Woody Woodpecker came by today

Mar 30, 2009 | Wildlife | 1 comment

I know it isn’t the greatest of pictures but this is a Pileated Woodpecker which was the bird that “Woody Woodpecker” was modeled after.  I have only seen one come by a few times.  He was actually in the neighbors yard on a rotten log.  They have a large chisel beak.  This is a big bird – 15″.  One of the biggest birds that we get in this area.  He is almost as big as the Red-Shouldered Hawk that I got pictures of a few weeks ago. And is the largest wood pecker in North America.  Its wingspan is 26″ – 30″.  You should seem him glide through the trees!

I was outside and happened to see the bright red crest on his head moving around.  I ran inside to get my camera and went to the back porch.  He wasn’t there very long and then flew up into the trees back behind our yard.  This one appears to be a male because it looks like he has a red moustache behind and below his bill.   The female has a black moustache.

I hope he comes back again – I would love to get some more pictures of him.

Thanks for stopping by!

I Found another nest

Mar 30, 2009 | Wildlife | 0 comments

Here is a quick update on the birds.  The weather has been so rainy and yesterday so cold and windy that I haven’t been out to check on the birds much.  I checked the houses this morning and the Bluebirds – have no eggs yet.  The Chickadees I can’t tell but the birds were not in the house so she isn’t sitting on the eggs if there are any.  I did get a picture of the nest – I just can’t quite see over into the hole to look for eggs.

Last week I noticed some birds out front that looked like they were building a nest well today I finally took a peek out in my front bushes and sure enough there is a nest in one of them.  And mama bird was in it and flew out when she saw me.   I took a peek and there are THREE eggs in it.  I couldn’t get a picture because it is buried quite well in the center of my bush.  Here is a picture of dad:

This is an Eastern Towhee and the male has all the black coloring on his head and back.  The female is more brown colored.  Here they have red eyes but I read that in Florida some have pale eyes.  My book says the build their nest near the ground (and this one is in a low bush) and is well concealed.  I only looked for it because I saw the birds last week with nesting material in their mouths and thought there might be one nearby.   My book says they are in decline probably because they stay near the ground which makes them vulnerable to cats.  I’ll have to keep my eye out for the neighborhood cats – I haven’t seen them all winter but there are several I have to shoo out of my yard every year.

I’ll be posting some stamping stuff later.

Have a great day – today is supposed to be nice and then three more days of rain are coming.

Update on my birds

Mar 27, 2009 | Wildlife | 0 comments

This is not the best picture – this was Wednesday morning and it was raining so I was sitting on my screened porch taking pictures through the screen – so not the best.  But the Robins were still working on their nest – she brings in some nesting materials and pats it down with her feet and somehow it seems they also use their tail and or course their beak to arrange the nest.  It amazes me that they can get all of that to stay together up there and not fall down.  As far as the windows go I bought some Ultra Violet window clings that are supposed to help with the birds flying into the windows because they can see the clings.  I don’t know that it is helping – it seems now they are flying into the window on the other side of the nest so I may need to buy more.  And today one of them would sit on the window sill and peck at the window – trying to chase away the bird – it was his own reflection.  My windows are a mess – so I’ll have to get out and clean them soon.  I may clean them and then get Greg to put screens on some of them.

The Bluebirds and Chick-a-dees were both building their nests too.  I checked yesterday afternoon and no eggs in the Bluebird nest.  I’m not going to be able to tell with the chick-a-dees – their nest is so tall I can’t see into it.  I’ll try to take a picture of the nest itself soon – basically made of all moss.   As for the robins their nest is to high for me to see into but since it is visible from the porch I’ll know when the female starts sitting on her eggs.

Thanks for checking in on my birds.

Have a great day!

Bird update and new pictures

Mar 24, 2009 | Wildlife | 0 comments

I wanted to do an update on my birds now and I’ll add a stamping related post later.  Well one decision has been made – and that is who is building their nest in this Bluebird house – and the answer is – the Bluebirds.  Here is the female Eastern Bluebird with a mouth full of nesting material.  I did a check of the house this morning and they are finishing up their nest.  This photo is actually from Sunday morning but I took another today and she was back again with a mouth full of nesting material.  The male is the one that is the really pretty blue color – the females aren’t as pretty.  And she seems to be dong all the work too!  Bluebirds usually nest in late March or early April so these are right on schedule.  They normally lay 4 to 5 light blue eggs.  And have two or three broods per season.  That is about the norm for us with this bird house.  I’ll keep watch to see how many eggs we get with the first brood.  And here is one more picture of the pair – male on top of the house and the female is flying out of the entrance hole.

So where did the Chickadee go  you  might ask.  Well I have a second blue bird house in the yard – it was the one that the Tufted Titmouse has been looking at but never started a nest inside.  The Chickadee quickly moved in and has been busily building a nest.  Here she is trying to bring in a piece of pinestraw – I’m not sure why as they mostly use moss and when I checked this morning there is a nest of moss about 2 – 3 inches tall inside the house.  And they also use fur to line the nest.  They lay about 6-8 eggs that are roundish and white with some reddish brown spots. The male and female look alike but it is the female that builds the nest.

Carolina Chickadee

Tufted Titmouse

There is still one issue though and that is the Tufted Titmouse is still looking at the birdhouse too.  I saw him there this morning and then the chickadee chased him away.  The Tufted Titmouse does not normally nest in a box so I think the Chickadees are probably ok in this house.

The Robins were still around too – still flying into my window also – hopefully they will stop doing that soon.  I put some paper inbetween the window and the inside shutters to see if that would help.  No new pictures of them.

That’s all for the updates on the birds for today.  I find the birds to be facinating animals and I’m excited to have three different families in the yard this year – that is a first!

Check back on another day for more updates.

Monika

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www.monika.stampinup.net

Welcome Spring!

Mar 20, 2009 | Wildlife | 6 comments

Today, March 20th, is officially the first day of Spring.  Depending on where you live you may feel differently.  Here it does seem like spring – trees are blooming and the pollen is here, my hostas, azeleas, and hydrangeas are all turning green.  And the birds are very busy – it is nesting season and they all want the perfect home to raise their babies.  This morning I thought I would share with you pictures I took yesterday of the birds in my yard and later this afternoon I’ll post a stamping-related project.  I just realized I planned the perfect title for my class today – Celebrate Spring – and today is the first day of spring!

Remember the Robin I showed a few days ago – they are still building the nest – here is a picture of one of them sitting on the roof just above the nest with a mouthful of nesting material – now I’m just trying to figure out how to keep them from flying into my windows everytime they leave the nest – I don’t want them to break their neck before they raise their babies.

I also had a pair of Red-Bellied Woodpecker’s busy in the yard.  I don’t know where they have a nest – according to my book they dig a hole in a dead tree to lay their eggs.  They have been busy climbing up and down the trees searching for bugs.

I also had some Blue Jays around – they are not my favorite since they are big, loud and bossy.  They tend to chase everyone else away from the feeders.  But yesterday I got a really great picture of one getting a peanut from the peanut feeder.

I think I also mentioned the other day that I had Bluebirds (it is an Eastern Blubird) building a nest in the bluebird house in our yard and that the chickadees (Carolina Chick-a-dee) wanted to build a nest in the same house.  I have been watching them for the past few days and they still have not determined who is going to have the house.  It appears that both pairs are each building a nest in the house and removing the other birds nest too.  They prefer different nesting materials.  A Chickadee is a small nest of moss and plant down lined with animal fur – and that is at the bottom of the box.  The bluebird is a nest made of grass and pine needles – and that is on top of the moss.  And the amount of pine straw keeps changing.  Yesterday I saw the chickadees taking the straw out and the bluebirds bringing it back in.  I think I better go buy another house and maybe they can just be next door neighbors.

Chickadee removing pinestraw

male bluebird

There is another bluebird house in the yard that one of them could have but apparently they don’t like it.  Currently there is a pair of Tufted Timice looking at the other house.  I got a good picture of one of them sitting on the birdfeeder.

My book says they nest in tree cavity or sometimes in a small bird house.  They haven’t actually started building a nest in the house yet they just seem to be looking at it and have been for awhile.

So those are the updates on my birds.  I had some other varieties out there that I didn’t get pictures of and I need to fill all my feeders today too – they are empty.  Probably a trip to the bird store is in order to get more seed and maybe another blue bird house.

It’s time to get everything cleaned up for my class today.  Have a nice day!

Monika

[email protected]

www.monika.stampinup.net