Backyard Birding

[DrW]

Drama in the backyard yesterday. A Northern Harrier had caught a Starling. Sorry for the bad pic - I did not want to get closer and perhaps scare it away.

Edited February 26, 2022 by DrW

[T&C]

1 hour ago, DrW said:

Drama in the backyard yesterday. A Northern Harrier had caught a Starling. Sorry for the bad pic - I did not want to get closer and perhaps scare it away.

That's the way it goes... to me its not drama, more like nature doing its thing. Few weeks ago they were cleaning up a bunch of log piles across the way and the red shouldered hawks were loving it, had one munching on a mouse or small rat on a branch over my house.

 

Even if blurry its still a nice pic.

[qwksilver]

2 days ago I saw a Bald Eagle grab a fish out of the lake behind my house. So pissed I did not get my phone in time. It happened too fast.

[T&C]

Maybe someone can point me in the right direction. I have small birds, around the size of a finch or a titmouse, coming to the feeders lately. They are red on the bottom, wings appear black, and have a large bright yellow patch behind their head maybe an inch or inch and a half. I have scoured the web with different descriptions and cannot name it. This is Florida btw. Any help would be appreciated, I Really want to keep them here, gorgeous little bird.. have never seen them before.

[TheCockSportif]

I hate birds.  I have very few hateful items, and that includes American Nazis, but I really, really hate birds.

[Gugny]

9 minutes ago, TheCockSportif said:

I hate birds.  I have very few hateful items, and that includes American Nazis, but I really, really hate birds.

 

You should probably move onto a different thread, then.

 

[DrW]

50 minutes ago, T&C said:

Maybe someone can point me in the right direction. I have small birds, around the size of a finch or a titmouse, coming to the feeders lately. They are red on the bottom, wings appear black, and have a large bright yellow patch behind their head maybe an inch or inch and a half. I have scoured the web with different descriptions and cannot name it. This is Florida btw. Any help would be appreciated, I Really want to keep them here, gorgeous little bird.. have never seen them before.

 

Painted buntings?

[T&C]

38 minutes ago, TheCockSportif said:

I hate birds.  I have very few hateful items, and that includes American Nazis, but I really, really hate birds.

No Christmas goose for you. 

5 minutes ago, DrW said:

 

Painted buntings?

That was my first thought but using your pic... around the same size but less of a beer belly. Not blue on the head but the yellow patch is in the exact same place as these. Red underneath, blackish wings and head, and the yellow patch just like this one. No green at all.

[TheCockSportif]

14 hours ago, Gugny said:

 

You should probably move onto a different thread, then.

 

Good call.

[Saxum]

We have some regulars to our bird feeder with sparrows and chickadees regularly nesting in front yard.

Today my wife found some of our other regular visitors - a pair of mourning doves - set up a nest in gazebo we set up for our dog to use (which she refused) in our side yard.  Since our dog has not been using gazebo we have been storing some stuff outdoors there and she noticed perched on top of some stuff next to wall of our house a nest.  No picture for my wife says it will disturb them but our lawn tools are there and we will need to go under gazebo some time this month.

 

Nestling Period:12-15 days

Incubation Period:14 days

 

[Gugny]

The large 2-story birdhouse that nuthatches have been inhabiting for the past several years was torn from the tree by wind late last fall.  I re-mounted it a few weeks ago.  Last week, a couple nuthatches were investigating it and talking away.  My favorite part about them is listening to them communicate with each other.

 

Well, after they looked around, they split and have not returned.  A couple other birds (not sure what species) were checking it out the other day, but they also split - although I saw one of them taking pieces of the leftover nest out.  But that only lasted a day.

 

The nest that was left in there from last year was turned over from the fall to the ground.  I hope that won't deter future tenants and I REALLY hope a couple nuthatches move in and raise a family like last year.

 

It was late May last year when I watched the babies climb out of the house, get their bearings, then fly away.  What a great sight to see and I hope that happens again.  Their incubation period is a couple weeks, so there is time, I suppose.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Baltimore orioles should be flying through Illinois soon... First week of May, 10 days in they arrive... Put out oranges 🍊 soon...

 

...Then comes the JuneSwoon... 😆 

Edited April 26, 2022 by ExiledInIllinois

[T&C]

7 minutes ago, Gugny said:

The large 2-story birdhouse that nuthatches have been inhabiting for the past several years was torn from the tree by wind late last fall.  I re-mounted it a few weeks ago.  Last week, a couple nuthatches were investigating it and talking away.  My favorite part about them is listening to them communicate with each other.

 

Well, after they looked around, they split and have not returned.  A couple other birds (not sure what species) were checking it out the other day, but they also split - although I saw one of them taking pieces of the leftover nest out.  But that only lasted a day.

 

The nest that was left in there from last year was turned over from the fall to the ground.  I hope that won't deter future tenants and I REALLY hope a couple nuthatches move in and raise a family like last year.

 

It was late May last year when I watched the babies climb out of the house, get their bearings, then fly away.  What a great sight to see and I hope that happens again.  Their incubation period is a couple weeks, so there is time, I suppose.

I've heard of stuffing a decent sized chunk of dryer lint into a birdhouse to attract homeowners... just plain lint, not lint used with dryer sheets. Its like half of their job is already done I guess. 

 

My problem here is these freaking Starlings. Nice squirrel proof post with 3 feeders... one suet, one for small birds, and one for small/small medium sized birds (cardinals for example) If I use normal suet it seems that they don't mess with it too much but if I put in no melt suet they rip through that ***** in one day. The woodpeckers don't seem to mind the slimy stuff even during the summer so I'm just going to go that route from now on. I was reading that Starlings are an invasive species that is actually legal to trap and humanely kill... but that is a little out of my kind of thinking.

[Gugny]

2 minutes ago, T&C said:

I've heard of stuffing a decent sized chunk of dryer lint into a birdhouse to attract homeowners... just plain lint, not lint used with dryer sheets. Its like half of their job is already done I guess. 

 

My problem here is these freaking Starlings. Nice squirrel proof post with 3 feeders... one suet, one for small birds, and one for small/small medium sized birds (cardinals for example) If I use normal suet it seems that they don't mess with it too much but if I put in no melt suet they rip through that ***** in one day. The woodpeckers don't seem to mind the slimy stuff even during the summer so I'm just going to go that route from now on. I was reading that Starlings are an invasive species that is actually legal to trap and humanely kill... but that is a little out of my kind of thinking.

 

The birds that hit my feeders nail peanut butter flavored suet like it's crack!

[T&C]

21 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

The birds that hit my feeders nail peanut butter flavored suet like it's crack!

Same here but with Starling packs around they just engulf it in a day. The beef rendered woodpecker ones last a lot longer... they don't like it as much.

[SoTier]

3 hours ago, Gugny said:

The large 2-story birdhouse that nuthatches have been inhabiting for the past several years was torn from the tree by wind late last fall.  I re-mounted it a few weeks ago.  Last week, a couple nuthatches were investigating it and talking away.  My favorite part about them is listening to them communicate with each other.

 

Well, after they looked around, they split and have not returned.  A couple other birds (not sure what species) were checking it out the other day, but they also split - although I saw one of them taking pieces of the leftover nest out.  But that only lasted a day.

 

The nest that was left in there from last year was turned over from the fall to the ground.  I hope that won't deter future tenants and I REALLY hope a couple nuthatches move in and raise a family like last year.

 

It was late May last year when I watched the babies climb out of the house, get their bearings, then fly away.  What a great sight to see and I hope that happens again.  Their incubation period is a couple weeks, so there is time, I suppose.

 

I had to cut down my old ash tree about 4 years ago because it was suffering from ash dieback.  It was also rotting inside and infested with ants ...  and  attracted multiple nuthatches and woodpeckers.  All of the nuthatches have abandoned my yard, not even coming to my bird feeders.   A few downey woodpeckers show up at the sunflower feeder, especially during the breeding/nesting season. 

 

The nuthatches were very feisty birds for their size.  They not only picked on smaller birds, but they'd chase bigger birds away from their space on the feeders.

[WhoTom]

4 hours ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

Baltimore orioles should be flying through Illinois soon... First week of May, 10 days in they arrive

 

That's usually when we see our first Orioles, too. Some friends in Rockton IL (about 20 miles WNW of us) reported seeing their first today.

 

Every year when they come around, they land on our deck railing, right next to where we mount the feeder. That's our cue to put the feeder out.

 

[DrW]

22 hours ago, Limeaid said:

We have some regulars to our bird feeder with sparrows and chickadees regularly nesting in front yard.

Today my wife found some of our other regular visitors - a pair of mourning doves - set up a nest in gazebo we set up for our dog to use (which she refused) in our side yard.  Since our dog has not been using gazebo we have been storing some stuff outdoors there and she noticed perched on top of some stuff next to wall of our house a nest.  No picture for my wife says it will disturb them but our lawn tools are there and we will need to go under gazebo some time this month.

 

Nestling Period:12-15 days

Incubation Period:14 days

 

 

I would not worry too much about disturbing mourning doves. A couple of years ago we had a pair breeding in a hanging shrub right next to the entrance of our house. While we use mostly the garage entrance, the main entrance is used once or twice a day by deliveries. In that case, he doves just hunker down in their nest. Only if you have a closer look (as I did from time to time), the parent would leave the nest, but return a few minutes after I had left. In that year, they raised three chicks.

 

Other bird species that have nested on our 1 acre lot:

Mallard

Barn Swallow

Western Kingbird (a very interesting nest, with lots of man-made blue plastic strips woven into the twigs)

House Sparrow

Curve-billed Thrasher

Grackle (most likely Great-tailed)

 

Due to increasing urban development in the neighborhood, the variety of wildlife has suffered.

[Gugny]

5 hours ago, SoTier said:

 

I had to cut down my old ash tree about 4 years ago because it was suffering from ash dieback.  It was also rotting inside and infested with ants ...  and  attracted multiple nuthatches and woodpeckers.  All of the nuthatches have abandoned my yard, not even coming to my bird feeders.   A few downey woodpeckers show up at the sunflower feeder, especially during the breeding/nesting season. 

 

The nuthatches were very feisty birds for their size.  They not only picked on smaller birds, but they'd chase bigger birds away from their space on the feeders.

 

A few years ago, one of my nuthatches went eye to eye with a squirrel who got too close to the bird house.  Squirrel was facing up the tree, nuthatch facing down.  She spread her wings (think the Karate Kid pose) and just stared the squirrel down.  Squirrel got out of Dodge within 15 seconds!

[Golden*Wheels]

Had to take the feeder in...bear got it. D'oh.