Just saw this bird on my deck....

[rancher89]

daffodils, forsythia, winter jasmine, crocus are starting to push up as well as the early daylilies.

Plus all of those bothersome spring weeds... some of which are pretty enough to just let go, today.

 

[kaleidoscope eyes]

Downy's are cool birds, my sister had a pair eating out of her hand one year. The next year they came back with their fledglings. I wish I had a picture of that!

We have mockingbirds here in abundance. Years ago the neighborhood mockingbird used to sing with/to my canary. They would sing each others' songs, sometimes singing together, sometimes taking turns. Unfortunately, they would start around 3 AM

Ah yes, we had a bunch of mockingbirds near our old place in Indiana.. I used to find them charming and amusing.. until one started singing, quite loudly, at midnight!

 

[nayjevin]

Who invented this:

silly humans.

 

[pacelli]

I love living in the country.

Nice pic! I've got those guys loving any type of suet I put out. They're called red-cockaded woodpeckers. We've seen some pileateds, but they are really skittish around here in Carolina.

Is it going to be an early spring? I'm listening to frogs croaking away down in the stream, and a couple of bluebirds checking out my nest boxes just this morning. 63 degrees right now at 6:45pm EST.

Put out a feeder and watch nature come to you.

 

[RedLightning]

They're called red-cockaded woodpeckers.

Ton of money being spent on RCWs...

 

[rancher89]

Pics from my sister's backyard

 

[pacelli]

Ton of money being spent on RCWs...

Amen to that. Petsmart & Southern States are both running sales on suet. .59 cents per. Needless to say I'm stocked up.

Right now the grackles are out in full force, raiding feeders and wiping out seed supplies. These bastards travel in packs and are major tyrants. They are really pretty birds but their call is off-putting.

 

[Dustancostine]

Grackles are basically rats with wings.

 

[Mach]

http://free.woodworking-plans.org/bird-house-plans.html

 

[MsDoodahs]

Here's one for you:

Brown Thrasher:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown_Thrasher/id

You really don't notice them most of the year, but when they sing, you know they aren't mockingbirds. (although the mockingbird will pick up their song, it will mix it in with other snippets)


and just so happens to be the Georgia State Bird
http://www.50states.com/bird/brthrash.htm

I miss brown thrashers - don't see 'em out here. When I would do the dishes, I'd watch them out the kitchen window...they'd pick up leaves and toss them aside to look for bugs under them....

 

[Sandman33]

Amen to that. Petsmart & Southern States are both running sales on suet. .59 cents per. Needless to say I'm stocked up.

Right now the grackles are out in full force, raiding feeders and wiping out seed supplies. These bastards travel in packs and are major tyrants. They are really pretty birds but their call is off-putting.

That thing just plain looks EVIL. Very agressive and angrylike.

 

[KCIndy]

Right now the grackles are out in full force, raiding feeders and wiping out seed supplies. These bastards travel in packs and are major tyrants. They are really pretty birds but their call is off-putting.

Not to mention they chase off every other bird in the area when they're feeding. They are vicious and very territorial.

And yeah, their call is very annoying.

 

[Bruno]

Speaking of birds, I just saw the show Is it Possible?

They were showing how this guy observed crows who had learned to take nuts, drop them in traffic areas, wait for them to be run over by a car cracking them, then waiting for a Walk signal to fly down and retrieve them. He decided to build a "crow box" and reward the crows with nuts for retreiving coins and dropping it in the box.

Crows also have a ritual of observing a dead fellow bird with moments of silence and posturing, before flying off together. Pretty cool stuff.

 

[MsDoodahs]

Wasn't it the crow that figured out to use mothballs (put in gardens to chase away bugs)? I remember seeing a video years back with them picking up the mothballs in their beaks, and rubbing it on themselves (the observers thought the crows had learned that the mothballs would help eliminate mites that get on birds).

 

[Sandman33]

Wasn't it the crow that figured out to use mothballs (put in gardens to chase away bugs)? I remember seeing a video years back with them picking up the mothballs in their beaks, and rubbing it on themselves (the observers thought the crows had learned that the mothballs would help eliminate mites that get on birds).

Crows are ugly, loud, annoying, obnoxious, and thieving.

But they really are quite intelligent.

 

[pcosmar]

Crows are ugly, loud, annoying, obnoxious, and thieving.

But they really are quite intelligent.

They are natures cleaning crew.They do their job well.

 

[pcosmar]

We have Robins. It is officially spring.
It had been nice, too warm too soon.
We got a good snow, and right behind it, the robins showed up.

 

[Cowlesy]

my bro has 3 nests of bluebirds this year already --- their population at least back home was way way down, so it's good to see them coming back.

 

[Bruno]

Wasn't it the crow that figured out to use mothballs (put in gardens to chase away bugs)? I remember seeing a video years back with them picking up the mothballs in their beaks, and rubbing it on themselves (the observers thought the crows had learned that the mothballs would help eliminate mites that get on birds).

that's pretty smart of them!

my bro has 3 nests of bluebirds this year already --- their population at least back home was way way down, so it's good to see them coming back.

did you take that pic? Nice.

We have Robins. It is officially spring.
It had been nice, too warm too soon.
We got a good snow, and right behind it, the robins showed up.

Did they just show up in the North? It's been about two weeks since their arrival in Central Iowa.

 

[Cowlesy]

did you take that pic? Nice.

Nope it's a image.google pic