Spring birds arriving.

[tcreeley]

Big old Ravens are fun to watch. kind of goofy most of the time often just hop straight up. when taking off they like to get a running start.

Most wild birds will get almost tame if given a chance and they love to play. When my sand pile was fresh & loose, quail would get on top and slide down. They were lined up on the railing of my ramp and 1 after the other would slide down the railing on the stairs. My sister, brother in law and I were about 4 feet away watching.

Had a humming bird that would get a few inches from my face and yell at me when taking "His" sugar water down to refill. He / She guarded that bottle all day.

One year when I used to fee the birds- before I got all of these cats (strays+ kittens) I put a scarecrow guy in one of my old flannel shirts and baseball hat in a lawnchair by the feeder. I sprinkled seed over him and on his hat. After a week I took turns with my son sitting there as the chickadees landed and grabbed sunflower seeds. I found that I could move around the snowy yard and they'd come to the hat on my head for some seed. I've had them come to my hand before too. Scarecrow guy takes less standing still time on my part to get them used to me.

 

[tcreeley]

Walking along my boundary field edge toward a marshy area, I heard an Alder Flycatcher singing. They are a bird of my youth in the southern Berkshires- before I had binoculars - it would take some getting close enough to distinguish the field markings. We have some woods we leave alone behind the barn - rocky, wet pockets, blow downs, spruce, birch, poplars, red maples. From there while I was waiting for two crows to try again for the scratch feed I threw out for the chickens, I heard a Solitary Vireo (now blue headed vireo) singing. This is perhaps one of the sweeter birds singing- enunciated short 3 and 4 note phrases punctuated by a 2 note phrase. It just feels good to listen. Birds have dialects, and a specie's song will change subtly across the country.

pics from NatureInstruct - Dendroica

Alder Flycatcher...................................................Blue Headed Vireo (old name - Solitary Vireo)(-notice the eye ring)

 

[beandip]

Walked around the lower part of the property today. I guess I don't have to worry about attracting song birds. it was a non stop concert. Nicest song was sung by a small white throat-ed ? , the song was (2 ascending notes followed by 3 - 3 note phrases sounding like Peabody ,Peabody ,Peabody.). Sorry I can only identify several birds by song.
Fortunately what I thought was poison ivy has turned out to be Dewberry and the birds and butterflies love it. Which is good since it is everywhere. We also bought some wild flower seed heavy on the reds hoping to attack the humming birds.
On my way out I ran into a single (female) Hungarian Partridge who seemed unconcerned with my presence. Also, the large bird wading in the pond last week I have identified as a Great Blue Heron.
Rain again this week end but I plan to spend more time at the property next week. I will take some pics, or try to, I'm not to bad as long as the subject cooperates.

 

[crash325]

My humming bird mother has been busy. She has raised 2 babies and sent them on their way.
2 Nights ago turned on the barn light and she was sitting the nest.
Yesterday the tiniest little beak you ever saw was sticking up out of the nest.

Baby sparrows and finches are as big as their parents, But still being fed. See them lined up on the cooler line begging, then getting fed.

More quail babies are being brought in. 2 brood's and 2 sets of parents came in. On a sad note, I think the couple that had 4 babies, lost the mother and 1 baby, the daddy is bringing in only 3. Another 6 Or 7 babies are being brought in my a single parent.

Mother quail is the family defender & attack dog, she will tackle anything that threatens her babies and defend them to her death.

Couple of side notes: Digging a ditch for a water line, uncovered a good sized tarantula yesterday. She was not going to let something like a back hoe bother her. Finally had to get off and force her down to the other end of the ditch.

Have a deliberate hose drip, it's now home to a big Hop Toad. Caught it going in the grass & weeds.

 

[tcreeley]

Walked around the lower part of the property today. I guess I don't have to worry about attracting song birds. it was a non stop concert. Nicest song was sung by a small white throat-ed ? , the song was (2 ascending notes followed by 3 - 3 note phrases sounding like Peabody ,Peabody ,Peabody.). Sorry I can only identify several birds by song.
Fortunately what I thought was poison ivy has turned out to be Dewberry and the birds and butterflies love it. Which is good since it is everywhere. We also bought some wild flower seed heavy on the reds hoping to attack the humming birds.
On my way out I ran into a single (female) Hungarian Partridge who seemed unconcerned with my presence. Also, the large bird wading in the pond last week I have identified as a Great Blue Heron.
Rain again this week end but I plan to spend more time at the property next week. I will take some pics, or try to, I'm not to bad as long as the subject cooperates.

White Throated Sparrow --"Poor Sam Peabody, Peabody,Peabody or Pure Sweet Canada, Canada, Canada" depending on your locale!
I never have a camera when I want it, and usually I don't have luck with it anyway!

Crash, -----a tarantula! wow-- hop toad! I've learned not to pick up toads in my area- they pissed in my hand when I did..

 

[tcreeley]

I heard a veery singing yesterday evening, and early this morning -a red eyed vireo. Both, when I moved to Maine 29 years ago used to be in much larger numbers. There was not anywhere -where you couldn't hear them - woods up here. The red eyed vireo would drown out the other birds with its singing- like a colorless robin singing and loud and close by! But they have both declined in numbers. It is suspected that the airborne mercury from mid-western powerplants has fallen on the leaves, been consumed by caterpillars - etc- and eaten by the birds and is disrupting the normal vitality of the young birds- birth-defects etc... -I once found a warbler scuffling in the underbrush to get away from me, it was fast but had legs without feet- nothing to perch with and its wings were unable to lift it into flight- It is disheartening- this side of it, but the birds themselves are tremendous.

pics from NatureInstruct - Dendroica

Veery.................................................................................Red Eyed Vireo

 

[crash325]

White Throated Sparrow --"Poor Sam Peabody, Peabody,Peabody or Pure Sweet Canada, Canada, Canada" depending on your locale!
I never have a camera when I want it, and usually I don't have luck with it anyway!

Crash, -----a tarantula! wow-- hop toad! I've learned not to pick up toads in my area- they pissed in my hand when I did..

At times you would think I maintained this place for the Critters. Maybe I do, watching them is better than TV.

Tarantula's are fairly friendly and fear almost nothing. They can bite and some have poison in their bite. Not much harm to a human, just uncomfortable.

Hop Toads usually pee soon as you pick them up. Pick the up sort of like a snake and let their butt hang down. Same with the turtles around here.

Many critters & birds like or at least tolerate people. Cactus Wren's, Curve Bills and Cardinal's will come up and fuss at me if they don't have the right kind of seeds.

Talk gently to cotton tail rabbit and it will come closer and try to understand what you are saying. Some birds and lizards as well. I've been playing with critters since a kid. At 3 we had a pet armadillo in 7th grade had a pet Coti Mundi (Chullo). We had a pet kangaroo Rat many years.

Sorry to be so long winded.

 

[crash325]

Another Sad note.
Second hatching by my little hummer died. When the little beak didn't move, I reached up and lifted out a tiny dead hummer.

I think the mother has now abandoned the nest.

Think it was her that was checking out me and the dogs yesterday. Flew up and down the ramp looking us over.

 

[tcreeley]

Great pictures!

We once had 2 pairs of barn swallows nesting up in the eves overhanging our deck. They were busy building 2 nests. One evening as I was on the deck - attracted by the noise- one of the swallows dove down and off in a straight line as swift as I ever saw- out of sight in a matter of seconds. When it dove it made a piercing sound. A few days later there were just 3 swallows and that summer they all took care of the one nest of young. I think one of the cats grabbed its mate.

I've come across single woodcock hanging around the edge of a road with traffic- and stopped. Often I find a freshly killed woodcock on the edge. Saw the same thing happen to a tree swallow. Then there were 3 swallows that were fluttering around- and one just hit- bleeding. I moved it off to the edge to die in more peace and away from the traffic.

I'm pretty certain that grief is an emotion shared by all living things.

 

[tcreeley]

When I got out of the truck at 3:40 with the sun shining on this 63 degree day (rain fell earlier) I hear the soft sound of the Black Billed Cuckoo from behind the visible portion of the spruce row. They are a beautiful long bird, and I am glad they are here as i saw a tent caterpillar last weekend in the field........ In Mass years ago there was a major infestation of tent caterpillars and you could hear the chewing when you were outside- they stripped the leaves from every deciduous tree all over the state. The trains were even losing purchase to the little bodies of slime on the tracks.

It sounds a good deal like its name - but softer.

pics from NatureInstruct - Dendroica

Black Billed Cuckoo