I see you!

/ Roadtirementvintage / 12 Comments

Sometimes there are birds that just stand out when you see them. Here is one:

This interesting gaze belongs to a White-crowned Sparrow. Below are a couple more images of the same bird after he flitted about a bit.

 

 

 

 

This is a direct quote from the allaboutbirds.org website “Scientists interested in movement and energetics have discovered that White-crowned Sparrows can run on a treadmill at a pace of about one-third of a mile an hour without tiring out.” I can’t imagine any self respecting bird allowing itself to be run on a treadmill.

Nests? We don’t need no stinking nests

/ Roadtirementvintage / 20 Comments

It’s really neat to see a breeding pair of birds together. Yesterday we saw a pair of Cowbirds. There is a very interesting way that Cowbirds “raise” their young.

Male on the left, female on the right

The Brown-headed Cowbird is known as a “Brood Parasite” The Brown-headed Cowbirds do not make nests. Females put all energy into egg production, up to 3 dozen a season. Yes, you guessed it, the females lay their eggs in other birds nests. The eggs hatch before the host nest eggs do, giving the Cowbird young a head start. Some birds recognize these imposters and pitch the trespassers out of their nests. Some people consider Cowbirds a nuisance bird, as they are responsible for the destruction many songbird eggs.

Having spotted this pair, we can now surmise that somewhere nearby another unsuspecting bird family is wondering why that one chick is so much larger than the rest of their brood.

First glance ID was wrong

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When I first spotted this woodpecker I thought it was a Male Northern Flicker. With our camera I captured this image of the pretty woodpecker next to the suet feeder.

Turns out this is a female Red-bellied Woodpecker. The female is distinguished from the male in the red nape vs. the male with a red cap. This bird can stick its sticky saliva covered barbed tongue a full 2 inches past the tip of the beak, letting it successfully catch food deep in crevices.

Suet yourself

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Always looking for a new thing, we decided to try our hand at making our own suet. An internet search produced several different recipes. A quick trip to the store and we had what we needed to get started.

 

  • crunchy peanut butter
  • Crisco
  • corn meal
  • quick cook oats
  • white flour
  • bit of sugar

 

 

 

 

 

The simple ingredients were fairly easy to mix in the pan over medium heat. Once everything was mixed we pressed it into the aluminum pan, roughly an inch thick. After setting in the freezer for about we cut the the appropriate size cakes for the cages.

Couple of starlings going bonkers over the new suet

The results? The birds went nuts over the home made suet when we put it out. Sher and I had a ball watching all different species enjoying the new suet. It seems like the starlings especially had gotten a sugar high. They acted like like a bunch of kids who got into the candy a half hour before bedtime.

Another striking woodpecker

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The only North American woodpecker that stores and then hides the stored food.

The Red-headed Woodpecker is one of the most striking birds you’ll find in the forest, or, in our case, the backyard. Today Sher spotted a beautiful male on the tube feeder. He was hanging on the bottom of the feeder poking into the openings. This magnificent bird blessed us with his presence for a few minutes. We hope he’ll feel comfortable enough to return soon.

This pair flies and squawks daily

/ Roadtirementvintage / 9 Comments

If you’ve been following us for a while, you know that Sher and I like to sit outside in our backyard and take in the sights and sounds of our little slice of nature. Recent additions to our bird feeding equipment have increased the number of feathered visitors.

Lucked out and got a photo of the geese just after they passed our yard

We get to share the company of couple of Canadian Geese each day. And we do mean a couple. This pair flies over our house barely clearing the trees. What is fun is how loud they are. They are always having a very loud and animated conversation, both of them honking and squawking during their whole flight. They follow the same route each day, coming from about 6 or so blocks away, and ending after they pass our house and land on the river that is about 100 yards from our yard. They never land in our yard, be we consider them part of our feathered family!

Diamond Art

/ Roadtirementvintage / 21 Comments

Sher has found a new pastime referred to as Diamond Art. It uses hundreds of different colored “diamonds” that you carefully place on a preprinted picture. It’s kind of like paint by number, though it is diamond by number.

It’ll be a fun project, and I just might have to get one of my own. This won’t take as much space as a jig-saw puzzle, and will be easier to put up when not working on it.