For the birds?

[RICHARD]

Now that the weather is changing I have had a few 'close encounters' with birds in the backyard.

I saw a bird that was stuck inside an old bird cage in the yard.....After a few minutes I got him to fly away.

Today I was visited by a hummingbird three times. I am tilling the soil in the garden and something brought it over to go thru the dirt! I was pretty stoked the first two times and the last time it flew right in front of me and we were eye to eye!


This little guy was really beautiful-green with a red splotch on it chest. It hovered for around 20 seconds, picked something out of the dirt and flew over to the tree to settle down and watch me for a minute!

It was really cool and I enjoyed the show!

Does anyone else have a 'bird' brain?

[lvpets2002]

Well now that you mention it = I have been called a Bird Brain before.. So does that count?? I am so glad you got to help this wittle guy out.. I just know he was a beauty..

[aTailOf2Kitties]

I've got a bird feeder but the dang raccoons keep gettin' in it. Squirrels eat from it too, but at least they don't pull the top off and dump stuff everywhere. I guess I gotta find a short bungee cord to hold the top on. I love watching the birds, and the feeder is in a place where the cats can sit in the window or on the back of the couch and watch it too.
I thought this little guy was stuck til I saw him pull himself up, grab some seeds and swing back down again to eat them:

[BitsyNaceyDog]

I'd love to see a humming bird, I haven't seen one in years.
That squirrel picture is too funny.

I'm a year round bird brain. I LOVE watching birds and taking pictures of them when I have my camera (which is often).

Here are a few pictures from the past couple weeks

a little chickadee


We have a lot of cardinals




a little titmouse


We get everything from the smallest to the largest around here. Here are some of the bigger guys we get. Again all from that past couple weeks.

an Osprey eating a fish


A Great Horned Owl (he's sitting in the same place the osprey was)


A juvenile Bald Eagle flying away after his brother (I love his cute little butt)


So, yes, I am very much a bird brain, but I have no problem with that.

[pomtzu]

We have loads of hummingbirds here every year.

Also if you have a bird feeder that you fill with seeds, first of all make sure it's high enough that the ground critters can't jump up and get in it. Best to hang it in a tree. Then to keep the critters from taking the top off and getting in it as the squirrels love to do - take a disposable aluminum pie tin and put it over the top of the feeder. The squirrels will slide right off of it without being able to get the top off! It really works!

[aTailOf2Kitties]

I used to have it hanging between 2 trees, but the squirrels would just tightrope across it. I don't mind the squirrels and I admit it was fun to watch! Honestly this is my 3rd feeder. Varmits chewed up my 2 previous plastic ones, so finally upgraded to all steel. The lid is hinged on one side and has holes on the other, so the bungee thing worked pretty well to keep the coons from opening the top. The birds and squirrels just moved around the cord, so it worked out for everyone (except the coons). I just need to remember to buy another bungee!

[Pinot's Mom]

Kari (Kblaix) - what beautiful pictures, thank you!

We live at the edge of the State Forest, and have planted many things birds are attracted to, so yes we are bird brains as well....some of the most common are: Cardinals, Titmouse, Song Sparrows, Robins (of course), Mourning Doves, Great Horned Owl, Barred Owl (my personal favorite), Red Shouldered Hawk, Cooper's Hawk...many others I can't think of at the moment. We also, every year, have visits from a family of Ruby Throated Hummingbirds to our back deck and yard. They're very friendly, actually, they come rather close so we can see how pretty they are!

Pinot was out in the garden with my husband yesterday (spring clean up, you know) and you can tell she knows spring is on the way! She was jumping up and down trying to get those birds!

[beeniesmom]

My pictures aren't great like the others here. These are the birds that I have photographed in our backyard, frontyard or near the house.

This was some kind of hawk catching a green grass snake. I wasn't able to get a shot of him flying away with the snake hanging from his claws.


Do ducks count???




Here is a woodpecker. I was in my backyard clipping the dogs nails when I kept hearing tack tack tack. It took me forever to locate the little guy:


Some cardinals:
Red ones.




And an orangish brown one:

[beeniesmom]

Not sure what these guys were:

[aTailOf2Kitties]

can't tell about the top pic, but the middle is likely a mourning dove, and the lower looks like a quail? I have a hawk or something from time to time but he always sees me coming with the camera, LOL. Lots of cardinals, titmouses (titmice?) and little birds. Every now and again I will have so many robins working the grass it looks like the yard is crawling.

[BitsyNaceyDog]

Thank you, Pinto's Mom.

Carmen, I love your pictures, especially the one of the dove in the nest! The first picture on your second post I believe is a mockingbird. The second picture is a Mourning dove and the last picture is a male Bobwhite, a kind of quail. We used to have Bobwhites here, but I haven't seen any in a couple years. Also the orange-brown Cardinal is a female, and the red are males.

[Cinder & Smoke]

Burd Tail ...

It all started several years ago ...

*KNOCK* ~ *KNOCK* ~ *Knockity-Knock*

**WOOF** ~ *WOOF* ~ *WOOOOOOFF*!!
**YAPP** ~ *YAPP* ~ YEOOOOOOOOOWL*!!
**A-ROOOF* ~ *A-ROOOOF* ~ *YAPP*YAPP*YAPP* (Bowser was always a bit 'different')

I popped open the front door while attempting to hold back the Protectives ...
Hmmmmmm ... NunBuddy there ... The Protectives dashed out to make sure.

We chased The Knocker daily for a week ... No Clue who / what it was.

Next Spring ... *KNOCK* ~ KNOCK* ...
Bowser was gone ...
Klipp & Klopp tried their best ... we were all clueless.

Early one morning The Knocker struck the BACK of the Ranch
Zipp & Zopp headed to the front door - all abark ...
I hollered out the bed room window: "WHO'z there!!??"
NunBuddy answered.

I quit running to the door - I began looking out the window onto the front porch.
I caught glimpses of the West End of an Eastbound BURD.

Mid-Summer the third year I "caught" him/her ...
I got to the window without causing fear & flight ... **GOTCHA**

One each Tiny lil WOODPECKER pounding away on the "barn siding" that
lines the outer wall of the front porch.

Mystery Slolved ...
Now, HOW do I 'splain it to The Protectives??

[BitsyNaceyDog]

One each Tiny lil WOODPECKER pounding away on the "barn siding" that
lines the outer wall of the front porch.

Mystery Slolved ...
Now, HOW do I 'splain it to The Protectives??

Oh no! My friend bought a house a few years ago and they had a big woodpecker problem. They were advised to get a fake Owl and set it on the side of their house where the woodpeckers come a knockin'. They did as advised and no more woodpeckers!

We have a lot of woodpeckers here too, but they stick to the trees, luckily. We also have a LOT of crows and they sometimes like to "play" on the roof, causing my "protectives" to go bonkers.

[Pinot's Mom]

I forgot about the Woodpeckers! How could I?

Yes, every spring, they decide to start trying to peck into the rain gutter outside our master bath window. The first year we were in the house, we woke up to this HORRENDOUS noise that sounded like a jackhammer - I guess no one told them you can't get bugs out of vinyl siding and rain gutters! They don't try as much as they used to, but I'm sure it'll start again soon. We also have Pileated Woodpeckers behind us in the woods - they're beautiful!

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

Oh yes, we both are!! During the cold season, we have bird food in EVERY tree in our garden, we throw leftovers of bread, and hang lots of seedcontainers in the trees too!
It is so much fun to watch the birds: we have binoculars ready on the windowsilli
What have we seen so far? Finches, green woodpeckers, , coal tits, gulls, sparrows, herons, wood pidgeons, turtle doves, crows, magpies, blackbirds, 1 kingfisher, etc...,and lots of ducks