Apr 28, 2011 | Wildlife |
First let me say that we had Tornado Warning sirens going off yesterday morning and for much of the night. Luckily where I live we really didn’t have anything. Wind and rain, lightening was about it. The tornado’s and severe storms where to the west and north of where we live. School is closed in Bartow county which is to our west and Pickens which is to our north. They are showing part of Cartersville that is just flat today – totally destroyed. Our school cancelled the Senior Project Boards yesterday afternoon. Tyler has his today – I hope he does well. I hope all my friends that live closer to those areas are ok. I heard from Cari and she said they were fine. Pray for all of those affected by these terrible storms – they are saying 200 people were killed across the southeast in these storms. Greg’s Aunt and Uncle survived a direct hit from a tornado a few years ago – it totally destroyed their house in South Georgia.
I wondered how my baby birds made it through the night…everyone still seems to be in the house – mom and dad are bringing in food this morning. Here are some of my recent pictures of the Chickadees –
Chickadee babies on 4/21
Chickadee babies on 4-23
Look at us now we look like little birds with feathers! In this picture I can clearly see 3 babies – so perhaps only 3 of the 5 eggs hatched. The babies stay 13-17 days in the nest while they grow. By my estimates we are at about day 14 or 15.
Apr 21, 2011 | Wildlife |
I have some new pictures for you that I took on Sunday – I have others on my big camera but I need to find the cable to download those still. Here is what I have with my little Cannon Camera –
Here are the Tufted Titmouse babies – thinking I was mom or dad they had their mouths open for some food. I see mom and dad going back and forth feeding these six babies. Here is another pictures once they figured out I wasn’t bringing food.
In this picture I can count five beaks and it looks like the 6th baby is tucked down on the left side of the picture. They are still in that naked ugly phase – no feathers yet, eyes still closed. But they’ll get cuter as they grow.
The Chickadees were also busy feeding but one of the parents seems to be in the house every time I try to take a picture. So instead I just got a picture of dad bringing food – a yummy little bug for the babies to share.
can you see the little worm in his beak? The hook that you see in the fore-ground is what the birdhouse is hanging from in the tree. I have more pictures with my other camera – I’ll have to download and share those later.
Apr 15, 2011 | Wildlife |
I wanted to give you updates on the baby birds. On the 13th I checked the Chickadee’s again and there were still 3 babies although I think the fourth one may have been hatching. I haven’t been able to peek the last two days, but will try to check in on Saturday.
Chickadee 4-13
I think the one with his mouth wide open is probably the first one that was born so he is a day older and bigger than the other two. Notice how they have moved around in the nest. The mom’s really do roll the eggs around. One year I had a nest with an egg left by a parasitic bird – that’s a bird that lays its egg in someone else’s nest and wants that bird to raise her baby. It was a different color/size than the rest of the eggs. I watched it for a couple of days and you could see that each day the eggs were in a different spot.
And finally I got another peek in the house with the Tufted Titmouse – she has been in the house every time I checked the past few days and finally today she flew out while I was in the yard. So I went real fast to take a picture and guess what I found in the house?
Tufted Titmouse 4-15
BABIES!
Yep the babies were in there – at least 4 of them – but they are all in a pile so the other two may be in there too. There were 6 eggs total to begin with. One of these guys had his mouth wide open too. He must be the oldest.
So now we will watch them grow. The Tufted Titmouse babies will stay in the nest about 15-18 days while they grow and mom and dad feed them. The Chickadee’s will be about 13-17 days. I’ll keep track of the days and after about day 11 or so I won’t check the boxes any more so they don’t leave too early.
I told my stamp class ladies this morning that I was imagining the conversation that the baby chickadees will have with their mom in a few days. “mommy, guess what?”, “what dear?” “this nice lady comes and takes our picture every day while you are gone” “WHAT?!! You should hide from strangers, never talk to strangers! Oh my!”
Well I guess that conversation really won’t happen but we can image it right!
Thanks for checking in on the babies. I’ll have a stamping project Saturday morning for you.
Apr 12, 2011 | Wildlife |
The Chick-a-dee babies are here – or at least some of them are!
I checked on Monday and at first peek thought something happened to one of the eggs and then realized it hatched and the baby was lying there. Let’s just say these little babies are not pretty and they are not cute – but when they grow up they will be. Here is baby #1 born on Monday, April 11th.
He is in the middle of the other 4 eggs. So on Tuesday I wanted to check again to see if more eggs had hatched. I waited until I saw both the mom and dad leave the house and then ran to get a quick peek. Two more babies today! Here are #2 and #3 born on Tuesday, April 12th.
It looks to me like the baby that is now on the left is probably #1 – he seems just a bit bigger than the other two. I’ll peek in again on Wednesday and see if the other two hatch.
I’ve been trying to check on the Titmouse – she is sitting tightly on top of her eggs so I don’t think they have started hatching yet but it should be some time this week too. I’ll keep you posted.
Apr 3, 2011 | Wildlife |
Another dose of wildlife updates. I added a Woodpecker House to my backyard this year and I’m really hoping someone will use it to lay their eggs this year. I was very excited to see a Red-Headed Woodpecker looking in the house several times the last few days. He (or she they look alike) has been around the yard a lot – or maybe it is two different ones. I have only seen one at a time so I’m not sure. Here are some pictures –
In this first one he is checking out the house. It is mounted on the top of our play set. Since the boys are older they don’t use it anymore and I thought it would be good because it is high up and amongst the trees but if I climb the ladder to get to the top of the play set I check inside the box. We’ll see if it works.
He spent a long time on this tree, sitting on the branch, then climbing on the truck.
Here he is flying from one feeder over to the other. I think the Red-Headed Woodpecker is just so pretty. The distinct lines between his red head, black shoulders and wing tops, and then the white, ending with a black tail and a tip of white.
Red Headed Woodpecker
Enjoying the suet feeder. I think this one is the Peanut Butter and Jelly Suet.
And then I have a picture of the Red-Bellied Woodpecker (different from the Red-Headed Woodpecker) enjoying the suet feeder. He has also taken a peek or two inside the house.
femail red-bellied woodpecker
Actually I think this is a female because she has the gray crown. That is supposed to be the only difference between the male and female Red-Bellied Woodpecker. I’ll have to keep my eye out now that I know how to tell them apart.
Someone asked me about woodpeckers pecking on their house so I did a bit of reading about that – I know I hear them sometimes and today the Red Headed Woodpecker was on my chimney cap – rat-a-tat-tat-ing away until I came outside to look at who it was. This is from the Alabama Wildlife Conservation Association website (Alabama’s state bird is a type of woodpecker).
So why do they do it – first they are trying to establish territories and find a mate – this is usually in the spring and is a drumming sound; second they are looking for food – usually a few pecks, check your house for termites; third they are excavating a nesting cavity – this is not usually done on a house.
How can I get them to stop? 1. Give them a good scare – make noise, hang foil from the eaves. 2. Create a barrier between them and the house – hang mesh over the site. 3. Give them something else to peck on – leave the dead trees in your yard. 4. Remove the woodpecker – call a professional – woodpeckers are protected by law so you can’t harm or trap them. None of these are guaranteed to work.
Have a great day and keep your eye out for the woodpeckers in your yard!
Apr 2, 2011 | Wildlife |
Yep I found more eggs. The other house with the nest has 6 eggs in it today! Some were probably there the other day too but they were covered so I couldn’t see them. So here is the egg count –
House #1 – 6 eggs – looks to be a Tufted Titmouse
House #1 - 6 eggs 4/1/2011
House #2 – no eggs, no nest
House #3 – 5 eggs – Chickadee
House #3 - 5 eggs - 4/1/2011
House #4 – is the woodpecker house, no eggs, but there have been visitors – come back for those pictures tomorrow.
The Bluebirds have been looking in the houses too.
Here they are looking in House #1 – but there is a nest with eggs in there so they can’t use that one.
Here they are looking in House #2 – which is empty. But someone has been roosting in there so it is dirty. I’m going to take it down and clean it today and put it back up. I hope they’ll come back and build a nest real quick.
I’ve seen some other birds that seem to be grabbing nesting material but then they fly off so they must be working on nests somewhere else. A robin grabbed up dirt/grass out of the yard. And I saw a cardinal with a big leaf – it was as big as she was. Everyone is busy.
I’ll be back later with a stamping project and tomorrow with some woodpecker pictures.
