W O W been a long time

It's been awhile since I was last on here, so I have a lot to catch up on. Our backyard has gone through some changes, and I will be trying to update our happenings. I was away for about 6 months, and life has been hectic since I returned, but now things have settled down and I can get back to working on the backyard.

Bird watching in NJ

I didn't get to take many pics at family reunion, my camera couldn't get a clear shot at the distances. I did manage to get pics of squirrels hanging on the supporting posts, from the deck above. I will have to retrieve them once we get through the family pics. My mom keeps track of the birds that visit, and with all the people that were hanging around for the 4 days it was down, she must be glad to be able to see all her feathered friends now that we are all gone. I was teasing her that all her squirrels were fat, she puts out food 2 or 3 times a day. Peanuts,bread and seed, also she puts fruit and peanut butter mix out there in the morning. Her plan didn't work, they would put peanuts the furtherest from the feeders, then the bread and finally the seed closest. But the squirrels started on the seed then worked their way to the peanuts.
I haven't seen much action here in my back yard, my birds are probably not aware that I'm back, my feeders didn't get filled once they were empty, which was probably two days after I left.

Pesky squirrels again

I thought if I put the last feeder on the house that the squirrels wouldn't be able to get to it. Dang if they didn't, guess I should of hung it where there wasn't anything for them to jump from. The kids have their outside toys sitting too close, the bugger was sitting in the feeder this morning when I woke up. The chicadees and titmice have taken it over, they never seem to be filled, the cardinals hardly get a chance. I saw the male eating at the peanutbutter feeder, something new.
My hideaway garden is coming along, planted two young elephant ears,asparagus fern, a four o'clock. I moved the other feeder out there too and put stuff in there to entertain the pesky squirrels. They ate the flowers off my morning glories.
My other garden finally has flowers, half of what we planted didn't come up, but the butterflies have found them.

My watching spot

I enjoy sitting here in the shade, watching the bird activities, its like they don't see me sitting here. I watched the pileated woodpecker one tree, the downey was eating at the suet feeder and the redbellied woodpecker just flew onto another tree.
Today we trimmed up some of the branches that were against the house, the squirrels would try to get to the feeders from there. And the birds were all chattering, they usually sit on the branches waiting for a turn at the feeder. Now they can't get as close. With these hot days it seems that the squirrels are not in the yard during the day as much, good for the birds they get to eat.
Our kittens are so funny, they like to sleep in my shoes, I will have to get the pics from my daughter.

Great Crested Flycatcher, Cardinal, Downey Woodpecker

We moved our screened canopy to amongst the trees, its now the best place to watch the happenings in the backyard. I was sitting there just enjoying the beautiful weather that we are having, now that the rain has stopped.
I was watching the female Cardinal eating at the feeder, a downey woodpecker landed on a nearby tree. Something caught my eye, it was a brown thrasher having a time with a vine, something flew by and landed on a tree by the house. It was a Grest Crested Flycatcher, then he flew to the ground and was joined by another. They were hopping all over the place, one kept going into our fire pit. One landed on a branch next to where I was sitting. While this was all going on the doves were just walking around enjoying the seed that my granddaughter had put down for them. I was getting ready to go inside when the flycatcher was back at the firepit again. I heard a redbellied woodpecker fly over. The brown thrasher was joined by another and had moved behind where I was sitting pecking through the leaves, they are interesting to watch.
Trying to train my squirrels that when they hear coughing that they better run. It works sometimes, they just need a little more training. When I'm out there I cough while heading for them.

Great Crested Flycatcher, Screech Owls

The Screech owls that lost their babies are still hanging around my yard. We were sitting there enjoying the night air and saw them land on their favorite tree. I'm glad they didn't relocate.
I've seen the Great Crested Flycatcher still hanging around in my yard, I was trying to catch the brown thrasher when I saw him sitting there with one of the little ones.
I just can't seem to catch the brown trasher, wren, doves or a good one of the blue jays that are all hanging in my back yard. They are all so flighty or just too far for my little camera to get a good clear shot.
Guess I'll just have to break out the good camera and hope that they sit still long enough for me to focus on them. HAHA, well at least with that camera I don't have to get too close to them, then I'll have to patiently, yeah right, wait to get them developed and hope that I got a good shot.

Pileated woodpecker invasion

This morning my backyard was noisy, there were pileated woodpeckers everywhere. I followed a group to the back of our yard and got some pics of them. They are so hard to catch, they move alot. I think one group was a family of three, when they moved to a tree and a fourth one tried to join them he was chased off.

Rain Rain

Another storm hit today, i'm surprised that none of the trees hit the ground from the one yesterday. Our screened canopy hit and we didn't bother to put it back up there were more storms forecasted.
The weather was beautiful this morning, so I filled the feeders. The chicadees are emptying their feeder faster with the new family additions. Mr. and Mrs Cardinal were at the feeder many times. We have another cardinal couple who visit the feeder, and Mr. C will stand watch while the Mrs. eats. Once he is sure that the intruders aren't around he will go and eat while still looking around. My grandson was sitting on the slipnslide and he watched him to make sure he wasn't going to move before eating.
Female and Male Red Bellied Woodpecker were at the feeders. Today the female didn't want peanut butter mixture she usually eats, but the male had his fill. I saw their baby only a couple times. I think its a male, he has the red beginning right over the beak.
I haven't seem the Great Crested Flycatcher at his nest, I wonder if he moved his family, they chose a open tree for their nest, maybe the weather these past days have made him move. I saw him around but not on his tree.
I tried to get this pic of a squirrel curled up on a branch trying to stay dry, his tail up over his head, my shot didn't work through the screen.

Rainy days for birdwatching

RAIN, RAIN, RAIN It has been raining everyday, all day, not very good for the bird watching. Right now I'm watching this squirrel eating all the food, I feel that is all I do now is feed the squirrels. They seem to be getting desperate, now they are trying to get to the ones that hang off the house. Its funny to see one sitting on the branch deciding if it should chance jumping to the little feeder. Once this squirrel cleans out the feeder my cardinal shows up, checks out the food supply then flys to a nearby branch and lets me know that its empty. I go out put some food in it and he doesn't come back, then the squirrels eats and the cardinal comes back and we go around and around.
I got this feeder in hopes that the squirrels wouldn't be able to eat from it, well that didn't go as planned, they seem to be able to get the food from it. I've had enough this squirrel has eaten too much I'm going to have to go out there and chase them away. They only go up the tree and wait for me to leave and come back. Even with me sitting there they still attempt to get more.

Great Crested Flycatcher

My mysterious bird is a Great Crested Flycatcher. Through the help of others I actually found a picture of one that looks like the one in my back yard. Most of the ones I was seeing were brown, didn't have the outstanding crest or wrong color crest. Finally I was able to find one that looked just like it.
I'm told I'm lucky that they decided to nest there, I hope to get some pics of the babies before they leave. And maybe next year they will return or their parents will. I just hope that their tree is still there. We lost one and the top part of these old trees in storms already.

Baby screech owl news

UPDATE on baby screech owls, that fell out of their nest. We turned them over to a group that said they would return them after checking them out. Well they aren't going to return them unless we cap of the top of the tree where the nest was. This tree is too unstable to lean anything against, and putting anything on it would also cause problems.
They won't be returning either of them to their nesting tree. I feel now that we should of only given them the one that was not moving very much. He was the reason that we called someone in the first place. Should of put the alert on to the side til they left and placed him by the nesting tree for the parents when they returned that night. Live and learn, but now the baby will have to grow up without its parent.
Not fair.

What is this bird?

I don't know what this bird is. I was told a yellow bellied sapsucker but all I have been able to find is a woodpecker that doesn't look like this bird at all.

It looks like a xlarge titmouse, its head is dark grey, body is grey belly is mostly yellow with some white, and its about the size of the red bellied woodpeckers that we have in our yard.

Picture of baby screech owl

Baby screech owl, it fell out of its nest. The top part of the tree fell during a storm, and when the sun hit the tree it must of disoriented them and they fell.

We turned them over to a place, and regret it now, we should of kept the one that seemed ok and turned the other one over to them. The parents came back looking for them when it started getting dark. They called and now we can't have either of them back unless we cap off the top of the tree, which is impossible. This tree is unstable and leaning something against it would bring it down, it is a regular stopping place for other birds. We are considering building a nesting box for screech owls in hopes that the parents will take it. We were told that its early enough that they might give it another try and want them to come back.

Baby screech owls parents return

The parents of the baby screech owls returned. It looked like one of the had food in its mouth. They sat on the tree and called and called. They were still looking when I came in. I hope that they return every night. We are waiting for the call tomorrow about the babies, she is very sure the one is fine, its alert and standing. But the one that landed first and was laying there on its back she is concerned about, she said that if it makes it through the night than there is hope. I hope that she can bring them back shortly so the parents can take care of them. Even if she only brings back the stronger one I think the parents would be happy, I just hope that they continue to return.

Baby screech owls

We found out that our babies are screech owls, we made a call and they say its against the law for us to raise them ourselves. So they will take them check them out and when they are stronge enough return them to our yard to see if the mother will return to finish caring for them. they said they would build a nest for them in the same tree so if the mother returns she will find them, guess they will have to fend for themselves if she doesn't.
That is really cool that they return them to the spot where they were born.
I'll be posting some pics as I get them from my daughter.

WE FOUND 2 BABY OWLS

Last night durning the storm two big chunks of our woodpecker tree fell again. I was outside feeding the birds and heard a thump, if the dog hadn't looked over there I wouldn't of checked it out. There laying on the ground was a baby owl, we had just gotten it picked up and in a box when another one fell. We put them in the shade of the house and she looked up who to try and get ahold of. She found on this site its best to leave them where they fell so the mother can return to retrieve them. It said they should return in an hour or two, but I wonder where she went when the tree fell. Did she go to find another place, or just leave them. The nest was opened and exposed to the elements. I don't think an owl, a night creature will be returning during the day. So I'm sitting here making sure something doesn't get them while we wait on the mothers return. Awhile ago another part of the same tree fell and we found an egg, now we wonder if perhaps it was one of the owl eggs.
Of course we got pics my daughter is inside downloading them, she will be sending them to me. Most of their coats are the white fuzz, with some grey and black feathers coming in. If she doesn't return we will have to decide quickly what to do, lots of research, call someone about them, should we keep them and try to raise them til they are old enough to survive.

WE GOT BABIES

Today was the first time that we saw the baby red bellied woodpecker, it was funny to watch the parent try to feed him. He has a little red over the top of the beak, so it must be a male. Dad was trying to get him to come down to the peanutbutter feeder but guess he was too afraid to attempt. When dad tried to feed him he knocked dad off the wood, the same when mom tried to feed him, he was actually pecking at her.
The end of last week the chickadees brought out their babies. It was a wonder they didn't get dizzy running back and forth from the feeders to the babies. This morning the parent would go to the feeder and then to a different branch to feed them, they all sat on a different branch waiting to be fed.
We thought we had a nest of brown thrashers but today I got a closer look and it was another bird, and it was attacking everything that was gettting close to the nest. They built their nest in the top of the tree that the woodpeckers love to visit. So this bird is a busy bird. The baby redbellied woodpecker was on the tree with the parent and it chased the father away and then went after the baby. It scared it to the ground, it just sat there for about 5 minutes. The bird went after the squirrel that was getting too close. I will have to look up what this bird is to add it to the back yard animals.

The Owl returns

We were out enjoying the cool evening, talking, kids playing ball. We saw a bird flying back and forth between two clusters of trees. Our backyard spot light was on, we thought it was a bat collecting the bugs that were flying in the light. But this bird had white so it couldn't of been a bat. The kids went in to get some italian ice and while they were gone, the owl landed five feet from us. But only for a couple seconds, even if we had our cameras we couldn't of reacted fast enough to snap a pic. It continued flying back and forth and landed again on the ground this time about twenty feet away from us.
It was the same small one that we had seen several times in our backyard, but what it is I'm not sure will have to find out what owls are that small. It couldn't of been more than six inches.

Yes We Have Downey Woodpeckers

Sitting here at my computer I got to see that we do have downey woodpeckers. There were 2 woodpeckers, I looked through my camera, with the tele lens, the one doesn't seem to have red on the back of the neck, the one that landed on the branch right outside of my window was indeed a downey. I will have to look this up, I wonder if the female downey has the red also. If she doesn't than I have two different woodpeckers. Both have the same markings, same size but one doesn't have the red.

I'm still having trouble with these pesky squirrels, they are digging up my gardens. Every morning I find big holes in the container with the tomatoe plants, and the cucumber plants to. They are digging in my caladium, pulling out my morning glories, not eating them just pulling them out and leaving them lying there.

NOT A DOWNEY WOODPECKER

It seems that I misread an info page on woodpeckers, the one that has been in our backyard is the red bellied woodpecker, I was looking up another woodpecker and found a page showing the different woodpeckers separately. So we have had pileated and red bellied in our backyard.
The one I was looking up was smaller and only black and white, it could of been a downey or a hairy, won't know til I can get a closer look. We had spotted a small bird with red on the back of its head, but not the right coloring for the red bellied, looking at this new page it could of been the downey or a yound pileated. Got to get some binogalurs, to get a better look at these birds.

Today was the first in a long time that I saw a hummingbird at the feeder, glad to see they still stop by once in awhile, but with out the glasses I won't be able to see what one it was.