Photos

I see you!

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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.

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.

Suet yourself

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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.

Getting ready for Historic US 40 Yard Sale

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One of our typical setups

This has been a rainy day in Central Indiana. We are back in Indiana getting ready for one of the big antique shows we try to do every year. Of course, we didn’t get to go last year. Though the Highway 40 is really a very big yard sale, we do very good selling our vintage items and bigger items that we have found in our travels.

It becomes a big clean out the garage month for us. We set up at the Dunreith Baptist Church east of Greenfield, Indiana. It is such a great place for us to set up. The pastor and his wife are very nice and helpful. They let us park the RV right behind our display, which is so nice because we don’t have to travel every night.

Highway 40, also known as Old National Highway, is a historic road and fun to travel just to see the old buildings and historic sites. This year the sale will be from June 2 to June 6th. It starts in Baltimore, MD and continues thru St. Louis, MO. It draws lots of people and some interesting characters. We enjoy doing this show.

We named her Wilma

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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.

 

Backyard birdwatching

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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!