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Post by datgirl on May 4, 2023 9:54:50 GMT -5
Last year a neighbor down the road moved. Hubby helped him get rid of some of his stuff. Well one of his treasures was a decorative bird house. Not my style so I put it out in the garden nailed to a tree stump. So today I go out there and just happen to look into in and I see two little eyes staring back at me. Looked like a Chickadee.. I hope I didn't scare it away.
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Post by binnylou on May 4, 2023 17:02:32 GMT -5
Found a male Oriole enjoying the orange with jelly this afternoon. Hubby said he had heard one earlier, but I didn’t see it, so for my record keeping, today is the day.
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Post by Wheelgarden on May 20, 2023 20:37:47 GMT -5
Saw a Blue Grosbeak out there for the first time ever. A couple of hours later, my Brother saw one too, at his place about ten miles east of me.
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Post by breezygardener on May 24, 2023 15:22:18 GMT -5
I finally solved the mystery of what's been nibbling on the ripe strawberries growing in small pots on my deck table. Every morning there have been bites/nibbles in all the ripe berries. I knew it couldn't be the groundhogs or the raccoons, because they'd just take the whole berry, so I then surmised that it must be mice coming at night, since I never saw anything out there during the day.
Lo & behold I disturbed a Catbird yesterday afternoon right in the act! It "mewed" loudly at me, as if affronted at being disturbed during its snack.
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Post by Mumsey on May 26, 2023 4:59:44 GMT -5
The crows are at it again. Using birdbath as a soaking station for their food! Found something unidentifiable in it yesterday, along with some soggy bread. They soak food for their young. The wrens are active, we hear them constantly. Between us and the neighbors there are 6 birdhouses for them.
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Post by gb98 on May 29, 2023 6:00:36 GMT -5
Hearing robins, cardinals, house wrens and an occasional wood thrush. Just recently started hearing vireos.
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Post by breezygardener on Jun 1, 2023 18:27:11 GMT -5
Not in our garden, but in our newspaper box!! We didn't pick up our paper yesterday, so this morning when I stopped to get it (newspaper box & our mailbox are about a half mile up the road from our house), imagine my surprise to find a fully formed bird nest sandwiched in between yesterday's paper & this morning's!! Thankfully there were no eggs in it yet, but it was fully constructed & ready to go. That sure was quick work, since it was completed in just one day.
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Post by datgirl on Jun 6, 2023 16:26:05 GMT -5
Well, it looks like the wrens kicked the Chickadees out of the birdhouse. So now when I go out to the garden, the wrens start yelling at me. Last year they built the nest in the water fountain base on the deck. I purposely didn't put it out this year because of all the noise.
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Post by breezygardener on Jun 6, 2023 16:38:20 GMT -5
Speaking of wrens. . . .
So Mr. Breezy was out mowing the lawn around noon today, & stopped to move his kayak & the sawhorses it was on so that he could mow underneath where it was. Unfortunately, when he dropped it down, out fell an absolutely HUGE bird nest - more than a foot across & about 8"-9" high, & composed of everything under the sun - different grasses, twigs, & sheets of green moss. And scattered all around it on the lawn were SIX naked baby birds. Two were completely naked except for a little fuzz, while four were just starting to get their pin feathers. All still had their eyes closed & still in the gaping stage.
Mr. Breezy of course came in to get his female equivalent of "Wild Kingdom's" Marlin Perkins to try to sort things out. I helped him put the the kayak back up, & then gathered up the six babies - checking them for any obvious injuries (everyone seemed fine & cheeping) - & then inserted them back into the nest. Mr. Breezy then crawled under & carefully stuffed the huge, messy nest back into the upside-down kayak cavity.
Figured I'd give everyone time to calm down, & just went out there a couple of hours ago & stood a distance away like an idiot for about 30 minutes or so, & finally saw an adult fly under & into the kayak. Another bullet dodged. I was not looking forward to having to try to raise these birds inside - especially not six of them.
It was obviously a Carolina wren nest. They will literally nest anywhere & traditionally like to build big messy nests. After finding a nest inside our lawn mower once - AFTER it had gone around the yard a few times (!!!) - & having the parents return, I figured this kayak incident would be nothing to them. Another wildlife crisis averted.
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Post by binnylou on Jun 6, 2023 18:08:46 GMT -5
Wrens everywhere. They took over the bluebird house. There’s a nesting pair under the ridge cap of the garden shed. Hubby put the cover on the camper’s spare tire…yup, there is noise and activity.
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Post by datgirl on Jun 7, 2023 11:07:13 GMT -5
They built one in hubbys back hoe too. Every time you go to the chicken coop, you get yelled at because the back hoe is parked across from the coop.
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Post by binnylou on Jun 7, 2023 11:58:35 GMT -5
Because of the wren’s “need to build”, hubby’s pants with pockets get hung on the clothesline with the legs at the top/pockets at the bottom.
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Post by Mumsey on Jun 9, 2023 17:53:24 GMT -5
Witnessed a crow again at the birdbath the other day depositing "stuff". Unrecognizable. Cleaned it up and put in new water.
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Post by datgirl on Jun 10, 2023 9:33:03 GMT -5
Hummingbirds finally made an appearance in the feeder yesterday.
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Post by gianna on Jun 11, 2023 10:27:46 GMT -5
There's a nice colony of Acorn woodpeckers in the area. They go back and forth between the trunks of two tall palm trees one and two houses away. I suspect they are storing acorns there. I can see them as I sit here. Almost always one or two are visible, and often more. Hard to count them sometimes. Fun to watch them.
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