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.

Gopher Tortoise

I haven't been able to catch the tortoise again, I checked this morning and it was already gone at 7:30 am, I just can't seem to catch him/her returning to the hole. I'm careful not to step on the sand in front of the hole, I read that its usually where they lay their eggs. Its great to have something that is endangered living in your backyard.

Downey Woodpecker and Peanut Butter

CORRECTION ITS A RED BELLIED WOODPECKER NOT A Downey woodpecker found the peanut butter mixture and both enjoy it, they have spent most the day at it, each flying back and forth from the feeder to their nest. FOUND ANOTHER INFO PAGE THAT CORRECTED THAT.
I saw chickadees and the titmouses at it too. Even the Cardinal pair stopped for a taste. Of course the squirrels have had a crack at it a time or two. all they can do is lick it. With the downey woodpeckers feeding on the peanut butter mixture it leaves more for the other birds, once they get on the feeder they stay there, or scare off the others when they land.
The confrontations today were the usual, male cardinal chasing another, bluejays were getting into it, even the doves were at it.
This little green hummingbird was flitting about this afternoon, it started at the birdfeeder, then to the two red feeders along the house which are both red and then it left, never checked out the hummingbird feeder