Daily Bird Pics. Vol. 460

Monday I got to welcome 3 babies (and babysit until I was sure they were safe) into their new world. They weren't satisified staying up in the Weigela where they'd be relatively safe!

Sallie, how sweet. Your sharing of the Chickadee story makes my heart sings. Thank you. I have seen Chickadees attempt nest building in my garden before but have not seen a successful brood. Here's well wish to you and the tiny little ones.

Thank you Lily_love. We also have a House Wren in another bird house. I haven't gotten a good pic yet this year, but here's one from 2011 when they nested in the same house.

The Chickadees built a nest in another house I have in 2012, but a raccoon tore it down. It was heartbreaking. For at least a week, the papa came back every day looking for his family. It made me so happy to see that they made it OK this year! I actually watched as the 3rd baby hopped out, flapped it's wings, then went straight down into the garden. I was on the phone with my husband, so I missed getting a photo. 2nd photo is about an hour earlier, building up courage!

Those are sweet birds. It has been challenging thing for us to do to keep the House Wrens from building their nest inside the garage. I'm so afraid they will be trapped indoor without food and water. :((

First two are Houses Sparrow, city dwellers. They were in the city, and I'm situated here in the country side :). My third pix is a vacant birdhouse in our garden, where Nuthatches had nested there for 2-3 years in a row. Then suddenly they quit coming. I afraid coon was the problem as well. Last two pix are those of Great Blue Herons in our neighborhood.

Last year we had sparrows in one of the houses. The herons are beautiful! I just hope they don't visit my pond. Either they, or the coons ate all my fish the summer before last. That year was the first time I'd seen a heron around here- in a drainage ditch just a few blocks from our house.

There is a stream by our driveway and early afternoon today these guys were having a big time bathing. I was surprised to see different orioles bathing at same place same time.

How sweet!

Just latched onto a couple old chipped teapots and DH bought a drill bit suitable to drill into ceramic as the plan is to mount the teapot on a post or something in hopes of attracting a small bird. Think it will work?

Some things to consider before putting up any bird housing: Will it protect the birds from the elements and predators? Put a baffle or metal flashing around the post will prevent unwanted critters. Can the heat escape and moisture drain out?

It is recommended that insides of bird houses never have paint/glaze in them. Do these? Because they are old, there is the risk of lead being in the paint and ceramic. I know birds won't eat the teapots, but fumes can form in the heat and lead can leach into the nest. If you can verify they have no lead or paint on the inside, ceramic is actually a good insulator for birds in the summer.

I know I am overly cautious with birds. I've seen a dying Bald Eagle from lead poisoning. The little birds you hope to attract have very high metabolisms, and much more susceptible to toxins than big raptors. I would not want to take the chance.

Here are links that have some info:
http://birding.about.com/od/birdhouses/a/Painting-Bird-Houses.htm
http://www.youcouldsavetheworld.com/birds.html
http://www.environment.gov.au/protection/publications/factsheet-lead-alert-facts-lead-ceramics
http://healthybuildingscience.com/2013/10/25/lead-in-ceramics/

No pictures, but just had heard a Yellow-billed Cuckoo in our yard. It was special since the first and only Yellow-billed we had here was one we found dead. :( It's location was unlikely a window strike, so we do not know what happened. Feral cat?

This fella was putting on a show with his fishing skills. And how he can stretch his throat to get the whole fish down is really amazing.

Pretty sure this is a juvenile red bellied woodpecker. There isn't any red at all on his head.

Thank you Chillybean for the helpful links. I will encourage my DH to learn more about building bird houses for me now that he's retired. ;) JulieQ, your photos look great, thanks for sharing. ☺

This message was edited Jun 29, 2015 1:20 PM

Baby news:

The young Kestrels are leaving the nesting box. Maybe they are all out now since there are no little faces looking out, but I found at least two, maybe three young, and a parent. The lighting was bad, but I know the parent was the one hovering. :) Maybe showing the young what to do??

We had immature Kestrels released on our property last summer and it amazed me. The female that stayed knew how to hunt, yet did not have the experience of watching a parent since it fell out of the nest too soon.

Congratulations on the fledglings Chillybean. Isn't mother nature wonderful?

Wonderful, Chilly. What a privileged experience.

Just getting hay made and this hawk is looking to see what was left in the field for easy prey.

We are blessed! Three seems to be the number of juveniles. I saw five total yesterday afternoon and one of the children saw three young perched together on a fence this morning.

Here are some pictures. The first two are from yesterday and just two of the babes. Those weed trees have been a bane for us, but it makes a nice hiding spot for them. The last picture was taken Saturday as we drove past the box.

Those kestrels had to quite entertaining to watch. What fun.

On another note with the kestrels - we have had a problem with the adult kestrels catching our eastern bluebirds.

I could not have been fast enough this morn to capture a photo of a hen turkey and about a dozen of her offspring being startled, then all going airborn flying in different directions. Was quite the treat. Made my day! Some of them flew right over me as I was working in my garden.

Our Kestrels and Bluebirds nest in sight of each other and we've never had a problem. I understand some Kestrels have been known to prey on small birds, but we've never seen that here. We had a wintering female Kestrel and she would perch in the same tree as the little birds, none bothered by the other. We leave our pasture for wildlife, so there is plenty of little four-legged creatures running around in there, and not so little. Saw a Ground Hog today.

Lately, the Kestrels have been taking snakes fairly regularly. That seemed odd, but I have to wonder if they are just taking out competition for the small rodents. Or maybe it's the easiest prey with the tall grasses and corn. ??

Most interesting about the kestrels.

140 posts, long past time to move to Volume 461, a volunteer to start 461, please!

Resin

I'll get one started.

Here it is!
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1399644/

This message was edited Jul 1, 2015 3:12 PM