Birds of the Garden

BeetlesPerSqFt wrote:Robins should definitely be reused rather than recycled!

Hahaha!  He was a little distressed!  I think he landed in there and couldn't get out!  Poor baby!  He was relieved to be re-used!

TD, robins also make the nicest nests!  Pretty, lots of mud, very secure!

Fiz--Here's a Mourning Dove story; I had a grapevine wreath hanging on a little used 2nd door to my garage.  It was a favorite bird nest spot--protected on my porch, etc.  Had a Mourning Dove couple move in a few years back and started a family--me and the kids all watched daily the comings and goings....little babies growing you get it.  One day I come home, wreath, on the ground.  Nest intact, babies with barely feathered alive but spilled....fell about 5 feet.  PANIC mode....re-hung the wreath, repositioned the nest, secured the stupid wreath....and carefully placed the 2 babes in....lo and behold, parents arrived quickly, must have been watching.  And all was well, both fledged!

Wow Scorpio, that's quite a story! Glad it had a happy ending!

Here are the pictures of the doves I was talking about:

Aww!  So cute!  Love it!  Good pics!

+1

This is Hatter, one of our rescue pigeons, taking a bath in the chickens' water bowl this morning.

Hatter FB Video.

He is having a bath!  Bet that felt good!!!!!

Scorpio Rising wrote:He is having a bath!  Bet that felt good!!!!!

During the hottest part of the summer they put on a real show, dancing around and lifting their wings so Bob could give them a real shower with the hose. I could never manage to get one of those performances on video, unfortunately.

Also, the little birds would flock to the garden when I turned on the sprinkler system. They were so cute, flapping around in the plants and getting a good cooling-off.

The neighbourhood crows are gathering "en masse" in the trees across from our house. They are making an awful racket with their calls. I feel like I am in Hitchcock's "The Birds" movie. Where I lived in England as a boy, the phrase "stone the crows" was sometimes used as an expression of surprise. I feel like going out and throwing stones at those crows.

Down the street we have a park with several soccer fields. A few days ago, Canada Geese covered two of the six fields. They were packed in there and must have left a ton of their ugly fertilizer on those fields before the snow came. I don't have a photo. 

Hummingbirds quit using the feeders last summer, so I let them go. Now that the flowers are past it, I put the feeders back out. I was afraid I had waited too long, but they forgave me and came back. 

That’s cool, Suz!  Glad they are still lighting up your life, I love them!!!

This was a couple weeks ago, but my first snowy woodpecker, female, they love the suet bricks!

https://i.servimg.com/u/f62/19/25/77/83/93685b10.jpg

Scorpio Rising wrote:That’s cool, Suz!  Glad they are still lighting up your life, I love them!!!

This was a couple weeks ago, but my first snowy woodpecker, female, they love the suet bricks!

https://i.servimg.com/u/f62/19/25/77/83/93685b10.jpg

I missed this somehow.  Love woodpeckers! We have several varieties and enjoy them all.

I was sitting on the deck, watching one of the old cats, to make sure she ate her breakfast, when a hummingbird came by and started picking at a spider web. I thought it was odd, especially when she came back again and visited another web. Then I started to wonder -- do they steal spider webbing to build their nests? 

I know they eat spiders....

AtlantaMarie wrote:I know they eat spiders....

EWWWW! I saw a Venus Fly Trap eat a Daddy Long Legs once. GROSS!

I looked it up and spider silk is one of the most popular nesting materials for hummingbirds. Learn something new every day. 

https://www.thespruce.com/all-about-hummingbird-nests-386644

I am putting my hummingbird feeder up this weekend.  We have had such an unseasonably cold spring...way late.

Scorpio Rising wrote:I am putting my hummingbird feeder up this weekend.  We have had such an unseasonably cold spring...way late.

Don't forget nesting materials. Yesterday, I saw a hummer at the lint trap for our clothes dryer. 

All of this reminds me that I need to get a bird bath going. It's going to be bouncing around 90*F.

Suet block down, hummingbird feeder up!

Just threw out a bunch of seeds for the ground feeders, mourning doves, juncos, mostly.  Peanuts for the squirrels.  

Can’t wait for my little jewels to show up!!!

We're getting a new nest! It's the house next door that just came on the market. While inspecting the property, we found the previous tenants -- all 5 of them -- about ready to vacate.   

Our new place has lots of big windows. What can we do to keep the birds from flying into them?

Hand something that gives them a visual cue. On the inside with suction cups or hanging from a rod. Outside may be more difficult. Owl or hawk cut-outs? I have a window that hummingbirds and doves fly into.

We found holiday window cling decor on clearance.  Once they were stuck on the inside the headlong flight to death ended.  Or, you can always let them remain a bit dirty so they don't reflect as well.

When I was a kid, my dad put decals (Navy Squadron decals) on all the sliding glass doors to keep people from running into them when they were closed.  Decals worked for people, maybe would work for birds.

I remember the early days of sliding glass doors! People walked into them! Decals helped.

Saw my first hummingbird!!!!  Briefly, love them!!!  Put your feeders out, folks