Bird Watching Club

We have NO squirrels..

I have two Squirrel be Gone bird feeders.  They are very effective at keeping the squirrels from getting to the feeders.  They wait patiently on the ground for the birds to drop seeds.  Until Sandy, for many years we had a squirrels' nest in the massive tree in front of our home.  They were so ensconsed, I thought I'd put an address for them on the tree and start charging them taxes.  One year, the babies fell or climbed out of the nest and couldn't get back up.  We heard, what seemed like the "Call of the Wild" as other squirrels were alerting the mother.  Before long, she arrived and proceeded, like a cat, to nip each one by it's neck and pull it back up the tree and into the nest....That maternal instinct is so amazing...

Gotta be careful though with those squirrels.  They could do significant damage to the inside of your homes if they manage to get in.  I keep all of my trees well pruned...away from my home.  You do not want to let them get too comfortable with your property.

Our family and friends spend lots of time on our front porch in our outdoor Lazy-boy recliners watching birds and whatever else there is to watch.  One time, my friend and I saw a HUGE, when I say HUGE, I mean HUGE black menacing bird swoop down into a nest and it grabbed a baby bird and flew off.  YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD THE SQUAWKING FROM OTHER BIRDS!  Neither of us could believe what we witnessed.  It was right out of a movie.....I can't believe a mother bird has to NOT ONLY WORRY ABOUT OTHER PREDITORS, BUT SHE ALSO HAS TO WORRY ABOUT BIGGER BIRDS....It's rough living outside.....

Speaking of predators....the finch nest by my front door was raided(probably a mocking bird,lots of them around right now).

Here's one of our ground squirrells, far more destructive than gophers(have plenty of those too)

Can't use any kind of poison to control them.It has been shown to cause deaths of bobcats & coyotes in the area who prey on them . Others have tried to control them with explosives. I'm not convinced this does anything besides maybe make them deaf. I just get mad at them. Lots of good that does These guys can displace alot of earth.

I took it during treatments and I remember thinking, one step at a time...

It's after 9pm and the robin is still singing. It's been going on since 5am. It's becoming Chinese water torture. Please pray for him to find a mate soon.

We live on a small area of land (1/3 acre) however, we have in our boxes, one pair of bluebirds, one pair of swallows, one pair of chickadees (in a bluebird box) and a persistant robin pair who we finally allowed to build underneath our deck.  It's so much fun to watch them all.  The bluebirds and chickadees are my favs tho'.

I am heartbroken. DH found a dead yellow billed cuckoo in the backyard. He was in perfect condition (other than being dead) so he may have flown into the windows. The whole back of our 3 story house is windows so it happens too often. We had been hearing him a lot lately. A very beautiful bird. Why is it never a damned sparrow??!

Sadly, I once found a dead rose-breasted grosbeck after hitting the living room bow window.

We get so many birds it's inevitable that we get dead ones. I do have decals on the windows, but they don't stop it completely, especially during mating season when they're chasing each other. One winter, a gold finch died while he was perched at the seed feeder. We've lost a scarlet tanager, rufous sided towhee, two cardinals, several purple finches and red bellied woodpeckers, in addition to several goldfinches, to the windows. Last week a rose breasted grosbeak crashed chasing another one. I thought he was a goner, but he rallied and flew off with a headache I'm sure.



We also get more than our share of disabled birds e.g., a one legged junco, a one legged goldfinch, a blind housefinch, a lame oriole who couldn't stand but would lay down on the jelly/orange feeder to eat, to name a few. I think we have a reputation as a soft touch lol!

I identify more birds by sound than sight with all the Summer foliage.

I'll be listening and looking for an indigo bunting throughout the Summer.

It's available for Iphone as well. DS and DIL both have it. They had bird jobs for years.

Chipmunks dig up morning glory vines near the seed feeders.   Cute stinkers!!

but I took some on the shore..