Woody, our male Pileated Woodpecker showed up and immediately went to the suet cage. The starlings who had been swarming the suet cage scattered as soon as Woody landed and began to feed. Shortly after one starling flew back to the cage, but wisely landed away from the suet and the woodpecker’s beak.
Hanging on an empty corn cob on a large nail is our new backyard suet cage. Soon after the debut of this wildlife feeding device a resident squirrel showed up. He really wasn’t thrilled with this “not corn” thing.
He finally moved on, leaving the suet to the birds.
Sher and I were thrilled a couple of days ago when we saw for just a second a stunning Pileated Woodpecker who came in and landed on our tree. Almost immediately it took off. Yesterday, however, another (maybe the same?) Pileated female came in and ended up feeding from one of the suet cages.
Notice the little Nuthatch that photobombed the video? The size of Wilma seems to have spooked it from the suet cage.
Tube feeder and 2 suet cages
The weather is finally getting nice enough for some days out in the backyard. We bought feed for our tube feeder, a hummingbird feeder and a couple suet cages.
We have had a great time just rocking in our swing watching our feathered friends frolic around and partaking of the feeders.
White breasted nuthatch
Cardinal (State Bird for 7 states)
We’ll continue to post more pictures as we can get them. Stay tuned!
Quite a view from our RV site
You can tell this White Ibis is a “teenager” by the coloration of its feathers. When fully mature, it will have all white plumage. The brown mottled plumage on its neck shows it is immature. The pink color of the legs and beak will also turn bright red when full grown. We didn’t see Mom or Dad, so who knows what teenaged mischief this one was up to. We captured this shot on a trip to Naples, Florida.
When we got the squirrel corn the other day we also bought a bird feeder. So far we have not actually seen any feathered friends at the feeder, but the drop in the seed level and loose seeds on the ground under the feeder do show that it has been used.
Speaking of birds, there is a Pileated Woodpecker living somewhere around our neighborhood. We have seen him a couple of times flying through. What a magnificent bird. We’re looking forward to more sightings.
Since we’re not traveling Sher and I have focused on getting our backyard into a more comfortable and enjoyable living space. BC (before coronavirus) we were traveling for much of the year. Thanks to COVID-19 that has changed drastically.
Got any bird feeders in your yard? What is your favorite bird?
Remember all that “stay healthy” advice! Don’t slip up!
Yesterday during our “get out of the house for a change of scenery” adventure we somehow got on the subject of squirrels and feeding them. One thing led to another and we decided that we’d get some ear corn and mount it on backyard trees. Our son went into the Rural King store and got us a bag of ear corn.
We put one ear of corn each on two different trees in our backyard. When I first got up this morning neither ear had been touched. Then a second check a little later revealed that one of the ears was now completely devoid of kernels. The squirrel had moved to the second ear, which was on the tree closer to the house. It was grabbing a kernel and then burying it close to the tree. About every fourth kernel buried he would stop and eat one! The squirrel is, as I write this, continuing to take the kernels off this second corn cob. Fun to watch, but now I have to decide how much corn to put out.
Oh, we also got a bird feeder. No action there yet. We’ll let you know…..
Stay safe and healthy friends!
Have you ever blown the little white flyers off a dandelion?
This dandelion is in full seed mode with 150 – 200 seeds. Sometimes this stage is called a puff ball. Soon a breeze will take the seeds on a remarkable journey.
Squirrels are cute little critters that are fun to watch as they scurry around. They do, however, play havoc on bird feeders! We caught this fellow snagging sunflower seeds out of the pretty bird feeder in our family’s backyard in Austin.
Roadtirement 