Showing posts with label red-bellied woodpecker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label red-bellied woodpecker. Show all posts

Friday, April 29, 2022

Fruit Basket Upset

 

male Baltimore oriole on hummingbird feeder


Nearly a week ago, in the early light of dawn, something looked out of place at the hummingbird feeder out our back window. A male Baltimore Oriole, dressed in brilliant orange and black, was perched there trying to sip a liquid breakfast. 

 

male Baltimore oriole
Male Baltimore Oriole

 

female Baltimore oriole
Female Baltimore Oriole

 

These birds sometimes migrate through our area, and although we'd heard reports of them here in the past few years, it has been four years since we've seen any in our yard. Some years, they spend a night or two and are gone, but that year they came in a large flock and stayed for a fortnight. Their antics became a typical conversation starter. Instead of "Get your turkey?" the standard greeting in town was "Are you feeding the orioles?" 

 

Baltimore oriole on orange


Attached to our deck, near the bird feeder, is a bare cedar tree, and the limbs make good perches for birds. They also provide an excellent place to skewer oranges, so I cut some in half and decorated the tree with the juicy fruit. It didn't take the orioles long to notice. 

 

Baltimore oriole in hickory tree
 
Baltimore oriole on orange


Baltimore oriole

 

They would fly down from their perch high in the hickory tree, land near an orange, and dig in, scrounging out every morsel and picking the oranges clean, like a lion cleaning the bones of its prey. They are endlessly entertaining, and for the most part, the oranges have kept them off the hummingbird feeders.

 

red-bellied woodpecker on orange
 

Squirrels and titmice have checked out the oranges, too, and lately, the woodpeckers have been gathering the orange pulp with their long tongues. Unfortunately, as much as we like woodpeckers, they can sometimes make a mess at the hummingbird feeders and also deprive the tiny birds of their nectar. So here's a thought; if we could get the woodpeckers trained to oranges, maybe they'd stay off the hummingbird feeders.

For a while last evening, the hummingbirds were on their feeders, the orioles were on the oranges, and the woodpeckers were eating sunflower seeds and bugs. Everything was as it should be. Then a hummingbird started drinking from the orange. What's next? We can only wonder.

 


Saturday, December 24, 2016

Avian Testimonials


Red-bellied Woodpecker on suet


Early this week, with the ground dry and parched and the temperature plunging like an elevator in free-fall, the birds at our feeders were ravenous. It seemed like a good time to mix up some suet.

Suet is easy to make. Here's my recipe:

1 cup lard
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 cup oatmeal
2 cups unsalted sunflower seeds, shelled
1 cup flaxseed meal or yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup raisins

Melt the lard and peanut butter in a large saucepan, and mix in the other ingredients. Spoon into molds (I used the bottom 2 inches of plastic cups), press the mix together, and freeze. Sometimes, I also press the mix into pinecones.


Downy Woodpecker on suet


When the suet was frozen and out of the molds, I made a hole with a skinny nail through the center of each one, then threaded a thin wire through the hole, and hung them in a tree near our feeder, where the birds were sure to notice them.


Tufted Titmouse and Carolina Chickadee on suet


It's always nice when your cooking is appreciated. 
When the food is devoured and they come back for more, it's better than 5 stars on the internet.


Carolina Chickadee on suet


Consider these photos visual testimonials.


Cedar Waxwing eating winterberry


Of course, there's Winterberry for desert.






Sunday, March 1, 2015

Food Chain


It's cold out.
Fat snowflakes drift aimlessly to the ground.
As the flakes descend, the creature's appetites rise.


Red-belled Woodpecker with Suet


The birds can't get enough of the suet.  
This one is composed of lard and peanut butter, cornmeal, oatmeal and sunflower seeds, with a few raisins mixed in.  
Yum!


Crows in a snowy tree


High in a tree, crows weigh their chances of getting to the food.


Turkey and crows in the snow


Wild turkeys have staked their territory over the corn on the ground, 
and when the crows try to encroach, one bold turkey keeps pushing them back.


Red-tailed hawk in snow


Early in the afternoon, a regal red-shouldered hawk swooped in to check out the birds on the deck.
They scattered, and he came up empty. This time.
As he left the deck, he grabbed at the suet but couldn't get it loose.


Red-tailed hawk in flight


He'll be back.


stone carpendar ant in snow


With all the creatures around him eating,
the carpendar ant on our deck doesn't even pause for a snack.
Talk about work ethic-- this guy wrote the book!



Linking with Wild Bird Wednesday




Saturday, September 7, 2013

Transitions




























It's early September, and already there are signs that things are changing.  
Wild grapes are starting to ripen, and overhead, 
blue-winged teal have passed in swift flight, heading for their winter home.



This time of year, many of our feathered visitors are fairly new to the world.  
A young red-bellied woodpecker balances with his stubby tail 
as his long tongue probes for treasures between the boards on our deck...









































before contemplating the food in the feeder.


























Newly fledged purple finches come singly and in groups.  
They seem unafraid; 
I nearly had to chase one away to fill the bird feeder yesterday.  
Their flight skills haven't been honed yet, 
and we root them on as they flutter in the air, trying to find a perch.  
Aren't landings tricky?

























Young titmice find dozens of ways to entertain themselves...
and us.



These young birds will be here through the winter, but the hummingbirds are preparing for their long migration south.  They swarm the feeders, like teenagers at an iphone sale, the wind from their tiny wings rustling petals of the cleome below, and fanning our faces when we stand close.  They drink from the feeders and the surrounding flowers as if their life depended on it, which in fact it may; a third of them will be lost in their grueling upcoming flight over the ocean.

We'll miss their chatter and the hum of their wings, their brilliant flashes of color and startling animation.

In our changing world, it's good to know one constant.  The Savior who loves us and gave His life for us, is always true, and extends His mercy day after day, in every season.


For the Lord is good and His love endures forever;
His faithfulness continues though all generations.

Psalm 100:5





Linking with Wild Bird Wednesday



Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Red Belly































A small patch of red on their bellies give these woodpeckers their name, 
but you have to look hard to make it out.  
The best way to see it is to lay on your back in the grass, 
looking toward the sky, 
with some peanut butter on your nose.





Since I haven't tried this personally, let me know how this works for you.  : )




Linking with Wild Bird Wednesday


Monday, June 25, 2012

Wings and Other Things


Pileated Woodpecker, male


It's amazing what you can see when you're not looking for something.  While sitting at my drawing board last week, I heard a faint clicking sound, and looking up, saw a pileated woodpecker clinging to the window frame about four yards away.  My first inclination was to reach for the camera behind me, but realizing that the motion would likely scare the bird, I held my breath and watched.  

The woodpecker was quite striking up close with his impressive size (about that of a crow) and vibrant plumage.  He was opening and shutting his beak, each time emitting the small clicking sound that first attracted my attention.  I had never heard this before, but I'd never been this close to one of these birds, either.  Might he be afflicted with the woodpecker version of TMJ disorder, or could he, perhaps, have just swallowed a castinette?  (Please feel free to weigh in with your best guess.)

After a few minutes on the window frame, the bird flew to a nearby tree, shimmied quickly up the trunk and into the leafy over-story, before flying out of sight.

   


Brown-headed cowbird and tufted titmouse


The thermometer reached 102˚ yesterday,
and everybody was grateful for fresh cool water in the birdbath.




Red-bellied woodpecker, male



Red-bellied woodpecker, male



Chipmunk and mourning dove



Now what was this chipmunk doing out of her cool den in this heat?  
She must have found something pretty interesting.  
Hey, maybe she'll find my lens cap!





How many are your works, O Lord!
In wisdom You made them all;
The earth is full of Your creatures.

Psalm 104:24