You may have heard them
and seen them on my livestream - the Starlings have started to bring their young to the yard. I won’t let them nest on my property but I guess they are finding spots nearby. While they can be annoying with their noise and the mess they leave behind, I still find their babies adorable and it is funny to see the interactions with the seemingly bothered parents. The camera captures their spirit perfectly 😆
Video: A white whale backyard bird
Today was a special day - a group of Cedar Waxwings came to the pond! They are one of my white whale backyard birds because they do not come to feeders and I find them so cool looking. We planted lots of plants in the garden because we heard they lure them in :D The other bird is an American Robin, and he cracked me up because he seemed rather unhappy about the jolly group using his pool.
More rain yesterday,
and more drenched birds. The Orioles have returned for very sporadic visits, and I think I might only have one pair this year. I also spotted a couple of Grosbeaks at the feeders yesterday, but also here, far from the numbers of previous years. It remains a sad season so far, but I am thankful to have at least some summer visitors. The good thing today is, the rain has finally stopped and the sun is out. However, it is rather windy and still cold. I am ready for some more summery weather. Have a safe Memorial Day weekend, everyone!
Yesterday,
we finally got a good amount of rain. It cooled the premature summer heat down and made the garden happy. The birds looked a bit pitiful and drenched but you know I love a good wet birb because the textures are so interesting. And interesting things are welcome right now because this is a very boring season so far. And I don’t seem to be alone in my observations, the local birdwatching groups are full of people stating that they don’t see as much activity as in previous years. This is concerning, and one can only hope that populations will bounce back. If you are inclined, this article from the Smithsonian Magazine is shedding some light on things. It is from last December but seems to be appropriate now.
Wet birbs* pictured: my current favorite House Finch with the orange patch, a Blue Jay, an American Robin, Dr. Clara the Bluebird, a Starling and a MoDo.
(*I use this spelling on purpose and as a term of endearment, it is not a typo. Audubon is in agreement 🤓)
Video: He has been back
every other night now, and while I don't want to jinx it, he might be a regular now... I think in this one, some sort of ear tuft is visible, so I am now leaning more towards my initial thought Northern Screech. It is a delight to wake up in the morning, check my Birdsy app and see that there are new owl videos from the night 😊
Nesting season
is pretty much in full bloom right now. I still see some birds gathering nesting material, but many others are either coming a lot less to the feeders or when they come quickly stuff their beaks and take off. Funnily enough, during this rather slow time at the feeders, sometimes birds make it to the bowl that usually don’t go there, like this female Redwinged Blackbird. They are a rather shy and humble bird, kind of in the shadow of their vibrant male counterparts, but I love their kind faces and their subtle colors.
Video: Would you have thought
that House Finches like oranges? I was surprised when I noticed for the first time years ago. But who doesn’t like oranges? there are numerous options to offer oranges as food for birds, from spiking them on a shepherd’s hook to stuffing them into suet cages or putting halves in dishes. This feeder here was provided to me by the Canadian company Moore Birdfeeders to test. They have been making their feeders by hand for more than 25 years now, and I was excited to try them. This one here has a cool concept for the orange halves, and I was happy to see the House Finches using it.
Bluebird nest #2 - 2021
Dr. Clara and Mandrake's second brood is underway. I am very excited about this and hope to get some cool videos with the new cam. The sparrow spooker is also installed now and Dr. Clara accepted it right away. If you want to know what a sparrow spooker is and how you can help Bluebirds and other native cavity nesting birds succeed, I recommend visiting sialis.org, a website that covers nearly every aspect of the topic. I will collect photos of the egg laying here.
May 26, 2021: Dr. Clara spent another night in the box. We finally got some rain last night, and it stormed for quite a bit. Temperatures have dropped a lot too, and today it is a lot more bearable outside. she is in the box a lot but I am not entirely sure if she is already starting to incubate or if she will lay another egg tomorrow. I guess we wil lsee then.
May 25, 2021: Like clockwork, Dr. Clara laid another egg this morning. She also spent most of the night in the nestbox which I found a bit unusual. Now it will be interesting to see how many more eggs she will lay. I had a clutch of six one year, and this is the “main season” brood with the best amount of bugs around and the mildest temperatures.
May 24, 2021: On time, egg three was laid this morning. Temperatures have fallen after a hot couple of days, and it is a bit rainy out. Dr. Clara has not spent a lot of time in the box yesterday but I was happy to see her coming right back this morning.
May 23, 2021: The second egg is laid, at around the same time, between 8:30 and 9 AM. Temperatures outside are very mild in the morning and turn hot in the afternoon, so the female is not visiting a lot. Both adults and the babies are hanging around.
May 22, 2021: Dr. Clara lays the first egg early in the morning.
Video: Mr. Matt Fowley, the owl
has returned last night and seemed to enjoy the splish splash as much as I did my shower after this extremely hot day. He still looks nervous but the sound of the water must have been too tempting. His bathing moves are also getting more bold. I will never get tired of watching this 😄
(Now people are telling me that it is a Screech owl. I am no owl expert, I thought Screech initially and was then corrected and found the roundness fit for the Saw Whet. If there are owl experts present, feel free to shower me with your knowledge.)
Video: After about two weeks
of not seeing any hummingbirds, yesterday this shy female came around. This was lovely because it was also my birthday :) She was back this morning, looking a bit like she had spider webs on her beak, so hopefully there is nestbuilding underway somewhere and activity will pick up.
Video: I have always loved
the song of the Bluebird but it is awesome to hear them up close, communicating around the nest. Here, the male, Mandrake, goes in to "rearrange the furniture" while the female, Dr. Clara, is waiting outside. It appears that she soon has enough of him doing that, and she demands that he come out 😊
In the second video, he is showing off his vocal skills when he again went into the box to “fix things”. At the end, you can hear a little warning call that they do when they feel that they need to take cover.
Things have slowed down
quite a bit right now because everybody seems to be nesting. Some are already done with the first batch, like the Bluebirds, and today I also heard the haunting voices of young Starlings and then eventually also saw one popping up at the bird bath. The smaller amount of visitors made me feel more easy about going out to plant my veggie garden. It was a hot day, and everybody wanted to go to the bird bath badly. The Robins did not care about me being out and about and enjoyed the relatively empty feeding stations. Dr. Clara is pretty much done with her nest, and I expect her to start laying eggs any day now. The one oddball thing right now is there are no Hummingbirds around. After having had a pretty good start of the season with them about ten days ago, none have showed up again. Same for the Catbird. I know that migration is still going on, so I hope to see some more new visitors soon.
It has rained
Bluebird babies yesterday while I was gardening in the evening. I am happy to report that it now looks like all four have made it. They are seemingly different characters, some more enthusiastic and brave than others. They are still focused on the parents and follow them around but they will become more independent in the coming weeks. Hopefully, they stick around and will help the parents defending the nestbox. It was absolutely wonderful to sit in the yard last night and just listen and watch. My favorite time of the year is here.
And just like that,
the second nesting is underway. I have said it yesterday already but i am over the moon that they are back and building. Here, you can see Dr. Clara bring in pine needles and then spreading her wings and pushing with her chest to form the nest cup.
I watched and waited,
but the BBs would not attempt to get into the new box. time feels of the essence right now, so I caved. I did what I wanted to do for a while now anyways and updated the old box. Made a new roof with a camera housing. It is all mounted now, and I hope it is not too late and the BBs will return and find it again to their liking. And I got such a kick out of the new and improved view into the box. How befitting for today, it is the release anniversay of Binaural too 😊 (one of my favorite albums that has a nebula on the cover).
Couples.
I always find it fascinating to see the differences in the appearance of birds. Here is a little selection.
(top two rows: Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird - ladies in row 1, gents in row 2
third row: Mourning Doves and House Finches, they wanted to be in the same photo with their partners :D)
Dr. Clara and Mandrake
and me have had a rough couple of days. After they sucessfully fledged four babies, the couple disappeared as usual to show the babies the world. They did come back occasionally to feed and check on the box. One day, however, a House Sparrow took a liking to the box. This was a first, it has never happened in five years. I use a Gilbertson box, which they usually do not like, with fishing line around the entrance, and the sparrow spooker also was still up. Shooing and spooking the sparrow did not deter him and his lady. One day, I was not home for one hour, and the sparrows had started a nest in the Bluebird box. House sparrows are invasive to the US and can have negative effects on the breeding success of native species like the Bluebirds. I will not let them nest in my boxes.
Eventually, I took the Gilbertson down. After one day, the sparrows moved on. I was very upset about this whole situation and decided to be proactive. I researched and built another box, a slotted style called Troyer. The slot and its relatively small volume are something that HOSP are usually not fond of. The slot lets in lots of light, and they like it dark and deep. The slot opening also enables the female to escape if a House sparrow should go in there to attack her. I also updated the camera in the same step. Now the BBs have brought their baby (it looks like possibly one one of the four has survived this far) to the backyard yesterday, and they have been checking out the new box already too. I hope this all works out, I did not like changing things like that mid-season but I did not want to keep the old box up that the sparrows ended up liking. This is a weird spring.
For more information on how to help Bluebirds and other native cavity nesting birds, check out sialis.org.
Oriole activity
has been off to a comparatively slow start, and I am a bit bummed that I haven’t seen an Orchard Oriole or a Catbird yet. But the season is also young, and there is plenty of time for them to show up. Migration is still ongoing, and right now is a great time for surprise visitors to the backyards and feeders. As far as Oriole feeding goes, I find it interesting that some years, they seem to prefer oranges while in others, they are all in for the grape jelly and hummingbird nectar. Here are three beautiful males.
Grackle appreciation post
I have been so busy with work this week that I did not have a lot of time to process photos. But I have a selection ready and will post that in the morning. For now, please enjoy these goofy beauties and sleep tight.
(PS - the Grack in number 6 shows it’s nictitating membrane, a third kind of eyelid.)
