absence. Quick as always, and almost not in frame.
Have a beautiful Tuesday!
I don't post them often enough,
but I love the Whitebreasted Nuthatches. There seem to be several couples around. This is a male, his head cap is black, whereas the one of the female is blue-gray.
We have been getting
a bit of winter weather recently. Snow days always bring in the birds, so it is fun to watch the feeders on days like that.
Greetings from the small crowd.
They are enjoying te relative calm at the feeders and preparing their winter stashes of nuts and seeds. Left to right: American Goldfinch, Black-capped Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Tufted Titmouse.
White-breasted Nuthatches
might be hard to tell apart from afar, but there are way to differentiate the males from the females. The males have a black head cap, while the markings of the females are more subtle. The same is true for Red-breasted Nuthatches, by the way. Here, you have the male in the first photo and the female in the second (with added Chickie photobomb).
