In recent days,
a Cooper’s Hawk has been hanging around, trying to find some prey in the yard. The lack of foliage on the trees makes it easier for him to spot birds that are trying to hide, but most of the time, the hawk is out of luck and the birds disperse in time. Yesterday, he took a seat on the camera, and then this fun photo came about. It is a good example to learn one of the features of the Cooper’s Hawk - its rounded tail feathers and the broad white tail tip.
Livestream PSA
I have several Birdsy cameras in my yard that I am livestreaming in different spots. The main bath/ pond in the summer can be watched here on my website but also on BirdsyTV. The Tree cam and the green bath cam are livestreaming on that website as well, I am going to post links below. You can give my channels and cams and also videos a like there too. The website will eventually grow but there are already several cams public there. My own livecams change throughout the year, I may move them around, activate and deactivate per my needs. But here is how you find them:
1. Ostdrossel pond channel: https://birdsy.com/l/355115274eb4873b and ostdrossel.com/livestream
2. Ostdrossel3 channel (tree cam and shed cam and sometimes a third one): https://birdsy.com/c/Ostdrossel3
Activity will ramp up in the coming weeks with migration starting, so there may be lots of fun stuff to see. Check it out if you like
Today was a good day!
The sun was shining this morning, and when I brought the cams out, I heard a familar song - a Bluebird! Later I also saw a couple checking out the nestbox. It’s been a while, they have not been visiting a lot during this mild and sunless winter, so I was very happy. I could not see any Starlings, so I quickly put some mealers in the bowls and hope for the best. And look at this beautiful BB man in the awkwardly bright winter sun. I have missed this sight. I have begun thinking about nestbox maintenance and will soon get to work to see what I can improve for this season.
It is so easy
to get used to certain things and then feel bummed when they suddenly stop working. I’ve used my Birdsy cams since 2019 now, and when they had a server maintenance yesterday, it was awkward to not see what is going on in the yard. Interruptions happen occasionally but I guess it is extra hard when there is nothing else going on and you are thirsty for excitement 😜 Today, everything is back in order again, and you can watch my (mostly uneventful) streams here and over at birdsy.com. Activity is still low except for some finches, MoDos and a group of Starlings that comes several times a day to check feeders and destroy the bird baths. A hawk has been trying to hunt here too. I am slowly planning spring setups and enjoy spending a little less on bird seed. And the occasional action-packed Starling portrait.
It is funny how much
my backyard birding reports are sounding like weather reports 😆🤪 But here we go. Today was the last more extremely cold day for a bit. It will still be wintery but not to the point where you have to use face cream to prevent frostbite (my middle German cheeks are still sensitive to extreme cold). The wind was icy and blowing, and there was not a lot going on. A group of Starlings came over and wrecked the bird baths and shooed everybody away, but there was also sun and I got these three beauties. Come good into the weekend!
Happy Groundhog Day!
Apparently, there will be at least six more weeks of winter. This is fine by me, I get to wear all my knitted stuff and make more! I do hope that there will be more sunshine than in January, it just makes the cold more bearable. The local resident is happily snoozing in his apartment under the shed but here are some glimpses from the previous years.
During this time
of the year, and I guess always, there will also be the opportunists. And they can be tiny and adorable like the Titmouse but also overwhelming like a group of European Starlings. Well, and the MoDos…
When there is little activity,
even the simplest little things can become interesting. Like the funky colorings of House Finches. Their color is determined by what they eat, and we have all kinds of berries around, red but also orange. These two looked quite cool.
Video: So bouncy!
A mouse has made a home under the ground feeder, feeding from everything that falls to the ground. Last night, a fox visited and then this happened. I have seen this in videos before but did not think it would happen here. I love the markings on this beautiful creature, and I hope he was able to find some food at some point (I don’t think he got the mouse).
I know that not everybody
has a great time on snow days, especially when the routine involves driving, but I was so happy today to see everything getting covered by a blanket of thick, heavy snow. We got about a foot, and I am not sure how long it will stay, so I am relishing, forgive me. I put on my thermo bibs, snow boots and hat every time I went for refills, and I had the most glorious time tumbling around like a toddler. Snow days are always fun for photos, and today did not disappoint.
I am so happy
to see that the Titmice have found their way back here. They are not just totally adorable but also a lot of fun to watch and listen to. In the spring, you can hear their surprisingly loud PETERPETERPETER sounding through the air. Right now, they sound a lot like Chickadees, making grumpy little noises when they are not happy with the spread or notice competition.
Today finally
we got some snow again, and I decided to take a break from the feeder break and put the cams out. It was still rather calm generally but there were many happy Cardinals. The entire family of the King and Queen of the Yard showed off. I counted four males and at least two females. The light was still murky but here are some of my favorites from today. Come good into Monday!
It was another
dreary day today, and with feeders down, there was of course not a lot going on. I did notice that squirrels really do not like the hot bark butter but scraped the remains off the tree for the night so the Flying Squirrel is happy. And I dug into my folders of photos from the past. These are from a year ago today, and I have never published them. The BBs were visiting a lot because it was cold for a long time. Sigh. Come good into Friday!
Since things are
as slow as they are currently, the overwhelming amount of doves, the larger groups of House Sparrows, Starlings and squirrels visiting, and some Finches that I suspect may have the eye disease, I have decided to pull feeders for a couple of weeks. I will wash all the feeders with a 9:1 water/ bleach solution and let them air dry. I will keep the baths out and also the BB feeder and the peanut butter. It is going to be even more boring than in the last few weeks, but it is a perfect time to do this. Taking feeders down helps the birds to disperse and let nature take its course. It may also be a fun time to go through older photos and post some I haven’t back in spring and summer. Here is a Starling from today.
Video: A blue delight
It was cold this morning, with frost on the roofs and lawns but there was a lovely bit of sunshine for a little while. While I was still in bed, I checked the camera apps on my phone to see if anything exciting had happened during the night or morning, and I saw that the BBs had come over. The video is a little pixelly but it was early, we are still living in this gloomiest of Januaries and there was quite some commotion too. I have not seen the Bluebirds as much as in previous winters, so this was extra nice. I am glad they come to check on “their” box briefly on the regular, this will give them an advantage in the spring.
The sun came out,
it was nice and frosty, and we took the last Christmas lights on the outside down. The Nuthatches, Titmice and Chickadees were happily buzzing around, the woodpeckers were busy, and the Finches were happy. And so were the squatters. They hogged the camera bowls, convinced that everybody needs to see only them 😝
As you may have guessed,
things are still very slow. It is truly a bit depressing, but I cannot change the weather. Here is a House Finch couple from today. They are frequent visitors. I have always loved that particular shade of the lashes of the male and would love some company to make it into a nail polish. How fun could that be, a whole bird line? Come good into the weekend!
Video: The tree cam setup
has proven to be the most entertaining during this rather drab time. I have gone through the videos from the last couple of weeks and made a little montage. I use peanut butter and bark butter on the tree. It is fun to see how many different birds came tocheck it out. Yesterday, there was also a hawk visitng, I was thinking a Sharp-shinned but it could just as well be a Cooper’s. The bird right after it is the banded American Tree Creeper that has been coming for a bit. Have a great Wednesday!
A crazy thing happened today,
the sun came out! It feels like it’s been ages. It was a bit cooler too, and there were birds! When I first stepped out in the morning, I could hear a Bluebird, so I put some mealers out in the open bowl, and voilà. What a nice sight after these weeks of barely any fun photos. The Titmice and Chickadees were very vocal and the MoDos feisty as always (yes, that one in the back holds the feathers of the other one 😂 ). Here’s to a good birding week!
