BIRDS

[Walnut Beast]

Barn swallows are back above my big overhead door and built another nest after the one they had fell down and I duct taped it back up until it fell and I figured they could build a new one and they did when they came back. Might have to run some duct tape around it again. The slick tin is not the best for adhesion when they get a crew of five in there

[ESFted]

Caught a young hawk admiring my truck a few days ago.  We have well stocked bird feeders that the raptors like to keep an eye on.  Looks like this one was still learning to fly.

Hawk

[woodroe]

So took the tops off 5 of the 6 bird boxes, knew one was occupied with Tree Swallows.
3 others had Swallows sitting on eggs keeping their heads down, trying to hide, the other 
one has 4 baby bluebirds and an egg unhatched. She stayed in the box till I pulled the top off.
One box completely empty, no nest material at all.
All is well after all. Guess when the birds are incubating eggs there is not much activity around the box.

[HemlockKing]

I'm pretty sure the white breasted nut hatches are about to emerge from the nest. Ma and pa have been going non stop to feed em. They are loud when begging for food! I can hear them up to 100 ft away from the box! 

[HemlockKing]

Hopefully they stick around I could use more wildlife that takes out bugs  :D

[SwampDonkey]

A pair of bluebirds look like a couple of drowned rats sitting in the basswood tree in a steady hard rain and 45F air. ;D :D

[Old saw fixer]

I walked out the back door this morning and got scolded by the local Pileated woodpecker.

[Magicman]

We are consistently being scolded as well as serenaded by Mocking Birds.  There are at least 3 pairs nesting in our yard.  The Granddaughter's cats are having to stay undercover to prevent being dive bombed.

[HemlockKing]

I walked out the back door this morning and got scolded by the local Pileated woodpecker.

I was in a thumping match with my resident a few days ago, he seemed to attribute the sound of my swinging a pick axe into the ground as a "turf war" and so every time I swung the axe he would do his drumming inside his home  ;D :D
I'm not a woodpecker there guy! 

[woodroe]

Had the unusual pleasure of seeing a Northern Mockingbird today.
Probably a 1st for me. This is the northernmost range of their breeding grounds 
and saw it next to the Portland Head lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth. 
Was carrying on pretty good perched on a tree oceanfront cliff trail. 
Had to look it up to get a pos ID on it but the wing flashes when it flew off was the 
best identifier. 

[woodroe]

Have had 6 Bohemian Waxwings hanging around for a couple days feeding on an abundance 
of wild strawberries..
Not very common here, bright yellow tipped tails.
Mowing the field for the first time and saw a bird fly up from some young saplings.
Stopped to investigate and found a ground nest with 3 blue green eggs, Hermit Thrush .
Glad I saw her fly up, got to spare a few eggs from getting crushed.
Had this happen once before years ago, they seem to like grassy brushy growth for nesting.
Tree Swallows been fledging here, Bluebirds are about ready too.  

[HemlockKing]

 

 

[HemlockKing]

He's real active this morning with his drumming 

[HemlockKing]

 

 Mallard ducklings. She only has 3 now. I suspect ravens and bobcats

[HemlockKing]

White breasted nut hatches have all left their nest box home, no sign of the parents either, I did notice them as a noisy bunch a few times in the trees but haven't seen them in the last couple days, they are missed.

[DDW_OR]

Barn swallows are back above my big overhead door and built another nest after the one they had fell down and I duct taped it back up until it fell and I figured they could build a new one and they did when they came back. Might have to run some duct tape around it again. The slick tin is not the best for adhesion when they get a crew of five in there

in the winter, remove the nest then add a strip of 1x for them to build on
maybe make the strip and L shape?
Swallows and Bats are good to have around for bug control

[Chuck White]

That reminds me, I still have to build a BAT-HOUSE!

Thanks

[TeaW]

I was in the barn one day and saw were a pair of barn swallow was starting to build a nest on the truss . It was dry and I didn't know were mud was coming from, so I dumped a pail of water just out side the door to make some mud. They soon made use of it some times dipping material in the mud and taking it to the nest other times just a bit of mud. It took 3 days to complete.
They are setting now and I see they take turns, hope they raise a family, there are not as many here as other years

[HemlockKing]

All my best boxes are empty now that the white breasted nut hatches have grown up and left, the parents don't return either. The rest of my boxes are chickadee seed stash houses lol . I put up 10 but it was still worth it for the white breasted nut hatches. Hoping for more next spring.

[Chuck White]

Well, nothing special going on yesterday, so I made the bat-house!

Made it 18" high X 15" wide with 1" sticker between the front and back!

Now just need to get my niece to paint a bat on the front!

[DDW_OR]

That reminds me, I still have to build a BAT-HOUSE!

Thanks

PM me
i have a free plan from Woodworkers Journal
I get two free plans a month in my E-mail. so far i got 320 plans. some are duplicates so maybe 300 total?
some are very simple and some are very complex, like a 4 seat lawn glider swing with canopy

[WDH]

Not sure that the bats need a swing with their canopy :D.

[HemlockKing]

I've been getting a violotear humming bird every evening around 6:30, with the window open you can hear them coming lol 

[KEC]

OK. I give up. What in the heck is a vilotear hummingbird ?

[Dan_Shade]

Violetear - Wikipedia