Squirrel sez “I see you, and you don’t have permission to grab my photo!”
This grackel throws a mean stink eye when he sees you, camera in hand
Happy expressions they are not
bird feeders
Blue jay enjoying a suet cake
We saw several blue jays in our backyard this morning. This one certainly was enjoying the store bought suet cake. Hope you enjoy the beautiful coloration of this striking bird.
Backyard squirrel antics and some birdwatching and listening
What a great day to enjoy the outside. It was windy, but wow what a wonderful sunny day with temps in the upper 70’s. Our son has been working the past couple of days straightening up the backyard, getting ready for some gardening and taking care of some weeding.
Female Cardinal, left and Male Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Squirrel walking past bird bath, note rocks in bowl for birds to perch
Squirrel turned around, jumped on bird bath, cartwheeled off when he hit water. See him on right ready to land, note water flowing from bowl.
Today we sat out back on our swing and did some wildlife watching. We filled both bird feeders, mounted a suet cage, and even put a couple of ears of field corn on trees. All the critters should be happy. Our son also filled one of the bird baths and put a couple of rocks in it for some for the birds to stand on while drinking. See photos above when a squirrel was surprised.
Warm sunny day with flowers and whirligigs
We finally had a wonderful day, suitable for enjoying the outdoors in our backyard. Even though it was rather breezy, the sunshine and temperatures near 80 made for a most comfortable session on our canopy covered swing.
Our son surprised us with another colorful and striking cut flower arrangement. This time we were treated with some multi-colored daffodils in addition to the beautiful yellow blooms. It was a treat to look upon them while we enjoyed some bird watching and squirrel watching too.
While looking at birds on the feeder, I felt something hit my arm. Looking down I saw a cluster of “whirligigs” or “helicopters”, in other words maple tree seeds. Our maple tree literally covers our yard each spring with these fun adaptions to Nature’s procreations. We’ve already noticed many new maple seedlings sprouting from last years crop of fliers.
Still shots of birds and squirrels
On a cold but sunny day we had quite a bit of wildlife activity in the backyard.
Dove and squirrel
A variety of birds
Two squirrels munching away
Blackbirds congregating
Puffed up staying warm
Watching the wildlife in our backyard is one of those special activities we enjoy when we’re not out on the road. With the temperatures in the teens and snow on the ground, it is a tad bit uncomfortable to sit outside. Our backdoor has provided a decent enough window to both observe and allow for some camera work. Hope you enjoyed the images.
Birds and squirrels in the backyard
This morning we had lots of friends in our backyard enjoying breakfast!
Our backyard bird feeders are back in service
Hummingbirds are so amazing!
In May 2021 some species of songbirds began to be afflicted with a deadly disease of some kind. This started in Virginia and moved west. Indiana birds began to die in late May and by early June the Indiana Department of Natural Resources put out the warning to stop all bird feeding in private yards. We posted about that. We both really missed our almost daily birdwatching time our back.
By the first week in August the DNR published the news that 76 out of Indiana’s 92 counties were bird disease free, and could resume the use of bird feeders.
Our cute little Nuthatch is back
We soon refilled our two seed feeders, and also refilled our hummingbird feeder. (DNR also had said to stop using hummingbird feeders as well.) It has been a couple of weeks since we started feeding our avian friends again, and slowly lots of the birds are coming back to our yard. We haven’t seen all of the species we had seen before the “lockdown”, but perhaps that is to be expected. We are grateful that we can again enjoy birding from our backyard swing!
“Stop feeding birds and take down your feeders” says Indiana Department of Natural Resources
In late May of this year songbirds were turning up sick and dying in Monroe County, Indiana, home of Indiana University. Birds were found with swollen and crusty eyes and neurological issues. Affected birds have also been found is several other counties, though not in ours. Species mostly affected are the blue jay, American robin, common grackle, starling, northern cardinal and brown-headed cowbird. We have seen all of these birds regularly at our backyard feeders.
On Friday May 25, 2021 the Indiana DNR issued the following for residents in all Indiana counties: So far testing has only confirmed that the dead birds have not succumbed to avian influenza and West Nile virus. Stop feeding birds until the mortality event has concluded. Clean feeders and baths with a 10% bleach solution. Avoid handling birds. If you need to handle birds, wear disposable gloves.
Further updates may be found at this DNR website.
Our feeders are now empty. Tomorrow we’ll take them down and sanitize them. At least the past year has taught us how to sanitize! Sad that now our birds are in a way on their own lockdown.
New feeder
Our new feeder: there is a White breasted nuthatch on the left side.
No singing here
That is right. Downy Woodpeckers do not sing like most birds. They communicate by “pecking” or drumming on wood or even metal. Surprisingly these woodpeckers make very little or no sound when going after their insect prey. They are capable of feeding on insects that larger woodpeckers cannot catch, like fly larvae in weed stems.
Male Downy, the female does not have the red on her head
We see both male and female Downy Woodpeckers quite often in our backyard. They like the suet feeders, and we have spotted a male on our hummingbird feeder. Like the White-breasted Nuthatch, Downy Woodpeckers like to flit from branch to branch, lighting on the suet feeder, grabbing a bite or two and then off they go.
Roadtirement 