Also, my friend who is just quarantining and smoking weed in his house sent me this photo he took from his couch today. "Dude there's a really cool bird outside my window! What is it?" Lucky bastard.
The cornell ebird site is amazing. https://ebird.org/media/catalog?tax...onCode=US-TX&q=Blue Jay - Cyanocitta cristata
Seems like it’s been a bumper crop of successful nesting around my place. There are tons of near fully-fledged robins, cardinals, and thrashers all over the place. Always fun to see adult birds feeding bickering adult-sized offspring.
I took the day off today, so I decided to eat some edibles and lay on the bed swing on our porch and watch hummingbirds. Shitty pics but you get the idea. Platform feeder and suet are on the other end of the porch. Good day.
I’ve got at least 2 females and 1 male that visit the feeder, but I see the females like 10:1 if not more. Guess the male might be busier defending territory right now. Put some raisins out on the platform feeder this morning and it took no time for the catbirds and robins to find them.
Yeah, I’ve actually got a mealworm seed cake in the suet feeder right now. The wrens (among others) go nuts over it, but I’ve never gotten bluebirds on it. They’re definitely in my neighborhood, but tend to stay in the more open areas.
Got my first female hummingbird of the year. Orioles are out in full force smashing the jelly and oranges. Had a Red Bellied Woodpecker on my platform feeder and a Bluebird on some suet. Good afternoon so far. Unfortunately for me, no edibles or THC involved.
Sad post: Seen this little birds rolling around in the dirt/sand my dog has dug up every night recently. Hard to explain, but have an old freestanding fire pit that had the bottom eaten out of it sitting out there. This poor guy must have come up through the bottom a few hours ago and then got stuck and suffocated underneath the mesh lid. My dog would have noticed it earlier, just a little sooner and maybe could have save it. :( Spoiler
Cool scene on the water this afternoon. There was a pair of asshole mute swans cruising around near me and all of a sudden there’s a big commotion behind me and a huge ass trumpeter swan came barreling in right at the mutes. Didn’t take them long to gtfo and the trumpeter gave chase. Mute swans are well known douchebag bullies but they wanted absolutely nothing to do with that guy
So that nest I thought was a Coopers is definitely the red shoulder. I was just creeping their nest with the binos and fuck they are awesome. Also neighbor informed me she has like a $5000 camera and tripod so next weekend I hope to get some shots. I got to see a meal delivery this morning. Not sure on male vs female but seems like one is in the nest at all times now or almost all times.
Pretty cool story. Sorry on mobile at the moment but I can copy/paste later. The sites not overly obnoxious. https://www.google.com/amp/s/gizmod...-love-results-in-a-rare-hybrid-1842664470/amp
I have hanging flowers on my front porch. Looks like a finch to me, built nest, laid eggs, 4 hatched, get to watch mama feed them all day. also have a feeder In the garden that a big blue jay just dominates as well as some cardinals and more finches
As I was playing in the garden off to the side in the woods are some flowering bushes/trees, weeds really and had to pause and watch a green hummingbird do what they do. And got thinking how they don’t worry about wearing a mask, or preparing for battle at the supermarket, making sure that they have hand sanitizer with them. Makes me think god is good thanks little hummingbird
What is everyone’s opinion on Sparrows? Some times I feel like blasting the ones messing with my Wrens.
Don't have too many crowding up the feeders, the Finches have taken that task. I like seeing the White-Crowned sparrows when they're here. Went on a quick trip up to the mountains to do some birding again. Fucked around with a scope, got the hang of it by the end. Saw 3 kinds of Woodpeckers (Acorn, Hairy, and White-Headed). A bunch of Olive-Sided Flycatchers, Western Bluebirds, Mountain Chickadees, and an Anna's Hummingbird that was perched in an Oak Tree (miracle I could even see it.) Also one mystery bird, I believe it was a Swainson's Thrush. It had that speckled chest, and was just drab all over.
This was my spot today. Stellar's Jay running away from me with a peanut I gave him. This is some stuff called Snow Plant. It's actually a type of fungus. Thought it was cool. I have not. I should have by now though.
Yeah, I know. I just felt guilty shooting a bird I wasn’t going to eat and wanted positive reinforcement.
I would only consider shooting at Cowbirds. They throw other bird eggs out of nests, and trick other species into raising their young.
At least they’re native. And certain species recognize and reject cowbird eggs. Wrens often destroy bluebird eggs and can kill nestlings, but again, I can let it slide because this is what they’ve evolved to do. House sparrows and European starlings didn’t bring themselves here, so part of me feels for them, but if it comes down to natives surviving there’s no discussion to be had. Just make it swift and painless.
Nope. They are pretty awesome birds. They usually lay their eggs with other bird eggs, then their chick just survives because it's a gigantic dick
Do any of y’all use cayenne bird seed for squirrel repellent? I don’t mind them eating seed on the ground at all, but climbing on my platform and preventing the birds from feeding isn’t going to be tolerated.
Negative. They are all over my platform feeders, but I’ve given up and just replace the food every few days. Let me know how that works if you try it, please.