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House Finches at Home in Fake Christmas Tree
We managed to get some critter cam footage of the male and female house finch pair nesting in the fake Christmas tree in our front entry way yesterday. Crank up the volume on your audio to hear them singing. The male sports a red face and chest. The female is plain brown except for brown…
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House Finch Nesting in Our Artificial Christmas Tree!
A couple days ago, Sena found a bird’s nest in our front porch artificial Christmas tree. The small nest is made from the clippings of Sena’s ornamental grasses. It has 4 small eggs, which are white with dark specks. We could hear a bird singing while we were sitting in the house and it always…
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How About That Rad Composer and Bird Watcher Antonin Dvorak?
I thought I would share a couple of ideas about the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak. I’m not a music expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I enjoy listening to classical music on the Music Choice Classical Masterpieces channel. Music Choice always have interesting bits of biographical information about the musicians. The items about…
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Civil or Uncivil Bird Society
We caught sight of several birds engaged in the usual interactions with each other and their prey (in the case of the hawk). Call it civil or uncivil society, it’s natural no matter how you see it. I’m going to call it a Red-tailed Hawk that caught a gray squirrel and had a tough time…
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Woodpeckers Coming Out of the Woodwork After the Snowstorms!
We have not seen any birds in our backyard since the arctic blast began this past week or so—until a couple of days ago. We saw a Red-Bellied Woodpecker, a Downy woodpecker, and a White-Breasted Nuthatch. Hardly a flock, but interesting anyway. We had a little trouble deciding whether we saw a White-Breasted Nuthatch or…
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Spoonbills and Bald Eagles at Sand Lake!
The other day it was about 60 degrees and the sun shone brilliantly—not a day to stay indoors! We went out to Terry Trueblood Recreation Area and did some bird-watching. Out on a sand bar on Sand Lake, we caught sight of two bald eagles. They seemed to be a mated pair. They actually courted…
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Early Snowbird Gets the Berry
We got our first snowfall that stuck around yesterday. We didn’t have to shovel because it melted off our sidewalk and driveway shortly past noon. On the other hand, the snow drew the birds out for the berries in the trees. Cedar Waxwings and other small birds feasted in the early morning. Whether they got…
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Wings in the Garden
We’ve got more videos of birds and a butterfly (which I think is a swallowtail) in our garden. The catbirds and oddly, song sparrows (I thought they were rare in our part of the country?) are turning out to be regular visitors. They like the mulberries and spend a lot of time preening. They visit…
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Sena Films Turkeys Brunching!
Sena caught a couple of turkeys on video, brunching in our backyard garden. They eat seeds and bugs—and probably mulberries dropped by drunken squirrels and other hungry birds. They look pretty nervous. They always look that way but they were probably hearing a dog barking at the time. In the late morning light, they look…
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The Gray Catbird Rusty Rump Mystery
I looked into the mystery of the gray catbird’s rusty rump. I mentioned the rusty colored feathers under its tail feathers in yesterday’s post. For some reason the underside of its tail feathers looks a little messy. I was able to get more video evidence about what might be the cause. The catbird looks fastidious.…
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