Friday, June 24, 2016

Feathers on Friday for 6/24

Rose-Breasted Grosbeak and Black-Capped Chickadee


Happy Friday! This one is for my 5 year old son who is becoming a good little birder.  We made this homemade bird feeder to attract one of his new favorite birds, the Pileated Woodpecker.  I'm not sure they can fit in it but the other birds love it!  

Have a great weekend and Happy Birding!


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Thursday, June 23, 2016

The Newest Member Of The Family


The immature Red-Shouldered Hawk finally visited my yard.  I have seen it flying with it's parents several times but it hadn't perched in my yard till today.  I believe it's a male and fledged about three weeks ago.  He was holding up one of his legs in this shot.

 
He was rudely greeted by the songbirds in my yard.  A group of American Goldfinches, House Finches, Blue Jays, Tufted Titmice, White-breasted Nuthatches took turns mobbing the youngster.  Then the Grey Squirrels joined in.  He had to switch perches a few times to avoid the group.  In the above picture, he was trying to get a better view on one of the birds harassing him.


It looks small so I think it's male though it's hard to say for sure unless I see it with one of the adults.



Here is an older shot of the proud parents.  Happy Birding and enjoy the new fledglings in your area!



Friday, June 17, 2016

Feathers on Friday for 6/17

American Goldfinch



Happy Friday!  This male American Goldfinch and his family are a frequent visitor to my feeders.  This striking little bird eats mostly seeds from feeders and plants.  Have a great weekend and keep cool if you are part of this heat wave.  Happy Birding!

More Feathers on Friday Post:









Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Working Hard on this Tree




After one of the many rain storms in the past couple of weeks, This male Pileated Woodpeckers went to work in my yard.  He hammered away at this branch for at least twenty minutes, eating some sort of grub or insect that was inside.


This is later on.  You can see how much progress he has made.   Note the other hole in the tree probably his work too and used by another bird to nest.


The hole is now big enough to get at whatever is inside.  I love watching Pileated Woodpeckers at work.  The power of their beak and strikes is amazing.   At one point, pieces of wood were flying everywhere as he hammered away.

Happy Birding! Don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.




Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Visitors to the Nest


This time of year can be difficult to monitor the Bald Eagle nests.  The tree canopy on a lot of the nest trees has grown to completely block my view.  I was hoping to catch a view of  the eaglet branching but nothing yet.  Branching is when the eaglet ventures away from the nest onto near by branches to get ready to make it's first flight.  Luckily, at one of the nest, I got visitors that help pass the time.

Two male Baltimore Orioles were the first to visit me at my viewing spot.  They seemed to be fighting over territory or a mate.  This is one of the two that posed nicely for me before chasing off the other male.


The second visitor was a Eastern Phoebe.  It sang, it's song of "Fee-bee" where it gets it's name and bobbing it's tail.  


A flock of Canada Geese leisurely swam by on the river while I was there too.


A White-tailed Deer wading into the edge of the river for a drink and some sort of water plant it was eating.

I was hoping for more eagle activity at the nest but viewing these other animals was very enjoyable too.  Happy birding and enjoying nature!

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