my rogue squirrels have made me almost give up feeding my birds...mainly because they have destroyed every bird feeder i have hung and are currently pulling apart/breaking my hummingbird feeder to get at the sweet syrup within. so needless to say, i am frustrated and reluctant to put more feeders out for fear of further encouraging them. it should be noted i have tried to distract the furry rodents with specific squirrel snacks, which they also eat. today i saw this wonderful modern bird feeder from designer thomas stanley: thee apple is cool! however, it appears to me the squirrels could get inside and recline while they munched on other's seeds...maybe i will just hang it up and look at it.
i love the pileated woodpecker: they are so big and prehistoric looking! i am fortunate to see them fairly often and hear them more than that, but this is the first time i have seen one of their rectangular chipped holes made while foraging: good job!
today is my admin day: i clear emails, muddle through my in-box, organize myself with lists, clean my studio and get generally organized. because it was warm yet overcast, i did most of my work-on the computer, of course-outside...and spurred on by the world series of birding, i decided to count all of the birds i saw while doing it. the first bird i saw was a pileated woodpecker, who cruised through the trees right in front of me. the last bird i saw was a ruby throated hummingbird-the fist of the season!- which i had (somehow) anticipated, and made a double batch of nectar for earlier in the day. in between, i saw the great blue heron, 8 or so osprey, titmice with chickadees, cardinals, american goldfinch, eastern bluebirds, two red bellied woodpeckers, various crows, harbor gulls and a white breasted nuthatch that cracked kernels of corn from the bird feeder on the loblolly pine. another bird-y thing happened when ot and i went to the beach: i heard the crazy call of a pilleated woodpecker...then a second...and then many many more: i dont know how many, but a lot! from the trees these birds were screaming for about 3 minutes..then silence. wow: it was cool! purple martins should show up any second since the sun is setting soon. the highlight of the day was definately the hummingbird-who is buzzing me right now, coincidentally- because it's arrival signals the beginning of summer, a week before the unofficial start during memorial day weekend. i love summer!
this afternoon i was weeding again...trying to catch up with the henbit that has enveloped many parts of my poor neglected flower garden: i know it's in there somewhere! i did leave a little of the weed in front of the rabbit's door, as its supposed to be cold tonight. there were a lot of birds out there with me...most of them i recognized, but the little sparrows are hard to differentiate: they are all so stripe-y in browns and beiges...then one popped up on the tutuer in front of me and sang a fantastic song! i was determined to i.d. this one since i had such a clear view, and pulled out my iPhone and opened my birds app. i knew this bird was some type of sparrow, and since it sang, i figured it could possibly be a 'song sparrow', so i typed that into the search box. the photo that turned up looked like the little guy and it had a song sound sample...which i pushed. the little song sparrow flew right at me and tried to land on my arm! after i screamed (not too loudly!), it veered left and landed on a branch above me and belted out it's song. what just happened? i hit the song button again on the app, and once again he tried to land on me, but choose to land near me instead, and sing the same song again! turns out the bird is attracted to the recording: some bird watchers actually use their iPhone bird apps to attract birds down from trees...not me, though: the little song sparrow seemed genuinely disappointed there was no mate there.
one of my favorite blogs is design sponge because it has so many cool things and great diy projects, including this one for an adorable autumnal acorn bird feeder. it is really simple and fairly genius: im making a couple this weekend in hopes of attracting a bunch of different migrating song birds. so great!
alas: my hummingbirds have left me for warmer pastures:(...i always plant nasturtiums near the deck to attract them as close to house as possible: they are so cute. and the nasturtiums are so pretty! nasturtiums (and hummers) bring back lovely memories of growing up in berkeley, where they bloom year-round. this variety is called 'alaska mix' and has wonderful variegated foilage.
i have been working on my laptop out in the yard all week now: its been hot but pleasant! i can tell summer is winding down because im seeing birds i havent seen in months suddenly super busy. the bald eagles have the nerve to try and get the osprey to drop its fish; the titmice, with chickadees in tow, are back; saw the kingfisher for the first time since may; the hummers are humming, and the summer tanager sits by himself above my bird bath! i saw a black-and-white warbler wrestling a cicada; a yellow-bellied sapsucker sucking sap and an indigo bunting taking a bath. i have never seen one of them before: they look like a blue cardinal! i couldnt snap a photo fast enough, but i think these earrings from one of my etsy shops represents! tweet!
i am sitting outside writing posts for my various blogs and the ruby throatedhummingbirds are buzzing all around me! they seem to alternate guarding my new feeder for themselves: sitting on a branch til another hummer approaches then chasing them off with a chirp. the video above, from tharulla, illustrates perfectly what im seeing and hearing! they share the feeder with much reluctance with the carpenter bees however, giving them as much space and time as they want. my nectar mix is getting low, so i was wondering if i could make it myself. 1-part granulated sugar to 4-parts water boiled and cooled without food coloring seems to be the consensus for maintaining healthy hummers. raw honey or turbinado sugar would have been my guess, but honey promotes the growth of microorganisms that could cause disease in the little birds, and raw sugar has too much iron which can be deadly to a hummingbird. so, into the kitchen to make my tiny woodland friends a delicious energy drink!
i am so excited: a lovely couple of eastern bluebirds have a clutch of four eggs in one of my bluebird houses! cant wait to see little blue baby birds! this photo was taken with my iphone (as usual) and modified with the color splash app.
a robin has nested in the overgrown variegated euonymus next to my porch. i scare her every time i open and close the gate, so i am trying not to do that!
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