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.