My wife and I are trying to attract hummingbirds this weekend. This is a new project for us. She got a couple of feeders and some nectar we mixed with water and a little beer. No, I’m kidding; we wouldn’t try to get any hummingbirds drunk.
One of the feeders is pretty fancy. You know, it sort of looks like an upside-down beer bottle–just sayin’.
I’ve tried to get snapshots and videos of hummingbirds before. They’re usually pretty blurry and jittery, just like the birds.
Really doctored this one…
We’re hoping that the flowers will help lure them to our garden.
Do hummingbirds like Columbine?
They probably don’t care for Allium; it’s in the onion family.
Allium
We’ve got a garden ornament that might help draw them. And as long as our garden goonbird (a well-known cryptid) behaves and doesn’t scare them off–we might see the little guzzlers in a few days.
We have a couple of brand new birds’ eggs in what may be a second nest by the robin pair. Now that made me wonder about whether or not the first nest under our deck was a decoy or dummy nest. You probably won’t believe me, but I thought of that before I googled it.
What got me wondering was the nest the robins build under our deck about a week ago and which they seemingly abandoned. See the progress in the video:
My last picture of the first robins’ nest showed that it was empty.
There was only one egg that ever turned up in this nest.
And then we found the new robins’ nest in our front yard crab apple tree.
a messy and very obvious robins’ nest
I wondered if the nest under our backyard deck was a dummy or decoy nest, maybe to discourage a persistent birdwatcher. I checked the web and found a short article on Sialis, “Dummy and Abandoned Nests.” Since Google identified the site as “Not secure,” I can just summarize that the author (who is not identified), reports that some males build nests to provide the female with a number of choices. She picks one and finishes the nest–much more neatly.
Some birds build decoy nests because they might have been scared by a possible predator in the area–like a large black crow in our area, which actually did make off with an entire clutch of House Finch nestlings only a week ago.
I found another web site that essentially gave the same explanation and both mentioned somebody named Benjamin E. Leese, who wrote about this topic in something called BlueBird Journal, Summer 2018, p.14 and 15. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the article, possibly because it’s a print journal and not available on line.
Another thing I wonder about: if the crab apple nest is the real McCoy and the under-the-deck nest was a decoy (hey, those rhyme), the problem with the crab apple nest is that, when approached from the back, it’s wide open to flying predators.
front door
back door
Anyway, both nests were done in a couple of days, although the crab apple nest probably was done after the under-the-deck model. I’m pretty confident that the breeding pair built both of them. I know they all look alike, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it, evidence or no.
Male has a black head; female has a grayish head
This reminds me of another nest that robins built on our property a few years ago, this one right between our house and the rail of our deck. It was a real Hoorah’s Nest!
We took a walk on the Terry Trueblood Trail yesterday and
saw quite a few birds even though it’s early in the season. We caught sight of Orchard
Orioles and got a snapshot for the first time of a bird that can fool you into
thinking it’s a robin.
There are a lot of Tree Swallows nesting out there. It’s too soon for babies. Sena got a couple of great shots of a sassy Red-Winged Blackbird. I got my first good shot of a Gray Catbird.
Red-Wing Blackbird on the Terry Trueblood TrailGray Catbird
It’s very peaceful out there—except when the bugs fly up your nose.
When we got home, we noticed the House Finches flitting around the juniper tree where the giant crow stole all their chicks the other day. It looks like they’re planning to rebuild. Foolhardy.
Papa House Finch
Mama House Finch
The robins may have abandoned their nest under the deck but they’ve built a regular Hoorah’s Nest in our front yard crabapple tree. It still needs a proper floor.
This is the season for optimism and milestones: graduating
medical students and residents, new faculty from the graduating resident class—including
the milestone of getting the suspicious looking postcard notice in the mail
reminding me that I’ll soon be eligible for open enrollment in Medicare.
No kidding, I got my first ever Medicare Open Enrollment postcard
notice although, of course, it was not from any government agency as the Medicare
Open Enrollment Inquiry Card indicated. This notice was obviously a lure from an
anonymous marketer soliciting for one or more insurance companies, “SD Reply
Center” in Rockwall, Texas.
Don’t get sucked in by this hustle. This has been going on for years. I found an on line news story from 2012 written by Bob LaMendola, with the Sun Sentinel in South Florida.
This is widely viewed as a scam, and the company targets
seniors (yes, I am one of those). If you send back the card with all of your
personal data on it which they request, outfits like SD Reply Center (SD stands
for Senior Direct) will sell it to insurers who may knock on your door. Insurers
themselves are forbidden by federal and state laws from sending these postcards
or otherwise soliciting seniors unless we request them. While it’s not against
the law for companies like SD Reply Center to solicit seniors, consumer
advocates advise us not to mail our personal information to the sender of an anonymous
postcard. While it may not be harmful, seniors are then in the difficult
position of fending off eager insurance salespersons.
I will be shredding my postcard. But I will remain aware of Medicare open enrollment and pursue less worrisome avenues for more information about my coverage options. You have to keep your eyes peeled for trouble.
Speaking of trouble, our birds are in a lot of it. Right after the house finches lost their nestlings, the cardinals lost their only chick, probably to the same predatory crow that took the house finch babies. The cardinal and house finch parents are now gone.
The cardinal nest is empty.
However, while the robins might have abandoned the
under-the-deck nest (not clear, my wife says she saw one flying under our deck),
they may have settled into our front yard crabapple tree. It’s thick with
flowers right now and provides excellent cover for the brand new nest the floor
of which still needs work (just like the nest under our deck needed for a
while).
Spring is a time of optimism. Hope springs eternal in the human breast—and in the robin redbreast.
Recall that the house finch nestlings were taken by a marauding
crow yesterday. The house finch parents were frantic and devastated for about
an hour. Although the crow flew by a second time, it didn’t return. The reason
why was clear today. The nest is still in the tree but it’s obviously a wreck. We
think it has been abandoned.
I checked on the cardinal nest and could find only one baby. He’s large and the younger, smaller brother is nowhere in sight.
Big fella
The robins have not laid any eggs in the nest under our deck
and it’s likely they’ve abandoned it.
Survival of the fittest seems to be the lesson here. Instinct is the driver, but it was hard not to think of the house finch parents, (especially the female) as grieving the loss of all their chicks.
The cardinal parents seem very annoyed when I pop around with my camera. Why not? Life is hard enough, with bad weather, crappy nest-building materials, unsafe locations, and predatory crows.
Annoyed up in a tree
Annoyed on the nest
Annoyed period
By the way, we saw a yellow warbler for the first time. I mistook it for a goldfinch at first. But then I saw the streaking on its belly and checked my field guide. Goldfinches have black wings and a black forehead patch. Yellow warbler males have orange streaks on their bellies. This one was probably picking bugs off the topmost tree leaves. It’s a male and making the most of its time on earth.
I was sitting at my desk by the front window where we often watch the house finches come and go from their nest. It was just a couple of days ago that 3 baby house finches were squirming about in the nest.
There are 3 house finch nestlings ( or I guess I should say there were)
I kept hearing a strange noise outside the window. It sounded like a large sheet blowing and flapping in the wind. I glanced a couple of times and didn’t see anything. About the 3rd time I heard it, I caught sight of a huge crow (maybe a raven?) flapping its wings, which was the sound I evidently heard.
I grabbed my camera and tried to open the blinds but I was too late to get a snapshot of the giant crow pounding the juniper tree with its wings, jabbing its beak into the tree and then thundering off with a mouthful of nestlings. I’m pretty sure it got all of them.
I was stunned. A couple of minutes later, the house finch mama was flitting in a panic around the tree and in the nest, apparently searching for the newborns. It was a frantic scene which went on for over half an hour at least. She flew off and flew back repeatedly to what I assumed was an empty nest. There might have been an egg left because the crow returned to fly over the tree. But it didn’t stop.
Frantic house finch mama
I now believe that’s what happened to the missing cardinal
egg and cardinal baby. My wife says she has seen a large crow swooping around
our property. I wonder if that’s what spooked the robins who have probably
abandoned the nest under our deck.
I took a quick look around the web and found that crows will
eat eggs and nestlings, but it’s said to be an uncommon occurrence. It
definitely happened in front of me and in the blink of an eye.
I don’t know what the house finches will do now. Will they
try again? I doubt it will be in the same tree. Many of the branches are bent,
exposing the nest where the thief broke in.
The bird saga continues and it has been a little rocky. The cardinals are having an up and down course with their young. They lost a chick. One egg was laid a bit late and so the two chicks remaining are vastly different in size.
Big brother and little brother
The house finches are hatching. So far there were two hatchlings
we could see. Out of the five eggs it was hard to tell what happened to the
other three. I could see only two; one of them was the brown egg.
My wife took a shine to one of the house finch nestlings. She calls it her “little alien.” Funny, I always thought I was her little alien. Both of the babies look like they have Mohawk haircuts.
My wife says it’s her little alien.
I thought I was her little alien.
The robins probably have abandoned their carefully built nest under our deck. It has been a few days now since the nest was completed and no eggs are in it.
Now we’re starting to see Baltimore Orioles flitting around our garden. There were three of them (all males) and I could barely get snapshots of two. I doubt we’ll see nests. They build pretty high up in the trees.
Big day on the psychiatry consult service. So, this is a short post today because I’m pooped. I logged 2.8 miles and 35 floors on the step counter and here’s a picture to prove it.
Step counter log today. I’m feeling it tonight.
The other bit of news is that the cardinal hatchlings are here—at least two of them anyway. One egg is still unhatched. The house finches are still in their eggs. And there are no eggs in the robin’s nest yet.
baby cardinals and one egg to hatch…
We were a little surprised. We weren’t expecting them to
hatch for about another week.
Since my last post about our birds, we’ve had some new developments. The robins actually have a pretty fine nest now under our deck. I managed to get a blurry snapshot of mama robin actually sitting in the nest. I’ve also caught sight of a portly male cavorting with her on our porch rail. Early this morning the nest was empty.
Broody robin?
Empty nest…so far.
There’s an odd, brownish egg amongst the house finch clutch. I’m not sure what that means, if anything. Maybe it’s the same as brown or white chicken eggs. E.B. White wrote an essay entitled “Riposte,” (in White, E. B. (1999). Essays of E.B. White. New York, HarperPerennial), which treated the difference in some detail. The general idea was that brown eggs are more “natural” than white ones because they are suggestive of the country. However, the last paragraph of the essay mentions a farmer who planned to promote green eggs and who knew of a hen who could lay them.
See that brown egg?
That reminds me. Later today, I noticed some pretty large green eggs, not just in the robin’s nest, but in a few other places too. Robins don’t lay eggs as big as my head and they generally are not green; they’re robin’s egg blue as the saying goes. As for who laid them, I think I spotted the culprit out in the garden.
What the…?
The culprit!
There are still just 3 cardinal eggs. Mama cardinal lets me get pretty close to the nest these days before she thunders off. She tries to hide behind leaf and junk. And papa is stand-offish as usual.
Hiding
Shy
My wife is pretty busy in the garden and pointed out that I don’t have any shots of the pansies. They’re a sure sign of spring, along with the daffodils and tulips—and cavorting birds leading to many eggs.
I’ve been making fun of birds who build funny-looking and impractical nests. Maybe I’ve been wrong about the robins, though. My wife alerted me by phone that the robin I joked about in my YouTube video, “Nest Building for Bird Brains,” had actually cobbled together a convincing nest underneath our deck.
I couldn’t believe it. I think the only explanation is alien influence. Their heads are egg-shaped and that’s about the only proof you need.
Egg as big as my dang head!
Definitely an egghead alien…
I figure the aliens get into our dimension via spacecraft
through a wormhole, which would appeal to a bird, especially a robin. They love
worms! They would just as soon gobble up a worm as poop on your Hostas. Then
the alien probes the robin (they got this thing about cloaca probing),
inserting an egg as big as my head for crying out loud. This naturally leads to
a change in the robin’s central nervous system, leading it to become insane in
the bird brain (so to speak) and rendering it incapable of doing the normal
thing like building a nest in a tree, so they end up slapping it under a deck,
in your lawn mower, on top of your god-forsaken egghead, good gahd amighty!
However, you can hardly call it quibbling when I point out there’s no bottom in the nest—yet. On the other hand, if I were a betting man, I would have bet against it getting built at all.
You can still see the floor board! Ya gonna lay eggs on that?
Our guess is that, at this rate, the floor will be down in no time and eggs will likely be laid soon after that.
Hoorah’s nest if I ever saw one…
We now have three bird nests to keep track of for the next
couple of weeks—cardinal, house finch, and now the robin. At this rate, we’ll
be lucky to keep up.
Go Retire Psychiatrist 