Daily Bird Pictures Vol. 461

This morning I was out in the elements totaling enjoying the fact that the humidity has lowered and I can once again enjoy being outside and in my own element. I had not a clue that I was being watched (or maybe being disturbing). What I was doing was pulling out spent rudbeckia that had been so pretty on the far side of the pond. I noticed a small bird fly past me and I didn't pay a lot of attention - just thought that a little strange. A couple seconds later I saw this little gray feathered fledgling on the ground close to where I was working. Geeeesh - it must have been in the shrub close to where I was pulling up the rudbeckia. I looked to see where my dog was, then I quickly gathered myself and got away from the area before my dog discovered there were little birds. I don't have a clue what they were, just know I was occupying their space.

Glad that you could protect the fledgling.

Here are some pictures of my Sedums the birds have been nibbling on. I haven't put up any netting yet because they don't seem to be doing it as much in the past week. I'll keep my eye on the plants and decide.

The last picture is a screen shot of an article I found that says it's actually pretty common.

(The screen shot can be easily read by continually tapping "ctrl +" on the keyboard, then "ctrl -" to bring it back to normal size.)

This message was edited Jul 31, 2015 2:17 PM

They have nibbled, haven't they.

Like my power line? You have to click on the pictures to see the birds. Sigh...

1. Miss Bluebird was confused.
2. Two Bluebird brothers, the younger one is on the right. He came from the second brood.

Very very interesting about the birds eating the sedum. Thanks for that info. I'll surely remember that if I see a problem with my sedum.

Also enjoyed the blue bird youngsters.

The two knatcatchers were here again today - hopefully they are at least semi-permanent residents.

No new pictures to share, but I found out a disappointing. One of our favorite birding spots, Saylorville Lake, has areas of that blue green algae. This is caused by the fertilizers from the field run off. These large cash crops are not only detrimental to wildlife, but also mankind. :(

Drat!

I saw lots of the great white egrets today in the receeding waters of the Mississippi River bottoms in Southern Illinois.

Our domestic Canadian Geese have left the premises here at the place. We have not seen them for several days now.

Looks like the purple martins have moved on for the year. Guess they are starting their migration.

Mourning dove, and male Northern Cardinal at the feeder.

The dove looks curious.

Speaking of feeders - I put feed in 4 of my feeders this morning in hopes of detouring the birds from eating my elderberries. I like to harvest the elderberries and so do the birds. I just have to beat them to berries.

I always enjoy the cardinals. This time of year we see one now and again, but during the winter we see lots.
This photo was taken March this year.

Have you ever tried dried berries for the birds, Brenda? I get some takers with dried cranberries. If the berries seem overly dry, I will soak them in water before taking them out.

Overnight at some unknown time, our duck was quacking up a storm. Often it is a feral cat roaming around. I go out with a flashlight to calm her down and get that thing to move on.

I expected to hear bugs and maybe a distant Great Horned Owl. Well, what was singing loud and clear was a Sedge Wren! We have them in the pasture and they rarely come too close to the yard area, so no decent photos yet. I am curious why he was carrying on at that hour.

Chillybean - You sound like me, but the only thing - one of our ducks was quacking late at night a couple nights ago and what did I do but nothing. I decided whatever it was I would only scare it off for a brief time, then it would be back. But next day - there were luckily no missing ducks.
A Sedge Wren - that sound interesting, and I have not a clue why any wren would be singing in the dark of night. Hope you can get a photo and share with the rest of us. Thanks for the idea of offering up dried crans or maybe raisins. I would not have thought of that.

We keep our birds in enclosures at night, so she was safe. She just sees or hears things around her and starts carrying on. She calms after we shine a light around the area. She has woken us up for possum and feral cats. I like possums, but not those cats! I have no idea why the Wren was singing, maybe he was telling our duck to be quiet. :)

The Bluebirds are still hanging around. I like how they sometimes look plump. This is a young one.

The blues are one of my favorite and that young blue you posted is adorable.

Here is my photo for the day. Found this guy flying along the Mississippi River levee road and he perched long enough for me to get this photo. I like that range of motion in his neck.

Great pictures and bird stories everyone!

Brenda ~ have you ever turned off the lights around dusk or dawn and looked out the window with binoculars at the areas your birds feed? Even though we have lots of Cardinals year 'round, if I look outside in the evening there are sooo many more than I see during the day. Males, females, juveniles...it's amazing how many.

Chilly ~ your "singing" Sedge Wren got me curious so I looked online. I discovered two interesting things - 1) Sedge Wrens commonly sing all night (often it's the males) and 2) Sedge Wrens and Marsh Wrens are basically the same bird. I think it's a regional thing.


https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/sedge-wren

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Marsh_Wren/sounds

Nice capture of the Hawk, and yes it's impressive how it could turn its head like so! Cool Wrens, N.A.N.
Most often, I'll see a flock of Mallards with predominantly males. Yesterday, I saw a couple of females without the males companions. I was wondering if these maybe the new fledglings?

My hubby says he can't take pics, I think he underestimated himself on these two!

Kim your lake looks very tempting!

We have baby Goldfinches everywhere. These shots were taken through my kitchen window and the sun was really glaring off the Dad, but I decided to post them anyway.

1) "Now where's my Daddy?"
2) "Open wide"
3) "Geez, this kid must have a hollow leg"
4) "Aw come on Daddy, pleeease... just a little more, pleeease?"

N.A.N. Thanks, love those Goldfinch, and fun captions.

I enjoyed the goldfinch pictures. Looked like that one little guy was pretty demanding.

Photo #1 & 2 & 3- Yesterday morn there was a blue grosbeak that flew to the the ground in front of my truck when I was going down a country lane, and it was after this big insect. It wrestled with the insect and flew to the adjacent fence. I could not tell what kind of insect, but the grosbeak was determined to have the delicacy. A little farther back the country lane I encountered the wild turkey (photo #4) in the distance - against the woods.

A little while ago I spotted this #5 photo - flycatcher.

It's always fun to share birding activities with youngsters.

Cute Goldfinch, Nuts. I haven't seen young yet, just several adults. The sunflowers by my south window are fading, so not sure they will keep coming to those. I have plenty of other patches for them.

Brenda, I am so glad you slow down for the birds. :) The drivers out on our country road are often crazy and I find dead birds. One saddened me greatly because the young were still begging on the power line. I just hope the other parent was able to take up the slack.

This message was edited Aug 18, 2015 9:16 AM

Thanks Kim, Brenda, Chilly!

Yes, the babies do get pretty demanding, but notice how Dad decided when he'd had enough. Right after the last pic Dad just flew away. What's also cute is when the babies first start eating on their own they continue to flutter their wings while they eat.

Brenda, lucky you spotted the Grosbeak. Nice for a day's catch...Grosbeak, Turkey and Flycatcher!

Chilly, that's heartbreaking about the babies with possibly no one to feed them. Hopefully the other parent was nearby with food.

I am slowly starting to fill feeders again after a break to let the birds eat seeds and insects. I have oranges, peanuts, and some seed.

We've been having a Red-bellied family come by. The juvenile is starting to feed itself. It really likes the orange.

Wednesday, the little one was investigating the contents of the platform and found a peanut. It didn't have a great hold, so dropped it pretty quickly. It looked over the edge, but didn't try to retrieve it. Like many young children, it got distracted by all the other "toys". When hungry, it took some food from dad.

Awww, Chilly. Those are great timing! Love those shots of the youngster learning to be self -reliance.

Cute pics, Chilly! Watching the babies learn to eat is a lot of fun.

I have a suet cage filled with nesting fluff right by one of the nyger feeders since the Goldfinches are the only ones using it right now. I get a kick out of the babies pulling on the fluff and trying to eat it. Eventually they realize it's not food. All part of the learning process. :o)

Here's another baby Goldfinch (surprisingly calm for a moment) and a couple of male Hummers. Hummer activity has been increasing recently with both males and females zipping around.

Chillybean - I so enjoyed the photo shot of the red belly. It would probably have been a whole other show watching it try and get the goodie out of the peanut.....

Nutsaboutnature - Beautiful #3 shot of the hummer. WOW-O-WOW!!

Brenda, I've seen inexperienced birds try to get the nuts out, it is hilarious. Peanuts stuck on the bill, but they eventually get them off. That would be a funny call to the bird rehab place.

Beautiful pictures, nuts. :) I have yet to get a nice photo of a male hummingbird.

Keep feeding those peanuts - sounds like the kind of movie I would enjoy!

Gee....thanks for the compliments, Brenda & Chilly! You made me blush.

Those were window shots (as are many of my pics). It may not be the best way to take pictures for clarity, but it lets me get "up close and personal" without scaring the birds.

It's hard to believe it's already the end of August. Pretty soon we'll begin seeing bird migrants from the north start to filter through. Occasionally we get to see birds we rarely see & once in a while a totally new bird stops by for a day or two. Our hummer population will also increase quite a bit so I'll be hanging another feeder or two.

I plan to be ready with more flowers next year that bloom later. This year I wasn't able to plant the annuals, like Zinnias, that I wanted because I had hand surgery the last week of may which made it difficult to do any gardening until recently.

OMG, listen to me - it's only August and I'm already planning for next year. :o)

Thanks Chilly! That is pretty cool-looking. The difference in the "before and after" shot is pretty impressive.

Right now I'm not really wanting to download anything new. I unload my pictures onto our old computer (which we don't use online anymore) and do any editing there. If I want to post pics online I just transfer them to a flash drive and load only the ones I want. It may be a little more time consuming, but it allows me to control the number of pictures I add to our new computer and helps me feel less overwhelmed by them.

I really appreciate your offer to help.

My pictures haven't been too good lately. My hayfever is bad, which affects my vision. I can't tell whether it is my eyes that are out of focus or the camera, until I am home and download.
Here are two pictures that aren't too bad
1) Rock wren - it landed right in front of me and did a little bounce dance.
2) I was told this is a Solitary Sandpiper, not an out-of-season Spotted Sandpiper
3) Poor photo of supposed Spotted Sandpiper sans spots

Those are just fine, pollen! Is that right near home?

We have nature preserves all around, but I haven't had much chance to visit any of them lately.

I just discovered one right near me that I didn't even know about. It's a swamp in a glacial lake bed surrounded by a large preserve and, from what I've read, it's a haven for birds, especially during spring and fall migration. I hope to get there soon. It's the perfect time of year.

Nutsaboutnature RE habitat:
I live where the high prairie meets the high desert. This was a wet year, but most years bird-watching is a simple two step process: 1) look for & find water, then 2) look for & find birds. Pueblo County has the longest bird checklist of any county in Colorado. The Arkansas River and Pueblo Reservoir are important bird habitat, especially in winter when it does not freeze. And only about 20 minutes from my house.
Pueblo County also includes some Mountain habitat (& the above birds occur here), but the pictures were taken in adjacent Custer County that is all high elevation. The photos were taken at a little creek below a little reservoir at about 8000 feet, which is low for our mountains. It is about 1.5 hours from here, also 3000-5000 ft higher and often 20F cooler. I go to Custer County frequently every summer.

This message was edited Aug 24, 2015 8:25 AM

Nice photos Nuts and Pollen. :) No hummies here and I hope to get out to see more shorebirds soon. Time is running out on that.

1. "Whee!" says the Morning Dove. The new feeder's roof is slick! But it is a lot easier to clean than the last one.

2 and 3. Still trying to get photos of that Sedge Wren.

Pollen ~ Any place that's 20 degrees cooler in summer sounds great to me! But with the added bonus of lots of birds...Perfect!

Chilly ~ That's a cute picture with the Dove. It reminds me of watching birds when they try to sit on top of a shepherd's hook during a rain. They slowly slide down the hook, try again, and slide down again. It's really funny to watch.

Did you see the Youtube video of the Russian crow-like bird "snowboarding" down a roof?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dWw9GLcOeA

Very cute video, Pistil.
Crows are extremely intelligent as are Blackbirds. I know there have been studies done on Crow and Blackbird intelligence and some of the results have, apparently, been pretty impressive.

A long time ago I read an amazing story about a Crow in a book about animal intelligence and the almost 6th sense that they have. This Crow actually saved a woman's life.

The woman used to bake berry pies daily and place them on the sill of her open window to cool. At first this Crow would land and steal some pie every time she baked. She loved birds and started baking an extra pie to leave there for the crow while placing the rest of the pies elsewhere to cool.

One day there was no pie and the window was closed. The crow kept landing and pecking on the window, but there was no response. Apparently the crow noticed the woman lying on the floor (I can't remember whether she just fell or had a heart attack). He kept pecking on the window, but she didn't get up.

Eventually he flew to a neighboring house (it was a very rural area). and started pecking on their window. The couple that lived there tried to shoo him away over-and-over, but he kept coming back. They went outside and tried to chase him away, but instead he'd start flying towards the woman's house, land after a few feet, then come back and peck some more, repeating this for quite some time.

Even though they knew it was crazy, it really looked like he wanted them to follow him. They were so tired of the pecking that they followed for a few feet. He led them right to the woman's house by flying a few feet at a time and landing on the ground to make sure they were following.

There's more to the story about them realizing the woman was unconscious, calling an ambulance and telling their story about what happened, but he best part was the woman's life was saved.