The Joys of Bird Watching

Hello all!  Are you having a good week?  We're staying pretty busy, but we're ready for some cooler weather.  In spite of the heat, we've gotten good rain this summer, for which we're extremely grateful, as we have all those baby trees that really need water.      One thing that we've done every day this summer, I believe, is watched the birds in our backyard.  I can't tell you how much we've enjoyed that, as it has been way too hot to spend any time outdoors since early June.  We probably spend too much money on bird seed, but we sure get a lot of pleasure out of our birdwatching.      

   

   

The Joy of Bird Watching

Happy Friday all!  If you're a regular reader here, you probably know that we love to watch our backyard birds.  We used to have feeders hanging under the eaves of our screened porch, and we could see the birds through our kitchen window.  They were always fun to watch.  

      

Pigs With Wings

Those of you who visit here regularly know how we love to feed the birds.  We currently have six feeders out back (including a suet feeder) and a suet feeder in the front yard.  We've been lucky to get a good variety of songbirds, woodpeckers, and ground feeders, even the occasional squirrel.  Unfortunately, our feeders have attracted a less welcome variety of birds, whom I have dubbed "pigs with wings."  Actually, this is an insult to pigs everywhere because pigs can be really cute.

The Big Chill

I feel kind of like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz -- "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."  Wow, what a snowstorm!  It just stopped snowing here about an hour ago, so we had 24 straight hours of snow, at times mixed with sleet.

I can't pretend I didn't enjoy it -- I've been longing for a pretty snow this year.  

Some Observations On a Snowy Day

It looks like an amazing winter wonderland here in our corner of the world.  Right now we have about six inches of snow in our little town outside of Winston-Salem, N.C.

A Thief In The Night

Hi friends!  I hope you've all had a decent Monday -- such cold and dreary weather we're having.  Brrrr!

Those of you who regularly read my blog know that we love to feed and watch the birds at our house.  Well...this morning I opened the blind at our kitchen window where all the feeders are visible, and there was an empty chain hanging where our cute, new bark butter feeder used to be.

Attract More Birds To Your Outdoor Feeders

Hi everyone!  If you've read my blog before, you know that my husband and I love to feed and watch the birds in our backyard.

  Last year, we discovered something that the birds here really, really love to eat -- it's called bark butter.  We first purchased it at our local Wild Birds Unlimited store, along with a fairly small log containing three holes to hold the bark butter. We hung this from a chain under the eave of our screened porch.  This is a good spot for our bird feeders because they're visible from the kitchen window and from our den, as well.

Backyard Birds

About a year ago, I wrote about two new bird feeders that we hung at the back of our house.  One was a double-decker seed feeder, and the other was called a bark butter feeder.  You can read about those in For The Birds.

Just a few weeks ago, we added two more feeders to this location -- a suet feeder and another type of feeder for bark butter.  Our kitchen window looks out onto this porch, and we get a really good view of all the birds coming back and forth to the feeder throughout the day.

Last Friday, we had a little bit of snow and a lot of sleet and rain, so my husband chose to work from home.  It was a good decision because his company ended up sending everyone home around lunchtime, which is a very unusual occurrence.

Since it was so cold and nasty, we had lots of traffic at the bird feeders.  I decided to see if I could capture some decent pictures with the point and shoot camera, and I did manage to get a few.  This is the male Downy Woodpecker (sorry about the fuzzy image).

August Note Card Party

Hi Dear Readers!  It's time once again for the monthly note card party hosted by Vee at A Haven For Vee.  You're all invited to join in the party by sharing just four of your images that you think would make pretty or interesting note cards.  Your images must have already appeared in one of your previous posts.

Here are my note cards titled "Birds, Blossoms, and Butterflies."

 Chickadee on Backyard Bird feeder

Queen Anne's Lace

Roadside Daisies

Tiger Swallowtail and Turk's Cap Lily

The first image doesn't have a lot of color because the photo was taken in winter.  You can see that post Here.  The last three images were taken along the roadside on the Cherohala Skyway a few weeks ago.  The images actually appear in mosaic form in this post.

Thank you for your visit and your interest in my blog.  It helps me stay inspired.  The butterflies will soon be gone for the season, so I hope you'll enjoy them while they're here.  Until next time...

Denise

Bird Talk

Last month I posted about our new bird feeders at the back of our house. I included some pictures of some of the birds we've seen there, but all those pictures were downloaded from the Internet because we hadn't been able to get any decent pictures of our own at that time.  Recently, my husband had the opportunity to borrow a fancy camera lens from a friend.  It enabled him to snap some photos from a good distance away and not scare the birds off.  After they were loaded into Picasa, I edited and cropped some of the pics in order to get some close-ups of of our fine, feathered friends.  :)

 

Have you ever observed an animal and wondered what it might be thinking at that moment?  I do that a lot (mostly with our dog).  It's fun to imagine what the birds at the feeder might be thinking... and saying.  I wonder if they gossip like employees at the water cooler?  I definitely get the meaning of "pecking order" now.  ;)

We managed to capture some funny expressions in these pics, especially of the male cardinal.  The next few photos were taken from inside our kitchen, unlike the others, which were taken from the lower end of our backyard.  Sorry, the screen on the porch makes these pictures a little fuzzy.

You can almost see his thought processes here. 

"Well, what are you staring at?"

"Do you mind not pointing that contraption at me?"

At this point, he's worked his way around to the middle of the feeder -- the better to stare us down.  

"Don't make me come in there."

 

Below is the Carolina Wren.

"Oh boy -- Bark Butter, my favorite!"

"Does this pose make me look dignified?"

"How about now?"

I think the Chickadees are adorable.  They're such fun little birds...all puffed up in this picture.

He looks like he's wearing a little black, velvet cap. :)

"Shoot -- I dropped it and that was my favorite flavor."

 

"Ta-Daaa!  Just like they do in the circus."

Haven't decided what this titmouse is saying, but I'm pretty sure he's getting someone told.

Sideline spectators...

This last picture is pretty fuzzy, but I wanted to include it; it's a Downy Woodpecker, who has been visiting every day.  The Downies are a smaller variety of woodpecker and the male has a small red patch on the back of his head.

In other bird news :), this fellow has also been visiting our seed feeder (Red-bellied Woodpecker), but we haven't gotten a picture of him.  So here's one I downloaded from Wikipedia. 

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A great online site for identifying and learning about various birds is called:  all about birds.org.  This website features information, pictures, videos, and you can also hear the various bird calls.  The website is hosted by Cornell University. 

Do you like to watch the birds?  I find most animals fascinating.  It seems when we have the chance to observe them, it's a relaxing, therapeutic, and often entertaining exercise.  Which backyard animal do you like best?

Thank you for your visit and I always love hearing from you.  I'll be joining The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays and Shannon at Cozy Home Scenes for Your Cozy Home Party.  Thanks to both of these ladies for hosting! 

Denise 

For The Birds

Over the Christmas holidays, Mr. Forest Manor and I put out some new bird feeders.  (I published an updated post) on these feeders in February, with some good candid photos that Mr. Forest Manor took of the various birds visiting our feeders.  We haven't put any out in several years because it was hard to find a good place for them where we could watch the birds and the squirrels wouldn't bother them.  The squirrels pretty much ruined our last bird feeder.  Our solution (and it seems to be working well at the moment) was to hang the feeders from a long chain under the eaves of our screened porch.  We can watch them from our kitchen window and from the door in our den.  The chain is too long for the squirrels to hang over the roof and eat from the feeders, and so far, they haven't tried to climb down the chain...yet.  I'm just waiting for them to climb the screen on the porch to get to the feeders.  I sure hope they don't.

This is the feeder we bought several months ago, and just recently got around to hanging.

These are some of the different varieties of birds we've seen at the feeder so far.  NOTE* These pictures were all downloaded from the Internet because we keep scaring the birds away when we try to snap a picture.

The beloved Black Capped Chickadee...

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Carolina Wren...

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The feisty little Tufted Titmouse...

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Purple Finch...

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White Breasted Nuthatch...

Male Northern Cardinal...

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and female Northern Cardinal...

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and the Song Sparrow.

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How many times have you innocently Googled a particular subject with a picture in your mind of one thing, and then something completely different comes up?  This is a "Sparrow", too -- "Cap'n Jack" 

 ;-)

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Anyhoo ... back to the subject at hand. :)  Each level has its own separate feed container.  Of course, it took the birds a few days to discover the feeder, and then it took them awhile longer to feel comfortable and safe using it.  Now, it's really fun to watch, because more than one bird gets on there at a time.  The other day, there were three -- a male cardinal and a purple finch on the lower level and a chickadee on the upper level.

When we were shopping for a Christmas gift at our local Wild Birds Unlimited store, we discovered these...

This section of a tree limb (cedar), which is about three inches in diameter, has a metal eye hook screwed into the top so that you can hang it from a chain.  The limb has three holes; two holes on one side and one hole on the other.  My husband said it looks like they used a one-inch drill bit and drilled these three holes.  Then you fill the holes with a product called "Birdacious Bark Butter" :-), which they carry at the Wild Birds Unlimited stores.  The Bark Butter contains rendered beef, suet, roasted peanuts, peanut oil, corn and calcium carbonate.  You can find out more about the Birdacious Bark Butter HERE.  This fellow really likes the bark butter...

the Downy Woodpecker

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But we've also seen the Chickadees, the Wren, and the Tufted Titmouse feeding on the Bark Butter, as well.

I find feeding the birds to be a little addictive.  They have a really neat add-on feeder at the Wild Birds Unlimited called The Pole System.  The central pole has two curved arms that you can hang feeders on, and it has an auger at the base which allows you to screw the pole into the ground.  You then attach a stabilizer to hold the pole in place, and after that, there are all kinds of features you can add to the basic system, allowing you to feed lots and lots of birds.  I'd really like to put one of those in our back yard.  Maybe in the summer -- we'll just have to see.

Do you like to feed the birds?  What kind of wild birds do you get in your area?  Which ones are your favorites?

Our Nandina bush, loaded with bright, red berries.  The Cardinals like these.

Thanks for stopping by the House at Forest Manor.  As always, I welcome your visits and your comments.

Denise