It's Not Work, It's Gardening!: birds

Showing posts with label birds. Show all posts

Showing posts with label birds. Show all posts

Bluebirds

>> Saturday, February 23, 2019 – birds

On January 30th, the high here was 8ºF (-13ºC). When you have the only unfrozen water source around -- compliments of a birdbath heater -- you get to see some interesting things when it's very cold. For instance, I happened to notice an Eastern Bluebird that afternoon.

Not only that, but I saw his mate too! (Good thing I left that grate nearby -- it makes a nice perch!)

Robins

>> Monday, May 8, 2017 – birds, nest

Robins made a nest in a disused hanging planter under the edge of the deck:

It's at about eye level for me, so I just raised the phone camera above the edge and blindly snapped these images. The first was taken April 19. I've often wondered why these eggs evolved to be blue. Seems like a bad color if you want to go unnoticed.

Cuckoo sees stars...

>> Tuesday, September 27, 2016 – birds

...and it wasn't because he was pining for some chocolatey breakfast cereal either. Walking through the maypop trellis yesterday I was startled by a flapping of wings.

A cuckoo! I've never seen a cuckoo before* but somehow knew immediately what it was. Why was it hanging out down in the corner here?

Another rescue, very different

>> Wednesday, May 25, 2016 – birds, discovery, nest

The wildlife rescues just keep coming. Strange how I'm out in the garden about 5 minutes every day lately but there's time enough to find animals in distress. This rescue did not involve downspouts or disassembly or even a creature in apparent distress. In fact it was only chance that I happened upon it.

The house finches have finally built a nest on my porch again. They've done it for years now, raising two broods per annum but since the nest area remained clear until just a week ago, I thought they had given up on me in 2016.

Anticipation

>> Wednesday, May 18, 2016 – animals, birds

Something exciting is about to happen in my garden if all goes to plan.

Everybody can feel it.

More bird excitement

>> Wednesday, April 6, 2016 – birds, ducks, hawk

The other day I showed you some birds that are making spring in my garden exciting. Today there's more to share, starting with this hawk.

I'm pretty sure this is a red-tailed hawk, a juvenile who is not quite a year old.

A few exciting birds

>> Friday, April 1, 2016 – birds, ducks, owls

Birds are a big part of my garden. Without them things would seem lifeless and boring, so I'm always happy to see them anywhere. There are certain birds that are more exciting than others though, and I've seen a few recently.

Starting with this barred owl. There are a few of these in the area so we hear them often, but seeing them "up close" in our yard is always a thrill!

Looking

>> Thursday, March 24, 2016 – bamboo, birds, ducks, furniture, Spring

My bamboo before/after post is taking so much time, just some quick thoughts today. Sometimes life gets in the way...

This corner of the driveway is becoming so nice now...

Eagles!

>> Monday, January 25, 2016 – birds, travel, winter

Yesterday we took a Sunday morning drive out to see the eagles. At the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, the St. Louis area is an important overwintering site for bald eagles, and we make the 40-minute drive once every year or so.

You typically don't get to see the eagles up close, but it's still exciting and impressive to see them perched in trees or flying overhead.

What do you see?

>> Friday, January 22, 2016 – birds, seeds, winter

What do you see when you look at this, the view out of our kitchen window?

Do you see a mess, left due to a lazy gardener? Do you see winter interest, beautiful seed heads and shades of brown contrasting wonderfully with the backdrop of snow? (All photos in this post were taken through window glass, some at a sharp angle -- so colors are a bit off at times)

Branches and Birds

>> Tuesday, January 5, 2016 – birds, winter

This was going to be a photo essay on branches, the sunlight hitting them in just the right way the other morning, revealing so much texture, depth, and color.

But I have a bird feeder underneath these branches, and the birds kept getting in the way of my branch photos.

Random tidbits from the phone

>> Wednesday, November 4, 2015 – birds, cats, trees, vines

I was looking through the photos on my phone this morning and realized that I had quite a few things that were worth mentioning but didn't warrant a post by themselves. So they piled up.

Lumped all together though, there's some interesting stuff here. For instance, this photo of a small tree planting ringed by pavers at my mother's neighbor's house. Not really interesting in itself (and not very attractive in my opinion), but...

Catching Snacking Cardinals

>> Monday, October 5, 2015 – birds, blooms

I looked out the bedroom window the other day and noticed the Texas greeneyes (Berlandiera texana I believe) was moving around a bit.

Upon inspection with the binoculars, I saw that it was a Northern Cardinal that was shaking the plant around (I knew it wasn't deer, but it could have been a woodchuck).

More Questions

>> Wednesday, September 2, 2015 – birds, damage, elephant ears, flowers, foliage, frogs

I have more questions, some of which I actually need answers to. Let's start with animals.

Why is there a baby Northern Cardinal around so late in the season? This chick was twittering so loudly I could easily hear it through the closed window. This seems quite late. Was it a third brood for this family? (They were at the feeder for a while but of course as soon as I grabbed the camera they headed into the tree and refused to turn their heads.)

Duck!

>> Monday, April 27, 2015 – birds, pond

"Duck!" is what I yelled on Saturday when coming home from another nursery visit (post tomorrow), a box of plants in hand, I looked back to the pond and saw this:

A duck! To be honest, it's my neighbor's duck. It's not a pet, but it's one of the two Mallard ducks that have been visiting her backyard for at least a year if not two. They like her messy bird feeder and small tub of water, and didn't seem to listen when she kept telling them that there's a nice little pond right across the street and down the hill. It seems they finally got the message!

Hawk

>> Monday, March 23, 2015 – birds, hawk

I was doing more cleanup in the front garden this weekend, and between wheelbarrow loads of spreading community pile mulch I saw a hawk land in the tree across the street.

Whenever I'm covered in garden dirt and debris and see a possible photo opportunity, I mentally weigh the advantages: what's the subject? How common is it? Is the lighting good? What are the chances that the opportunity will be gone by the time I remove my tightly-laced muddy boots to go inside, grab my camera, fit my long lens (vintage screw-on type) then get back outside?

Look up: spring is here!

>> Monday, March 16, 2015 – birds

I was on the road between Chicago and St. Louis again this past weekend, and saw something that amazed me and said to me "Spring Is Here!":

The largest flock of migrating birds I have ever seen. Just HUGE. They crossed the highway just as I was arriving.

Whooo is cold?

>> Wednesday, January 7, 2015 – birds, owls

As I walked around the yard late yesterday afternoon, covering a few plants for the cold air that would be arriving sometime during the night (it was 22ºF when I was out there taking photos, but only 10ºF as I write this today at 10AM), a movement in the trees startled me.

An owl! A barred owl to be precise, probably the same one that we've seen three times in the last couple of weeks. The thought that an owl is getting comfortable in my garden is really exciting to me! This bird was getting verbally harassed by the smaller birds, but was half-heartedly hunting for ground prey and didn't seem to mind me walking around with the camera.

Gold

>> Friday, December 12, 2014 – birds, finch

Goldfinches that is. I haven't seen them around for a while, but yesterday they showed up to entertain me in the front garden.

I'm not sure how many of them there were because they are active little birds and couldn't keep still, but around a dozen I'd say.

Four Birds

>> Monday, December 1, 2014 – birds

There are only four (or five) types of birds that visit my feeders after I switched to safflower seeds. Fortunately they're some of my favorites, so I don't mind the lack of variety.

Today I'll take a quick look at all of them, starting with the Black-capped Chickadees.

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