BIRDS

[thecfarm]

I have only found one. Took me a while to find it. She kept doing the broken wing trick.
I was leveling out a spot so I could mow it. Once I found it, I left that area, project, for another day.

[SwampDonkey]

I heard a brown thrasher this morning, first one this year. We are on the fringe here along the Maine border to have any. I've only noticed them here for 16 years. All we had for mocking birds in the past were catbirds.

[doc henderson]

 

 

 

not in our pool!  nice mallard pair.

[SwampDonkey]

Almost struck a drake yesterday in the road with his neck stretched and stiffened up. Almost had plucked duck. The darn things are in any puddle of water around here in the spring. :D

[aigheadish]

So far we've only seen one hummingbird around, maybe two. Usually, there are a handful by now. Maybe the warmer weather this week will change that. 

[Chuck White]

This is the first time this has happened here!

Night before last a racoon came in and climbed the post and consumed one adult and several little Bluebirds from one of the birdhouses in the yard.

I set a boxtrap yesterday and lets just say the coon was relocated far enough away that it won't be back!

[beenthere]

Years back I mounted the bluebird nest box on top of a 1-1/4" pipe so the raccoons could not raid the box and consume the young and often an adult.
Never a problem since (prolly 35 - 45 years ago).

[KEC]

Beenthere, I hate to tell you, but a number of years back I put some nest boxes on various posts and pipes with dry dog food in the boxes and at night watched the raccoons climb and raid the boxes. They would readily climb a smooth galvanized pipe, ditto for a wood post with galvanized stovepipe around it. What worked best, and I suspect that a determined coon could thwart it, was a smooth pipe and a piece of 4" pvc pipe hung from the bottom of the box with a piece of wire so it dangles. I've had the experience of checking a box and claw scratches all over the box and a pile of feathers and feet on the ground. At one time I read about a study done on Long Island. About 60% of Gray Catbird nests were destroyed by coon.

[beenthere]

No problem being told that, but until I lose a nest, I'll keep the pipe posts. 

I may not have "determined" coons here, but we do have a lot of coons. But then have never tried dog food in the boxes.   :D :D

[KEC]

I have gotten lax on predator proofing my boxes because our coon numbers are less that they once were. In 1993 rabies come through here and wiped out most of the coon; their numbers have never gotten back up where they were. So far my bluebirds are doing well; 3 broods raised and 2 more nests with eggs and I have boxes that I haven't checked lately.

[SwampDonkey]

I put critter guards on the posts here. Basically like trying to climb a hawthorn bush. Barn cats are the problem here, neighor has 3 or 4 over here all the time and they are fat cats. :D

[WV Sawmiller]

    I could not get a picture of them but I looked out the window up into my pasture and spotted a hen turkey about 30 yards from my woodshed. The grass is pretty tall out there and I watched her feeding through it then finally spotted movement around her feet and realized she had 10-15 chicks with her. The little ones are about the size of a bobwhite quail. That is the youngest I have seen them around here on my place. Usually they are half grown before I see them out and about.  

[thecfarm]

I saw some down in the woods as small as baby chicks. Never seen them that small. They must have been only a few days old. Most times they have some size to them.

[SwampDonkey]

Must be bluebird chicks because food is going in and poop sacs are being carried out. ;D

[SwampDonkey]

It appears to me that the bluebirds have abandoned the nest, 3 eggs. Cold weather this spring possibly or infertility. This has happened before in cold springs. I thought they were tending hatchlings, but yesterday's inspection of the box confirmed there was nothing hatched. I have also seen adult swallows dead on their nest in cold weather, so I think they are struggling to. The swallows are still active, and they always sitting with their head out the nest box hole.

[SwampDonkey]

I see 2 birds around today in cold rain after 2 days absence. I don't know what's going on. You gotta sit on eggs to incubate'm. :

[WhitePineJunky]

Baby thrushes next to my walking trail. I walked by a egg was pipped, hour later this


 

[WV Sawmiller]

 

 
I removed this bluebird nest and egg yesterday from the nest box in the back yard. The eggs have been there 4 weeks or so and I figure either something happened to the mother or something and she never incubated them. I hate it but hopefully the will build another nest and raise a clutch before the season ends.


 
Harry the heron is back in the creek in my front yard. He comes up occasionally to eat the bluegill heads I toss under the bridge and pick up a few crawfish and maybe a creek chub or two. When the water gets low he comes up and cleans out the remaining deep holes when the minnows, darters, chubs and crawfish get trapped. He can get a pretty good meal real quick in some cases.

[SwampDonkey]

Yup, my bluebirds returned, rebuilt a nest and started a new family here after the cold June weather passed. The tree swallows left the nest yesterday and the phoebes left a week ago.

The honeybees swarmed yesterday to. I heard a loud buzz in the air, then all the sudden 15 feet over head a mass of bees passed by and headed to the maple tree. I'm told wild ones do this several times a year to remain healthy. The loud buzzing and not seeing anything gives you a weird feeling. One too many bee movies from the 70's. :D :D

[WV Sawmiller]

SD,

   When I was in college I was out collecting plants for a Systematic Botany class and I heard a buzzing as you describe and I smelled old honey so I started looking for a bee tree. It was all young growth and no big old hollow tree that would serve as a bee tree. Finally I found the 4-6 quart sized swarm on a low sweetgum limb. I went back to my car and got a 48 qt cooler  out of the trunk, opened and placed it under the swarm, whacked the limb hard with my ax, then slammed the lid shut when the bees all fell in, went and bought a hive body with top, bottom and frame from a local beekeeper I'd seen and dumped the bees out into it. I should be posting this in the "Did something dumb thread" as they had all gotten too hot in the Alabama heat and died. : What a shame. What a waste.

[SwampDonkey]

They've been active in this old maple for at least 11 years now.

[SwampDonkey]

I see 4 baby crows must have recently left the nest with their parents, picking food scraps tonight.

[KEC]

The crows here have me under surveilance so when I put food in the driveway they get it in short order. I've been doling out some stale dry cat food and they take it and cache some for later. I've seen them poke a hole in the lawn and stuff food in it. 

[SwampDonkey]

They are definitely on the alert here for scraps. :D

[aigheadish]

This guy has been hanging around for a few days now. Yesterday I saw some big wings flapping around by the creek and today he was in the pond. I don't know if it's the same bird but I suspect it is.

It's possible that I've posted pictures of this same bird last year or something?