Look who showed up for breakfast

The one thing i like about the place we staying is the diversity of birdlife and other critters about.

Look who showed up for breakfast today.

Spotted from kitchen window while doing breakfast dishes.

Best shot i could get before it flew away.



Its called a Northern Flicker. Part of the woodpecker family.

Then i never got a shot but a female cardinal came out from under one of the bushes.
And i see the local chippie has a nest of some sort going in my wood stash on shed, caught it going in through a gap in the shed door runner. Gonna have to check into that.

Also saw a couple of crows collecting nesting material boy they pretty smart critters them crows.

Makes doing the dishes a pleasure. If it ever can be.

Rather smart looking bird, ain't it? I really enjoy the variety of critters and birds that we have around here. Fun watching them go about their business. Some folks think I'm a bit nuts, but I put out hummingbird feeders mainly to keep the bees around here so my garden will get pollinated. I have bees on all of them everyday. And, they repay me by taking care of my plants. Good photos.

Seems to be something in the air, came across this robins nest a few weeks back in the knockout roses


Saw they had hatched and were growing fast a week or so back.


I was out pruning some of the dead stuff from the adjoining shrubs the other day and thought they were still too little to fly, but they proved me wrong. Mom wasn't too happy with me, but she got all of them gathered up near by and was still feeding them.

We have a bay window adjacent our dining room table, and four bird feeders on the nearby trees. We get a lot of enjoyment watching the birds - probably around twenty different types - and the squirrels in, on, and around the feeders. At night - nearly every night - we get flying squirrels that glide in, then hit the sunflower seeds in the bird feeders.

Now, it's getting about time to put the hummingbird feeders back up. They're migrating northward, and should be here soon.

Great looking birds!

I went into my shed the other day and was looking at the furry remains of something on the ground, when all of a sudden I noticed something move out of the corner of my eye and managed to duck at the last minute as an Owl dive bombed me in his/her attempt to leave said shed.

Wished I could have gotten a picture, but it all went by way too fast!

Those are cool-looking birds, Rob. :thumb;

My wife has several feeders in the back yard, and they create their own little ecosystem. Birds eat the seeds and spill them on the ground, mice come along to eat the fallen seeds, roadrunners come to eat the mice, and the sharp-shinned hawk comes by every once in a while to eat everybody. (Except the roadrunners. Apparently there's no need to go into battle when there's so much easier prey around.)

It would be interesting to see who would win, the roadrunner or the hawk. I'd almost put my money on the roadrunner if it was a good sized adult. I've seen them take on all kinds of animals and rattlesnakes and win. But, the hawks have their advantages as well. Though admittedly I would just prefer they left each other alone. All of nature serves it's purpose including my little buddy the vole. Cute little bugger. Lives in the base of a semi hollow oak tree.

more birds

Ok let's see if I can still post pics. We were camping at Long Point Provincial Park in Ontario on the north shore of Lake Eire. Lots & lots of birds. There was a male catbird that I thought was serenading us but it turned out it was serenading its mate. There was a nest at the edge of the campsite and the female wasn't happy when we were at the picnic table or fire pit. I suspect that she abandoned the nest. There was a small spotted egg in the nest as well which I suspect was laid by a brown headed cowbird. They usually parasatize the nests of smaller birds.

The tree swallow picture was taken at the bird banding station which is just outside of the park.



No idea if the pics are visible

Jim, better get the humming bird feeders out, they've been in our yard north of lake Ontario for a week.

Paul great pics especially the swallows. Thanks for posting them.

We have English Sparrows, English Sparrows, and more English Sparrows. I put up wren houses, and got English Sparrows. English Sparrows, as well as starlings and a few others were brought to North America by some doofus who decided it would be a good idea to introduce a mating pair of each of the birds mentioned in Shakespeare. Fortunately Cardinals and most other native birds survived the ordeal. I hope Sparrowhawks get fat on English Sparrows and starlings.