Birds Nesting & Activities in Our Garden 2011 Vol. #2

Susan, the opening is on the side on one end of the cage. It's a Turtle-trap. A modified cage-feeder. lol I thought I'd do something to prevent other big birds and his cousins eat me out of house and home. lol

Chickadee checked out Blue Bird's nest box.

Northern Flicker papa enjoys a break in between work hours working on a cavity- nest in the backyard.

LOL Lily...the NH's and BB's checking out each other's "cribs"...too funny! :D

Susan, I believe the NH gave up on competing with the BBs. The culprit pictured above is this cutie-pie.

It has been a yuckie day. Steady rain, but thanks goodness it was gentle but constant. The NH must roost inside the nest box over night? During the day, I often see a beak through the nest hole opening, but the mate-- he/she would remain nearby. During the down poor of rain, it moved under the "eave" for rain shelter.

Hope you don't mind me adding this here Lily ?

I'm not sure, but I think this is some kind of Kite Nest.

Ginger, please feel free to post and share. Those nest are interesting, twin nest? Side by side, are those typical of birds in the region to build nest in such close proximity?

Pic. # 2.

Lily, I am only here for a quick 2 day stop over.
My DFIL was a Policeman here for 5 years some 60 years ago.
I bought him back here so he could relive some of his past.

Therefore I'm not sure if this is a typical nesting method.
But I must say there were parents in both nests.

Lily,

(bangs hand on forehead)...oh Chickadee...not the NH! I overlooked that you said Chickadee, my bad :0

BTW, DH and I will be going through southern-most AL sometime before April and stopping to go on Dauphin Island! We'll be taking this route to visit my elderly dad in Florida...
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=lincoln,+ne&daddr=New+Orleans,+LA+to:Englewood,+FL&hl=en&geocode=Fc6pbgIdMcE8-illElbKWb6WhzG53tUfm4U6Yw%3BFbI5yQEd5KGh-illghGyVKQghjG00yJe6FsG2w%3BFVVomwEdLWYX-ylLjE-s61TDiDGN8wQ7ZB-lHQ&mra=ls&sll=35.383595,-93.223305&sspn=16.736651,39.331055&ie=UTF8&ll=33.870416,-89.384766&spn=17.041364,39.331055&z=5

This message was edited Mar 6, 2011 12:50 AM

Boy Lily, you really have it going on in that yard!

Ginger, it's so nice that you can share some of the "reliving" experience your elder FIL experienced. I was wondering if you've asked him has thing changed much since that span of time? It's certaintly look marvelous!

Susan, I live several hundred miles away from the gulf, if I were closer I'd invite you over for tea while enroute Florida. Have a nice visit with your parent.

Marna, the birds really have been busy the past week. After the heavy rain we had yesterday--some nearby area got about 3 inches plus of rain. They seem to sleep in late, only a handful (birds) returned to the feeder. Temp. has dropped back to the 50F. compared to the 70'ish we've enjoyed.

In this old Picture. Willie Wagtails Rhipidura leucophrys
Real feathers are beginning to replace the downy feathers.
This process only took a couple of days.

Today we are heading north to Cunnamulla.
Temperature out here is between 33° C and 40° C.
Yesterday was 33° C. But very low humidity.

Thanks Ginger, I've enjoyed those Willie Wagtails from Margaret's story. Now I get to see their hatchlings. What a treat! Enjoy your trip.

All three survived and flew off a week after this was snapped.

They are adorable!

Yes, indeed they're adorable. Yesterday was an overcast day. I hardly saw any sight of my BBs. The Nuthatches were not busy building/working, they only perch nearby, occassionally came by the feeders to eat. They're so much fun to watch.

It appears that they build their "cribs" with tree bark. Today as it's getting brighter and tad warmer outside, they resumed their building activity. eventhough, I can't differentiate the female from the male. It does appear that they both build the nest together. They bring some irregular shapes of tree bark, some big some small ones. For the bigger pieces, they couldn't get them through. I noticed they looked puzzled for a moment or two, then proptly promptly carried the big ole piece up the higher branches in the area to "cut" them down into size.



This message was edited Mar 7, 2011 10:04 AM

Early this morning, Papa Blue returned to survey the potential nest.

I just watched 2 adult male Downy Woodpeckers trying to impress a female Downy.

Lily, I was curious about the nesting, so looked at Cornell.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-breasted_Nuthatch/lifehistory

Only the female builds the nest, they say. Also, the female has a bit of a lighter black cap than the male. Cornell calls it "frosted" black.

Thank you Mrs. Ed for the link. I'll try to observe more closely of their behavior and see if I can tell the difference with the caps being "frosted" versus solid black.
Yesterday I noticed a Squirrel climbing down the tree where the Nest box is. Talk about being agitated!!! The WN flicked his/her wings, and flares its tail out as a fan-like structure. I at first was concerned (for the bird), but the squirrel has gotten the message and left the bird alone.

way to go Nuthatch!!

Pelle, what/how did the male Downy wps do to impress the female? I meant to ask and forgot. Mrs. Ed. Their nesting behavior is interesting to watch. The Nuthatches are busy-body kinda birds. It seems as if they always on the go. At resting interavals, however, I noticed one would sit inside the nest with its beak visible out of the nesting opening, its mate simply sits on top of the 'house' our 'parking' outside next to its partner.

At the mean time, Papa Flicker has competitor! Another male Northern Flicker stopped by while he was carving his nest. I wasn't quick enough to snap a pix (of the two together), but later I spotted his competitor perching and preening on a nearby tree. He was roughly 100 feet away. At first I was hoping the Missus has arrived, but then I saw the 'whiskers' on this fella so I decided it was a rivalry male.

Hi Lily, I couldn't see all of what was going on since they were in a tree that was behind another tree and then another behind that one. What I did see was that they were both following her all around and making some weird movements. It was bitterly cold with wind otherwise I would have been out there in a flash watching and listening to them.

Thanks Pelle for your response. I hope winter soon will be behind and spring will get there soon for you.

I've yet found where the Downy wps nesting here, should I discover them (nesting) I surely will try to share info. here on this thread.

Today I've seen all the usual residents e.g. RedBellied, Downy, N. Flickers but haven't noticed the BBs. Nor the RedHeaded. I'll return this evening with more pix. Have a good day birding to all my friends here.

A lucky photo opt. The nesting Whitebreasted Nuthatches were seen together at the feeder.

They are so cute!

Found another of those coarse Nests while checking Fence line.
No idea what it is yet.

Thanks Ginger for sharing that finding, please keep us posted. I've had pc issues all day long. I found myself unable to post pix, every time I tried, I get boosted off. I think it's problem with the Modem. Will post more pix soon as these issues are resolved.

While the BBs were out, the tenacious Dee returned to check out the nest.

"Pardon, I only visit for a bit" lol. Mama BB suddenly shows up. She went back inside and confronted the little Dee. Here is what happened next:

That took place yesterday. Today we got flooded out of our backyard. I saw the Blues guarding the nest pretty much during the early morning hours...

Whoaaaa! The water keeps coming, I'll have to place the bird feeders on higher ground by tomorrow morning. This flower pot is already submerged in water. But, after all this is only a minor flood. Cleaning up debris afterward is going to be a chore, though.

editted for typo.

This message was edited Mar 11, 2011 7:04 PM

Wow be careful Lily!

Thanks Pelle for your concern, we're doing okay. Look like it's crested at 6' above the full pool level. Thanks goodness it's still- water and not turbulent. The birds resume their daily activity, thus I feel comfortable not to have to be evacuated. :)

Early this morning, the BBs pair already came by to announce to everyone that the nest is theirs. Just a little while ago. I noticed another male BB checked out the nest box and Papa Blues wouldn't have any of that nonsense. He chased the other away.

The new male BB also stopped by to check out this one nest box hung on the Chinese Parasol tree.

The male Northern Flicker is back this morning working on his future nest. Some female Housefinch sitting still and quilvering her wings to be fed by her partner(?). Goldies are abundant here and they're molting with patchy 'coats' on their feather. And just as I thought that the lovely Dees have settled down for this nest box;

...then I noticed the mischevious Dee returned to the BBs' home. She/he spent at least four minutes there before Mama Blue came back to chase the Dee back away. Ummm.