Nooooooo! The juncos are back!  I don't waaaant winter yeeeeeet! Waaaaaah!

Tags: bird watching, within the fence
Current Mood: dismayed to the nth power!

PICTURES!

To save you from major spamming, I'll put them all behind the cut, except for....


 

( This somewhat startled one of Smidgeon, who knows nothing of camera flashes. How can you resist the cute and NOT want to clicky the click? )

 

Tags: nox, smidgeon, the phooka, within the fence
Current Mood: exhausted

Somebird became a meal Within The Fence early this morning. Not sure who or by whom, but there were a lot of  tiny feathers and one spot of blood, and I has a little sad. Nature goes on, though, I know. I couldn't find any prints of who-dun-it - too much hard ground to leave any traces.

However, I have to say, that I was fascinated when I could see from my window, one tiny feather that seemed to be marching along the driveway. No other feathers were moving, but this one definitly had an agenda. Since one of the window feeders had fallen and I managed to drop my Trusty Stick (tm) out the window last night, I used that as an excuse to investigate.

There was a tiny ant determinedly moving the tiny feather. No other ants that were nearby had any interest in any of the other feathers. Just this one. It took him quite a while to move it a foot, as it was quite unweildy and kept tipping him over. It was worse when he got it to the lawn and had to try and manage it around grass and leaves. He didn't seem to be trying to take it to the ant hills nearby, which would have been even more fascinating, because the ant hill opening was smaller than the feather.  I had a mental image: "Wow! Won't the queen be impressed with THIS! A softie for her to lay on! I am so clever! I am so thoughtful! I am so.... IT WON'T FIT!!!! WOE!!!" And all of the other ants laughing at him.

...as you might be able to tell, I have had neither breakfast nor coffee yet this morning....

Tags: bird watching, within the fence
Current Mood: indescribable

Not too long ago, I noticed that there was corn growing Within the Fence.

Some thoughtful squirrels planted corn for me!

I also found a peanut bush growing in my rain gutter, but I had to pull that one out, since my gutter is there for a reason.

My ground soil is sandy loam, and vegetable plants do not grow well in it. I learned this when I tried a garden several years ago, and everything grew in miniature. My corn then grew only about two or three feet tall, with ears about three inches long.  This corn is following suit.

A couple of days ago, I noticed Black'un, the little black grey squirrel, perched on top of the little fence. She then reached up, pulled a stalk down, and began eating one of the tiny ears, nibbling back and forth through the husk.

My squirrels not only planted their own corn... but they are HARVESTING it!

Tags: squirrels, within the fence
Current Mood: enthralled

So I'm puttering at my computer and all of a sudden, I hear a lot of twittering out Within The Fence. There's been a growing number of moulting goldfinches over the last couple of days, who have just discovered the birdbath, and I thought it was them and quickly leaned over to watch them. They've been exploring leaning over from the lilac branches to drink and the bolder ones have been learning how to grasp onto the metal edges without taking a dunking.

Although the goldies were around, they weren't the ones making the noises! It was a small flock of BLUEBIRDS!! I have never even seen bluebirds before, much less in my yard. They had found the bath and were having A BLAST in it. There were about ten of them, several either moulting or young'uns with juvenile fluff. At one point, there were five in the bath at once, splashing and having a grand time. It was one of those rare moments when I could grab the camera in time and not only snap a couple of pictures, but even remember that the camera can take some video! So here is my second attempt at video - pretty rough... but I'm getting there.

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The first minute or so are the bluebirds with the occassional goldfinch dashing by. After the blues leave, if you look carefully above the bath, there's a goldie munching on lilac berries. He's lost most of his mating plumage, so he's pretty hard to see.  Then as the camera pans to the right and up, there's a tufted titmouse who is wondering why he got left out of all the fun, and just at the end, the camera pans up to catch a chickadee right above him.

And here are a couple of stills of the blues:







I had been determined to seduce indigo buntings this year, but with Tiki's illness, I didn't have any energy for bird luring. However, what a delight these guys were!  They covered my whole lilac bush like ornaments, even if they were a little moulty. If I couldn't have buntings, these were certainly a good offering instead, and I never even tried for them!

Tags: bird watching, within the fence
Current Mood: surprised

EEEE! One of the new baby squirrels is a black 'un!! I've never seen a black squirrel, much less HAVE ONE IN MY YARD as a visitor, so I'm so excited!!

First, I saw a black tail whisking around the birch tree, and I wasn't sure it was what I thought I saw. Then a little black face peeked around. I didn't have batteries in my "good" camera, so the far-away pics aren't very good... but here he is, looking like part of the birch tree!




( Clicketyclick for PICTURES!! )

Tags: squirrels, within the fence
Current Mood: bouncy

Spring has definately sprung! So far, the baby count is:


At least two baby downy woodpeckers, although I am pretty sure there are more.

Two baby white-breasted nuthatches (eee! so tiny! I was sitting out between two trees, and one was perched on each tree trunk, so I was hearing "quah quah quah" in stereo!)

One baby hairy woodpecker (Big Daddy and Big Momma's off-spring!)

At least one red-bellied woodpecker, although I haven't seen it up-close yet. The nest is right near my yard and I've seen the parents ferrying food to and fro for a couple of weeks now. The baby just came out for the first time this week, but hasn't quite made it to my yard yet.

Several baby grackles.

Two baby robins, who get left in my feeding area several times a day now by Momma, who comes back and checks on them often, but as soon as they start squawking, she flies off again. They are definately getting "weened".

One baby cottontail, who has done several "drive-by rabbitings" and I also saw him in the middle of the patch of wild strawberries behind my house, torn between sheer delight in having all that sweetness to himself... and looking very tiny and "please don't eat me"-ish. All I could see was his face from the eyes up and his ears over the tiny strawberry plants.

Two baby grey squirrels, brought around by Momma today for the first time. It was hard to tell just who Momma was, because there were EIGHT squirrels here for breakfast, but I have my suspicion that it was Gimpy.

Tags: bird watching, cottontail, squirrels, within the fence
Current Mood: sore

Most of my squirrels kind of come and go. Bruiser has been somewhat of a constant for over a year now..

He is a terrible bully. He chases all other squirrels away from HIS Nice Peanut Lady. Even ones that are twice his size. He is not the biggest squirrel in the neighborhood, but he is definately the most bull-dogish.

A few weeks ago, I noticed that he had developed a very endearing habit; whenever I held a peanut out the window, he would wave his right front paw as if so impatient for the peanut that he would grab it out of the air if he possibly could.

So I added a vocal command, and now Bruiser "waves" for his peanuts.  

It's adorable as all get-out.

It's been pouring rain for the last two days, and this evening, I looked out, and Bruiser had climbed the rake-feeder-pole and was nibbling at the suet. He rarely does this, but it's raining, and he probably noticed that there is a certain downy woodpecker who hangs out under that very suet cage when it rains, using it as an snack-dispensing umbrella.

The window was open, so I called out "Hey! Bruiser! You know there's corn and other food out there for you! You don't have to eat the suet!"

He leaned to one side to peer at me and took another nibble.

"But then you wouldn't have the nice umbrella, huh?" I muttered and went back to my typing. 

Bruiser dropped off the pole and a second or two later, I heard rustlings and then his little face appeared in the window.  "Hello? Peanuts?" his face was very obviously saying.

I pulled the screen aside and his little paw started waving wildly. "Peanutspeanutspeanuts!!!"

Who says that animals can't talk?

After his peanuts (and one that had to be buried), he came back. And this time, went to the corn and was obvious about ignoring the suet.  So he understands that much, too.  Suet is not for squirrels... unless the Nice Lady ISN'T watching!

Tags: squirrels, within the fence
Current Mood: amused

I have spent most of the last month and a half trying to convert my window-birdbath into a fountain birdbath.

Some of you might remember that my window birdbath was a heated deck mount bath that really wasn't meant to be in a window, nor was my window meant to hold a bird bath. But after many frustrating attempts, a few trips to the hardware store, bashing my head against the wall a few times, I managed to get that much accomplished and it survived the winter very nicely.

So of course, I decided that if I could do that much, I could put some sort of pump in it and get it to do splashy things.

Three bath basins, two bath basin frames, and three pumps later... I still don't have what I had envisioned, and most birds aren't really thrilled about coming to it at all even to drink from it, much less BATHE in it. However, it does make splashy noises, which is very nice to listen to when my window is open, and it has attracted more birds to my pedestal bath.  So I decided to give up while I was ahead. My  main problem was finding a submersible pump that would work in such shallow water, since my first window bath was only about 1/2 inch deep. When I tried a deeper basin, I feared that it was too much weight on my make-shift window ledge. Plus, my tiny birds HATED that basin. I finally found a pump that would work in 1/4 inch water, but it would splash all the water OUT of the basin, thus defeating the purpose. I was dumping more water in about every two hours. Finally I found a deck mount bath that sloped in to four inches in the middle. Unfortunately it is very small in diameter, so I have to have the pump barely on, or it will splash all the water out. I unplug it at night, and occassionally throw another bucket of water in during the day. Other problem is that the suction cup feet don't like the resin surface, and the back end keeps popping up. Tried to weight it down with rocks, but the vibration of the pump shakes them off eventually.

But... it's about as close as I'm going to get, I think, without spending a lot more money. Which I don't have any of.

When out garage-sale-ing last weekend, I picked up two battery-powered table-top fountains. Got 'em really cheap - one for $3 and one for $2.  The $2 was incredibly noisy, to the point where I couldn't hear the water, and which is usually the problem I've found with tabletops. The other one was larger and more hopeful... until I read online reviews that said it was an incredible battery hog.

Oh, well... only spent $5 total.

On a whim, I put both of them outside and turned them on.  Found out that when the little noisy one is put on my squirrels'  rotting-out-wheelbarrow-playground... hey, it isn't noisy anymore! Who'da thunk? Went back inside and a little later, looked out. There's one of my chickadees sitting on top of the larger one, on the top tier. There's one who is always extremely curious about anything new I put out and always has to check it out. Then he drank from it. "Silly birdie," I thought. "That's not for drinking. It's for making pretty sounds."

Then this bird, who has disdained all other nice baths... starts tapdancing in the water. There's not even 1/4 inch of water on the top tier, but he's dancing in it. And then splashing and bathing in it. And having a BLAST.  Then he flutters to the pedestal stand, gives himself a good shake, thinks a minute... and goes right back to it and splashes some more!  I guess all he wanted was a bath just his size.

Three basins. Two frames. Three pumps. More time and energy (and money) than I have to give.

One $3.00 fountain garage sale purchase. Battery hog. (6-8 hours max).

I didn't know whether to laugh or sob.  I really didn't.

It's been pretty hot, so today I turned them on again. Looked out, and there's a goldfinch sitting in the $2.00 tiny fountain.

This time, I grabbed the camera. Had to take the pic through the screen... but here it is.

Goldfinch in a fountain JUST HIS SIZE!



It's just not fair.

Tags: bird watching, garage sale, within the fence
Current Mood: indescribable

You know, I really need to actually START a list...

A catbird has started to visit! I heard the funny "mrew, mrew, mrew" and looked out, and there it was in the lilac, bouncing around rather happily. My very first catbird! Seems very interested in the bath, but not quite brave enough to investigate further. There's a lot of activity across the road - they're taking the burned house apart to pull out on trucks - so there hasn't been much critter-traffic today at all. But the catbird has been back three times this afternoon, so I'm thinking it might be around for a while. 

Sounds a lot like Jazzi.

Tags: bird watching, within the fence
Current Mood: exhausted