And now that traffic
has generally slowed down a bit, some of the birds that haven’t visited feeders in a while are showing up again. I was so happy to see the Cardinal lady! She was not with her man but lunched with a House Finch 😍 Speaking of Cardinals - my fundraiser for Kentucky is still running over at my Redbubble shop, if you are inclined. Have a great Tuesday!
At this time of the year,
you might see birds that look a bit scary, rugged, even sick or somewhat familiar and you just cannot put your finger on what species they belong to. This means we are in the middle of molting season. Molting means either an adult bird loses older feathers and grows new ones or a juvenile bird is growing the first adult plumage. I love this time of the year because you get to study bird anatomy a bit and you might see some spectacular patterns, textures and color combos. Here are two examples of juvies changing to adult feathers (Cowbird and Starling) and two for adult molts (Blue Jay and Grackle). They will all look smooth again in a bit.
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.
Summer's slowly coming to an end,
and while this has been an especially bad year in regards to Hummingbirds for me, Oriole activity has been and still is great. Yesterday, I put the grape jelly on my photo setup to capture some sunshine. There are less now but I still have several individuals coming and loading up for the big trip south. I also put out some orange halves again, and the woodpeckers as well as Orioles enjoy them. I am wondering what fall migration will bring. It has been so dry, it makes me wonder if it may be another irruption year if food is scarce up in the more northern regions.
The other entertaining thing
are the loads of young Blue Jays. They are all very excited to find food and will try almost any feeder, and they will announce it too. I like photos like here where they have a bit of a sleepy eye. I have only ever seen this with the babies. They are just the cutest little “penguins”.
I haven’t seen
a Chickadee, Nuthatch, Titmouse or even Downy Woodpecker in a long time. The Grackles, MoDos and Blue Jays, are dominating yard and feeders. I can see how smaller birds stay away from that but it makes things a bit boring. So I was excited to see this one showing up yesterday. It is a juvenile Redwinged Blackbird, and guessing by the red on the shoulders, a male. I love how much orange this bird has, the whole color combination is quite beautiful.
The end of July is a bit
like early Halloween in the bird world - the molting process makes many of them look a bit scary. They are using the warm weather to lose old feathers and grow new ones. Some, like Grackles, Cardinals and Blue Jays, may lose their parts or the entire collection of feathers on their heads. It is a great opportunity to see what a bird’s ear looks like. And just like last year, there is a Grack that reminds me of Maynard James Keenan 😆
The Redbellied Woodpeckers
seem to have more than one youngster. I have noticed a second one that has a stronger marking on the forehead. I decided to call them Canado and Canada because the red patch looks a bit like a Maple leaf. Canado is the one with the larger red patch, and he also has more streaks on the chest. I have no idea though if it is actually a male, time will tell. Canada is in pic 1, Canado in the other two.
I had not seen or heard
the Starlings in a bit, but in the last couple of days, they have come back a bit, along with groups of flocking Cowbirds. The adults are starting to get into their winter plumage, and I always like this look because they almost look like the fantasy birds we used to draw as children. The young ones will soon also be back, I assume, with their own unique look when the adult feathers come out through their brown baby plumage.
At times right now
it feels like there are only Blue Jays around. They have a lot of young, as always, and they are exploring every corner of the yard, excitedly exclaiming and begging the parents for food. They are utterly adorable, and I love their enthusiastic personality. Here are a couple of them, plus an adult. One of the babies is very recognizable because it is missing head feathers. Maybe it got attacked somehow. We call him Frazzle because that is how he comes across. He is our favorite right now (he is in the third and fourth photo).
It's been a busy work week
and I am trying to catch up with photos, but there is also not really much happening. The backyard is full of goofy and curious bird babies, exploring the backyard and eating me out of house and garden (a big thank you to the generous Leslie for the WBU giftcard that allowed me to get a little extra ❤️). I have seen more butterflies this week, my first tomato hornworm (wow, these guys are massive!) that already seems to have been taken care of by a critter or bird, and a garter snake. Despite not really seeing hummingbird activity, I keep putting feeders out, and yesterday I got lucky. I hope things will pick up a bit now, apparently their babies are starting to fledge.
They have become a little less
recently, I think some might have already begun to migrate, but I still have quite a lot of Orioles hanging around. At this point, it is mostly juveniles but I also see the occasional adult male and female strewn in. I was hoping to see the Orchard Oriole’s young ones or females too but time might be running out for that. Anyways, here is a good dose of sunshine to brighten your Friday.
It feels like
I haven’t posted Gracks in a bit. There are many of them around, and I have been collecting pics for a bit for a nice big Grackle post. Count Grackula is still hanging around but his family is growing and there are lots of possible successors. He is the one with the speckles around the neck, and you can tell that he is getting old. Old but nonetheless magnificent. Some are starting to molt now too, and I am excited to see the wild looks that are upon us. The bird in the first photo is seen at a later molt stage in another photo. He is kind of Count II with that big white spot.
Rosebreasted Grosbeaks
are seasonal visitors in Michigan. they arrive in May and leave in the middle of the Midwestern summer. I love these birds because they are beautiful but also because of their character. They remind me a bit of an old dog or kitty. They will come, sit down and eat. And nothing will really bother them, not even a thunderstorm. They are another bird where all individuals look alike from afar, but nope. Look at this diversity!
One fun thing about birdwatching
is that you never know what you’re gonna get. Even for a backyard birdwatcher, things will change with the seasons but also from year to year. I did have male Redwinged Blackbirds at my feeders always but this year, there seem to be a lot more females. Or females that are not camera shy. With this expressive one, I would like to wish everyone a FANTASTIC MONDAY!
Mourning Doves are often
described as peaceful birds, but I have seen quite a different behavior. They seem to be hungry. All the time. And they do not want to share. What looks like maybe a couple that is getting cosy here is two birds each trying to maintain dominance over the food bowl. I do love them for their goofiness and their love for the camera. They are like a well-tanned nudist couple with a preference for 70’s eye shadow that shows up for spontaneous visits.
The young Red-bellied Woodpecker
appears to have figured out the camera feeder and is taking lots of mug shots, much to my delight because I think it looks beautiful. It is still looking a bit like a black and white copy of it’s parents but there is some red coming in on the forehead. The eyes are still brown instead of the dark red of the adults. This is a very vocal bird too, very entertaining.
Gayle and Mr. Business
have begun to bring their babies back to the yard to show them the amenities (the mulberry tree next door is apparently still carrying as you can see on Gayle’s chest and very popular with all the birds here). I am not entirely sure how many are with them but I saw at least three so far. This means they are now more present here, and with that, more able to defend their nestbox. They have been frequently going in all weekend, excitedly exclaiming and taking things out. I find it funny that they still do their little rituals even for the third brood. The babies that I saw looked great, and to my surprise one even made it to the camera. It looks so comparatively small that I think it might be the runt. It does have a lot of character 😁
On a personal note,
I was kind of proud to see that this morning, I was approved to be verified on Facebook. This MoDo perfectly sums up how I looked when I got the message 😂 I hope you have a great Friday evening!
