Fall is here!
I am sorry I haven’t posted here a lot, but things have been busy, and sometimes it is easier to write on social media. I am always watching the weather forecast, and early this week, it became clear that the last warm days were ahead of us, so I decided to use the nice weather to take out the pond and set up the heated bath. I take the liner out of the ground because I never found a good way to cover it completely and it is just easier this way. The timing was perfect, the weather took a real turn this week, and today temperatures are noticeably cooler. I have been collecting Black walnuts every day too, hulled and washed them and let them cure for later use. They make excellent bird food but are a bit hard to crack. Today, there were also the first pretty leaves showing, and I noticed why there is such little bird activity at the feeders - our garden is brimming with natural food.
It’s still lush and green outside
and the birds remain scarce. Only the MoDos have started coming in larger groups again. Better than nothing, and they look fun with their late molt. Summer will be back shortly next week, and then the weather seems to really cool down. A good time to take the pond out and set up the heated baths. And to get going with the calendars. This time, there will be two calendars, one with Grackles only 🖤
While I absolutely love
to have the Titmice back, them, Blue Jays and Mourning Doves continue to be the only birds visiting here currently. I do hear woodpeckers but they will not come down. There are mature Oaks as well as nut trees, Cedars and the like in the neighborhood, so I think many feast there while a huge group is still on the move too. This is a welcome break for my bird seed budget but I also really miss seeing birds. The critters are filling up as usual.
It continues
to be quiet in the yard, with very little bird activity. I haven’t seen a hummer since the 15th, so I may just as well put the hummer cam to a different use (I will still leave two feeders out for a bit for any stragglers.) Much to my delight, the Titmouse keeps returning, and the Chippies are happy to fill their winter pantry. Let’s see what today brings.
Back for fall
After a week of battling with Covid, I have finally taken the jelly down and set up this little feeder again. The yard has been very quiet, almost eerily so. I am also waiting for a bird food delivery, so I sacrificed some untreated hazelnuts from my baking stash and look who came 😍 I haven't seen a Titmouse in months. I think this is going to be a nice fall.
With this fantastic garden season,
nature is abundantly full of seeds, grains and fruit of all sorts. This and the fact that fall migration has begun makes for slim pickings when it comes to birdwatching at the moment, at least here. There is hardly any visitor apart from some MoDos, a bunch of Blue Jays and the occasional hummingbird. A good time for some maintenance and preps for the colder weather. Livecams will be down for a couple of days, and here are some recent hummers to hold you over. Happy September!
It is still hot outside,
the crickets are belting their heart out, the glow bugs and bats are feasting, and we are having burgers for dinner. Soaking in all that's left of the summer. Happy Labor Day weekend!
Happy National Hummingbird Day!
Activity here has picked up nicely this last week, and I am trying to get as many photos as I can. I found this one super adorable with the tiny landing gear coming out. I also have two of my Birdsy cams livestreaming hummer feeders, you can find them in my livestream section here or in my channel on birdsy.com.
If this is a face
that only a mother could love, I guess I am a mother now 😁 Grackles can undergo some of the more dramatic molts, with individuals sometimes losing their entire head feathers. This gives them a completely different appearance, and while I kind of pity them, I also deeply love these weirdly beautiful creatures.
This is the high time
of molting, and there is a good bunch of Blue Jays are are looking a bit rough right now. However, new feathers are emerging, and I always love to see the different individual ways in which they do. I love this rugged beauty, and I find it fantastic in photos.
Where there's bird seed,
there will also be critters, and the Chipmunks are one of my favorite. They just make me laugh. They are tough to get good photos of with my setup because they move so fast, but I got lucky with this one 😆.
I complained
about not seeing much hummingbird activity this season, but I am happy to report that things have changed a bit in this last week. The feeders are getting visited quite frequently and by several individuals. You can watch them in the livestream section or on birdsy.com. I am also trying to snap some photos too though, and here are two from yesterday.
I try to avoid
being anthropomorphic when it comes to the birds but sometimes you cannot help but noticing something that could be seen as a character trait. Both Blue Jays and MoDos are really good at posing and drama. Alone as well as together 😂 (The first Blue Jay is sunbathing, the one in photo 3 has been eating mulberries). Come good into Friday!
End of August also
is the main time for molting, be it young birds changing to adult feathers or adult birds getting rid of the old and growing new. Everybody looks disheveled, and I kind of love it. (Grackle, House Finch, Blue Jay, Grackle, Grackle, Grackle Blue Jay, Cowbird, Redwinged Blackbird, Chickadee, Cowbird, Blue Jay)
Putting a cam on the ground
can yield lots of fun photos but it also means the camera is not critter proof. Here are some from the last couple of days. A Chipmunk, a Groundhog (proudly holding a rock as if it was a potato in one pic and being expressive in the other), and another adorable squirrel. I love the Groundhog teeth 😆
Hummingbird activity
has continued the trend from previous years, being very slow. I do not know the reason, we have flowers growing, lots of habitat, water, no pesticides, you name it. I used to see them regularly for several years, and now I don’t. They have been absent all season, and now in August I get glimpses. This may be the only photo I get this year. I miss them. I used to see them from May until September. I know others have similar experiences, and I hope they somehow can recover, this is not normal. Good thing is, it looks like this one got plenty of flower juice, judging by the pollen on the beak.
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.
Molting season is here,
and many birds are shedding part of their feathers in various spots to grow new ones. They do this now because their skin gets exposed, and warm weather makes being partially naked a lot easier. I always love this part of the year because nobody molts in the same way and the textures and colors are pretty cool to see. Yes, those awkward holes are their ears!
Summer is well under way,
and the garden is going crazy this year. The Blue Jays had a really good nesting season, and their youngsters are all around right now. In my efforts to capture baby birds, I also get some critters, and this squirrel was especially cheeky. Live streams will be down for the next couple of days for maintenance but back late Tuesday.
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.
