Woodpecker Storage Wars

Before I regale you with my story about the woodpeckers, look who is here! Our Indigo Bunting is back! I had just posted a couple of days before I lost our internet and whined about not seeing one yet. Awwww, what a beautiful bird and I am so glad to see it.

Here it is scouring the ground by the feeder with another of our favorites, a male Cardinal:

 It looks as if it found some!

We lost our internet on Friday afternoon, May 3rd and just got it back yesterday, so need to catch up over a couple of the past rainy-ish days around here.

Oooh, the Orchard Oriole; I posted a (I think) non-breeding male recently...

David was able to get a few more photos of one of the neighborhood beavers, down by the creek. Fascinating creatures!

Around here, of course, a couple of our "pet" darlings made appearances, now that we have some natural patches of wild flowers and grasses (known to the untrained eye as "weeds") near the forest that we are "taming" for our little furry shy friends, so that they have some cover to hide in. I can't blame them for being shy, seeing the large birds of prey that are about!

Dylan, the rabbit, is enjoying David's nature-friendly landscaping so he can sneak out from the forest and grab some seeds from the ground and munch on some greens.

 I absolutely love Dylan's mouth in this picture (below), as he's munching.

Another of our friends, Percy the Possum.

 No, he doesn't use hair gel, it was rainy.

 He also loves seeds, but needs a napkin:

Now about those woodpecker storage wars...

 Reggie, the Red-headed Woodpecker, has been seen around here, but always at a distance...until recently! He has now given in to temptation and coming to our feeders for some scoff!

I'm thrilled to see it nearby now, and they are year-round residents here. The are 7 - 10" in length. They have a red head and neck; mostly black and white, with large white wing patches. Seeing it in flight is nothing short of stunning, especially watching it fly into the forest...you can't really see the black as it's soaring, but you see all this white floating in the sky from its body and wings.

 

Several species of woodpeckers have a habit of storing food for future consumption; our Red-headed and Red-bellied Woodpeckers both share this trait. It all got rather interesting when I noticed Reggie, the Red-headed Woodpecker, take to the other feeder and find what appears to be a favorite spot for storing some seeds, right here, under that part of the feeder that is separating from the base:

 

See him doing it for yourself, in this video:

Cyril, who has been living with us for some time with Sylvia, our Red-bellied Woodpeckers, enjoys this particular spot for his food storage (which happens to be holding the seed tray that Reggie above is pictured on).

Yesterday afternoon, what did I witness but Cyril scampering up the post after Reggie left the area, to Reggie's favorite storage spot and stealing his seeds! He ate some and also took them down to his own favorite spot and hammered them into the crevices.

 

Apparently, Reggie is no dummy however! This morning I saw him scurrying down to Cyril's favorite spot and doing the same to him! But...I guess it's not stealing if you're getting your own stuff back! Cyril caught him red-handed (or would that be red-headed?) though and gave him a telling off, sending him on his way...for now!

 

Until next time...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A fine selection for your bird viewing pleasure

Today is another perfect day, in the mid-80s, just a bit warmer than yesterday...barely a cloud in the sky and a slight breeze. Ahhhhhhh!

We sat out on the front deck for supper last night; joining us were the usual throngs of cowbirds swarming the feeder and the hummingbirds. It's very difficult to count how many hummingbirds are around now, we think four males and at least one female. The reason it's difficult is due to the "hummingbird wars", they're getting even more territorial. One waits and guards the nectar nearby and once it sees another, ZOOMS after it and promptly goes back to its perch after getting a sip of nectar with an "it's mine!" attitude. It must be exhausting!

The thought of moving about while on the deck is not a good one; it isn't that the hummingbirds are going for you, it's if you move in their path when they're trying to get somewhere! They are so very fast I'm afraid they won't have time to adjust their flight path if I move at all.

We have so many photos David has taken since we moved here in October 2011 and I have been going back through them, finally organizing them, and want to share some of those here today. I decided to have a peek at "a year ago today" to see what was going on at the time. Having been a cooler winter/spring than normal is apparent...we already had our pool set up by this time last year!

For instance, we had also already seen (on this day, last year) an Indigo Bunting, one of our breeding visitors, but haven't seen one around here this year. *sniffle*

A female Cardinal peeking in...

 

Here it appears to be a young one...

 

What we reckon to be an Eastern Kingbird was also visiting us this day (at bottom of tree, ignore the cowbird at the top!), another breeding visitor. David thinks he has some photos of one nesting around here somewhere. Stay tuned, someday I may find them!

Do I spy with my little eye, an Orchard Oriole? From what I can tell, this appears to be a first year male perched in one of our trees (another breeding visitor).

 

And, wow, Miss Cardinal, talk about a bad hair day! Get to the beauty shop girl!

I guess that sounded like a good idea!

And, what's this...a Least Flycatcher? If so, they are migratory visitors here. You are so named unless I find out differently. Welcome!

 

 

One reason I think we have a Least Flycatcher is the whitish eye ring, seen better in the photo below: 

Nothing to see here, Turkey Vulture, move along...

A female Cowbird...how unusual *rolls eyes* Actually, though...in looking at the huge flock, out of around 30 to 40 birds, I only saw 2 or 3 female, the rest were males.

Meanwhile, back at the beauty salon the Cardinal must be heading to, there is a Chipping Sparrow already there.

I'm sure it will look great once it's dry... 

A Blue Jay flies off with what must be a very special seed...unless it's running late for the beauty salon!

Oh, here's the Cardinal arriving at the beauty salon now...

Later, we find our Cardinal couple out for a nice meal.

Female: "Do you notice *chirp* anything different? *chirp*?

Male: "Um, no, what?" *chirp*

Female: "I went to the beauty shop, for all you care! *chirp* You never notice anything!!! *chirp chirp*

Male: (thinking to self) "Oh, no, what have I done...." *gulp* *chirp*

Male: "Well, you never appreciate anything I do! I take you out for a nice meal and this is the thanks I get!" *chirp chirp chirp* 

 

Oh, dear, I hope it wasn't the end of their relationship, as it is for the end of today's post!

Until next time...