show us your bird house pictures!

Wow, beautiful houses Betty! Have you had any takers yet?

I was finally able to get a pic of one checking out the house that my son made. I don't know what kind this is....probably something very common, but cute anyway. Not sure if they set up a nest yet, but at least they've been checking things out.

Making a quick get-away.

Oh how cool!! mgh, I'm guessing that those are tree swallows. I had some looking at one of my houses earlier this spring but they didn't nest in it. I hope yours do and you can share more pics with us! Those are great. :-)

Thanks, lilyfantn! I hope so too!

Cool! Thanks, Resin!

thank you for kind words..actually there are birds nesting in it...not sure what kind, am going to make a trip to LeeValley and pick up book on birds so I can monitor who's visiting!!!

Thanks for the correction on the swallow Resin. I have another swallow question for you or anyone who might know. Earlier in the season I took a number of pictures of what I thought was a pair of nesting swallows trying out one of my bird houses. Recently I was looking in my bird guide and stumbled upon the tree swallow page. I'm now thinking that the two swallows at my house were both males as they were both very bright irridescent green blue. The book shows the female as being quite a bit more subdued. Now I'm wondering why two males would be looking at the house. Could they be scouts looking for a suitable place for more than one pair? I read that they like to nest communally kind of like martins. Here is one of the old photos that's making me think they are both males.

Oh how neat betty!! I am really looking forward to hearing more about your nesting birds!

While I was working in the garden today the mockingbird babies decided to leave the nest. I really felt sorry for the parents as they must have been exhausted by the end of the day! It turns out that they had 3 babies in the nest. The first one came out this morning. Here are a few pictures of it.

This little guy was ready to go and see the world much to his parent's distress. He didn't seem very interested in hiding and before you could say "come back here right now!!" he had traveled t the far side of my neighbor's yard. So now there is loud cheeping from there and from the nest.

The parents were going crazy trying to keep large birds away from the baby on the ground and the two left in the nest.

Here they are discussing how to keep junior out of danger.

I tried to help out by putting a container of meal worms on one of their favorite look outs. They fed them to the babies in less than 30 minutes!

Great photos - and fascinating story! Did the mom & pop ever get the little wanderer back home? Nice job of helping them out, Lily!!

By dinner time the second baby left the nest. I could still hear one calling from the nest. Now the parents are really going crazy trying to feed all three and keep all large birds away!





This message was edited May 11, 2007 11:00 PM

If those babies aren't cute, I don't know what is!! Little daredevils that they might be.

Hi Murmur! I think that they will stay in the two adjoining yards (I hope). That seems to be the parent's territory. This time of year is always so exciting and nerve wracking for me as I spend a lot of time outside and worry about all these babies roaming around lol!

Here is a photo of the first baby soon after it left the nest. I was so interested to see that it was immediately practicing the wing flaring behaior that I see the adult mockingbirds do. I have heard that this helps to scare insects for them to catch but I'm not sure if this is true. At any rate, as soon as the young one left the nest it was running around doing this.

There was one more "hatching" in the yard today... (I hardly got any work done lol)

How totally cool!!!! And those precious baby Mockingbirds almost bring tears to my eyes (I'm such a sap!).

Great pics, lilyfan!!

Oh those are Great pics Lily!!! Thanks for helping them out w/ the worms. They sure are precious!

I have a question where does the house have to be located for an occupancy???? We have a very nice bird house well as bird houses go I guess and we never have had any occupants. What do we do? WE want some of those cute bird pictures too. lol. All of your pictures are so cute. One year we had a baby bird fall out a nest and the mom and dad cardnal caoxed it all of the time they fed it, it lived in one of our bushes and it servived it was so fun watching the parents take care of there baby. Well any help would be appreciated. Now the bird house is in the backyard in a quiet place should we move it? We just don't know thanks, you all have very nice pics. Ronna, plainwell MI

Hi Ronna - I feel your pain lol. For some reason this has been THE birdiest spring for me nesting wise. We usually have a few nest in our yard but this year has been the busiest. This winter I have added a few nesting boxes, gourds and bottles and now have 13 nest containers up. I live on about half an acre. I have 6 houses, 4 gourds, 2 bottles and a nest ledge for robins. Some of them aren't taken but there is a big choice. Part of my success is due to my location too. I live on top of a ridgeline, near a farm, near woods and near a creek. I offer lots of different food and nest material and water. If I think the birds will want it, I put it out in the feeder area. I also have big areas of lawn dug up for flower beds that the birds love to scratch in. Even so, I still have houses that aren't chosen. Just keep trying lots of things and sometimes time is the best solution.

Yesterday I noticed that Carolina Wrens are building a nest in the bottle on the front of the house. I'm hoping to get some better pictures today! (what a great way to spend Mother's Day lol)

What a treasure!

thanks lilyfantn We also have feeders and lots of dug up ground. But may be I will try moving the house. Is it better in a part sunny or shady part of the yard???? Just wondering. It sounds like you have a very busy housing community going on. Happy mothers day or plant moms day. Ronna

Just make sure the opening is not facing North and not too close to trees, fences or other structures.

Are you talking about the opening on the bottle house or on any kind of house? I am wondering because our bird house faces north.

Yes the birdhouses should face another direction since the winds (sometimes cool) come from the north. There are other reasons I can't think of at this moment so just turn the pole so the opening is facing another direction.

Well, it's on a tree. LOL I think I'll move it to the east side of the tree....most of our wind comes from the west. I never even thought about that when we put it up. Thanks!

I am so glad I found this thread, I have baby Chickadees and wanted to share their pics! Here they are, I only count three, and they are in a house on the front porch that hangs .... the side opens so I was able to get a step stool and take their picture.

Here is one more you can see a little more white on their neck area in this one...I don't have a great camera and tried to use my husbands and really do not know how to work it either..lol

Here is one I took earlier with my camera...they were sleeping though and I didn't get their faces or heads really well...

Awww, they look so sweet with their little heads tucked down for a nap :-)

Thanks so much for posting these!! Very sweet!

I will try to get more as they get a little bigger and more active, they are just so tiny and so cute!!! I will also use the camera I am most accustomed to...lol

Oh how adorable!! I just love those chickadees!

Me, too! This is the third time they have nested in my boxes. Three different boxes, and I didn't have a chance to get this close until this time...they are just too precious. This is the second "batch" LOL this year, but the first in this box. I will try to get more photos too...they grow so quickly!

I have had Blue Birds, and Cardinals, and right now a Brown Thrasher is in a shrub right in front of the porch....the Cardinals hatched out so quickly I never even saw them, and the blue birds were also gone quickly....I understand thrashers also mature very fast, so I will have to be diligent to get any pictures...lol

Here is a picture of the Blue Birds, one hatched and one egg left to hatch...

Awww, that's so adorable.

Baby birdapolooza continues in my yard this week. I got home from work this afternoon and went out to check my plants in pots on the driveway. After working out there a little while I noticed this little guy silently watching me from his not very good hiding place. My neighbor's cat was a mere 15 feet away too.