Droll Yankees Hummingbird Feeder Leaks

I bought one of these recently on eBay and it leaks where the two plastic halves meet. Looks like I will need to seal it myself. If I can seal it then all will be well. Paid under $10 for it so not stressin'. But had to inform others searching the 'net that these do leak.

New Brown Bird...Maybe

I thought while I was watching it that it was a Carolina Wren, which is quite a rare sight to see here, but now I think it was too big to be one, and the shape and size weren't the same. It had the same colors as a Carolina Wren (brown and tan/gray) but there were gray/whitish lines that curved and went around the eyes, much like a Carolina Wren but looked maybe slightly different. It's still possible it could have been a Carolina Wren, but we'll see.

The Giving Tree

I was thinking of and remembered a storybook I and I'm sure many of us have read when we were younger called "The Giving Tree." I was just thinking how easily one could substitute the boy for a bird, since birds spend their entire lives living in trees and are dependant on them to keep them warm, safe and alive.

Well, I was looking on YouTube for the book in some sort of video/movie form and did happen to find the original movie from 1973 here. I didn't know it until after I watched it but it was narrated by the original author Shel Silverstein. I looked him up and turns out he died a little over 11 years ago. Kind of sad to realize that, especially considering the plot of the The Giving Tree and to hear him still very much alive and "young." And to hear him still inspiring others even after death.

I May Have Seen a...

...Yellow Warbler just now. It was bigger than an American Goldfinch and yellow all over with a very faint black or dark color on the flight feathers. Pretty cool. And at about the same time, I saw a Downy Woodpecker, which is pretty rare to see; definitely not a bird I would normally see daily. A Chickadee just stared at the Woodpecker, then the Chick' went for a seed and, of course, they look like a Woodpecker while they're getting their meat in the seed.

Wasps, Bees Drinking from Bird Bath

I happened to be standing near the bird bath outside and saw a wasp fly over and inch down to the water's edge and drink from it. Then it flew off like I wasn't even there. I also see bees doing it. Kind of cute.

A YouTube Video of Grackles Puffing/Fluffing Up

I saw this video on YouTube of Grackles puffing/fluffing up and it looks like what I see them do at my feeders. It's a shame I can't get as good of video of the Grackles I feed. The video uploader has embedding disabled, so that's why I can't embed it here, so just click the link above. And here is another puffing/fluffing video of a male trying to court a female. So cute and funny.

Working on Several Bird Videos

I have several old bird videos I'm editing together and will hopefully have them uploaded soon. I don't really make as many bird videos as I used to because it's notoriously difficult with my current camera setup. I used to attach my camera to the bird feeder, push record, run inside and wait for birds to come. That is so hard to do and takes up so much memory. When I get a wireless outdoor camera or a camera with a better zoom, I will take some really awesome videos. Recently I've just been taking videos of birds from inside my house. But the videos with my camera on the feeder usually turn out very nice and high quality. I just don't like the autofocus because sometimes the subject/bird is slightly out of focus. I'd like to be able to manually focus so I can get the clearest, sharpest shot. So might look into getting a really nice camera setup at some point.

The Beauty of Evolution

When I see a bird, I think of dinosaurs and the evolution they've gone through. Their legs, feet and talons are so reptilian, but their bodies are very non-reptilian.

Also...

...I am going to make a new blog of a general, anything-goes kind of thing. BTW, I just made this blog's border colors black...OH MY GAWD...DOPE...

Hm, well...

...there is no salt-free peanut butter at the store, or at least at one store. Closest thing was 33% less salt. The tricky thing is not knowing how much is too much for a wild bird. Even though I think it's fine and safe, I really don't like not knowing.

Just saw this Blue Jay...

...with a big peanut in his mouth and he was still able to sing and make calls. Probably a happy little bird that he got a big ole peanut. So cute. He flew off back toward his nest to eat it probably.

I was reading...

...this article on MSNBC about how most penguin species are endangered and facing extinction. It really makes me think how much corporations, fishing and human activity are really destroying this planet. It's all about profit and their own generation and not even thinking about future generations. It's really quite sick. And to top it off, they don't take responsibility for anything. It makes me really want to do something about it, but, you know, corporations are so big and have so much influence because they're able to lobby, bribe and corrupt our politicians with money, so the little guy like me and other people who really care about this place don't have a voice and can't be heard. That's probably why our planet is in such bad shape and going to be even more so in the future, if you can even imagine that.

There was a butterfly...

...on the porch while I was cleaning and refilling the bird feeders with its wings in the upright, vertical position. I sat down next to it, wondering if it was okay and put my hand near it and in front of it, expecting it to fly off and it didn't move at all. I left and went back into the house for something for the feeder, came back out, wrapped up my feeder work, then sat down next to it again and put my hand near it again and looked at the wings closely and it looked like there were small tears in the wings, but for all I know that could be normal, since I never have the pleasure of seeing a butterfly so up-close and personal. I began thinking about what I was going to do with it and making plans to care for it, because if my outdoor cat would have seen that and it didn't move or fly off, it would be so dead. I began wondering what it eats/drinks and was thinking about looking online for more info, when all a sudden it flew off. Just like that, it was gone. It flew pretty well, so that's good to know that it was able to fly and was apparently not hurt, thankfully. Kind of funny I was beginning to think up a big, long plan to save it and it flies off. But a happy ending.

Labor Day Weekend - Fall is Approaching

Well, finally cleaned the bird bath after, eh, I don't even wanna know how long. Now I see birds finally coming back to the bath to drink and bathe, so that's good. Also been cleaning out some of the bird houses. Got a big 25 lbs. bag of black-oil sunflower seeds. Now I just need to get another bag of bird food. Recently I've been using an expensive mix of nuts and fruit instead of the usual bird food mix. They seem to really like the nuts and stuff, just not the raisins, etc., so trying to look for a nut mix at a decent price, or I might just have to go back to the bird food mix of various seeds, cracked corn, black-oil sunflower seeds, etc.

As Fall approaches, this will be new for me since I just got into birds in late Spring and Summer, so it's all new to me and what birds do in Fall, which from what I've read is start caching food for winter, etc. I also just learned recently that birds build nests mainly in the Spring. Just really simple things I had no idea about.

Oh, and I saw the female Cardinal feeding the youngin' again close to the feeder. I could never get tired of watching this, especially virtually up-close with binoculars, it makes you feel like you are right there next to them.

Until next time.

Black Bird Identity

The black bird I thought was a Brewer's Blackbird I think is instead a Common Grackle.

Young Cardinal Getting Fed, Big Bird and Two Little Butterflies ' ' )

I just saw the cutest thing. A female Cardinal got some food from the feeder, flew to a nearby branch and gave some to the young Cardinal that flew with her and the male Cardinal that followed. How cute, a young Cardinal. It's really a cute sight to see. Before this, I've seen the male Cardinal feeding the same young Cardinal before, but at the time I couldn't tell what was really going on, the relation of the two birds, but soon after I looked up on the 'net that babies have gray-/black-colored bills, then getting the red/orange bills later on apparently. The male Cardinal has before, while feeding the young chick, pecked in the direction of the apparent female mate, but that might be normal dominant behavior with males, I'm not sure. Another sign I could tell it was a baby was the wings kind of fluttered. I did manage to take a video of the scene with my binoculars/camera combo but the video quality is so poor, plus low light, it's not even worth posting. Should have used my Canon. Oh well, next time.

Also, about a week ago, I witnessed a big bird, believed now to be an owl after looking on the 'net at wing color patterns, swoop down in my front yard while a Blue Jay was eating at a covered feeder and it came within 5-10 feet away but the Blue Jay flew off in the opposite direction. It was quite a shock and surprise to see such a large bird near my feeders and in my yard, definitely the biggest one I've seen while birdwatching, other than the more common flyover of large birds that are seen from a distance. After it swooped down, it landed on the large tree in my yard, then another tree in the forest close-by. I happened to be looking out the window at the time and ran out with my camera. I took a crappy pic because it had just started to fly off when I snapped it. I should have taken a video instead. Grr. Here's the cropped pic, tho.


One final note, while walking into work yesterday I saw two butterflies, one chasing the other. I never really see two butterflies together like that. It was a cute and beautiful sight to see.