End of August Update

Found one dead House Finch dead that hit a window on Wednesday. It looked healthy from what I could tell; no House Finch Disease signs around the eyes, etc., but the eyes were kind of closed so I can't be 100 percent sure, but didn't see any redness around the eyes either.

Thursday I saw four baby cardinals at the feeder in various stages with the mother that is molting and has essentially a bald head.

Thinking of various other feeder setups that are spread out from one another. One for cardinals that prefer to eat away from other birds, and also for the House Finches, as some do carry House Finch Disease and I don't want to have them too close together to other house finches or other birds that could get it.

A few recent videos:

Deja Vu

Around this time last year I would see two cardinals feeding the fledgling baby. Now I see a female feeding another fledgling again. There's nothing like seeing parents feeding their young. And now that I see quite a few birds molting, there are some unique identifying marks and can tell birds apart more.

Common Grackles and Blue Jays

Summer Update

A Northern Mockingbird sat at my feeder, seemingly guarding the highly sought-after peanuts, as he often does, but as he or she was, I saw it poop a big one in my sauce cup where the peanuts were. I went outside to clean it up and noticed the poop was red and messy, getting all over my peanuts. I thought, is that blood? Then I came to the conclusion that, you know what, it's probably from eating berries. I might start offering berries at my feeder. I'm not sure what kind I would offer, though. I guess grapes would be the most common. But I did wonder why it pooped in the peanuts. Maybe a territorial marking, or even trying to ruin the rest of the peanuts for the other birds after it's done eating? Who knows.

On an unrelated note, I had jury duty yesterday and was reading a book I got for Xmas, called The Private Lives of Birds. I read a chapter while waiting. It was very enlightening and interesting. I haven't sat and read a book in a while...

After having experienced every season of birding, I now find myself planning for each season. Next spring I am going to offer a bunch of nesting material early, like human hair, pre-packaged moss or other nesting material I can find. Spring went by waaay too fast. I loved the nesting season. Winter will definitely be busy, with a bunch of cold, hungry birds, not to mention all the migrants that come from the north. I find myself already planning for the winter, like where will I put all the feeders, what kind of food to put in each and the layout, for ground feeders especially.

Common Grackles with Injured or Infected Legs/Talons/Feet/Claws

I've had a lot of grackles the past month or so and notice a few with things wrong with their legs or talons. One was missing the entire leg nearly. Another had a closed/clinched talon that doesn't open (saw some time ago) and the one recent one I've been noticing is one that has a completely swollen talon on his left foot, about three times the size of the other unaffected talon of his. It looks really bad. He doesn't put any weight on it either. I've tried to google some info on this and it might be Avian Pox. If I could capture him I would and send him to a wildlife rehabber. I'm not sure how curable or treatable Avian Pox is. I've also noticed two more House Finches with House Finch Disease. I sent one finch off with it to a wildlife rehabber last week, but not sure I'll be able to capture any of these birds unless they're within reach and not moving much like what happened with the House Finch I took to the rehabber.

Kmart Clearance Birdfeeders and Other Bird Stuff...FOR CHEAP

I went to Kmart today and picked up this awesome three-chamber, 12 port bird feeder for $2 dollars! I was shocked. It's normally around $18, and even higher at some online stores. I got home and filled it up and it works perfectly! I don't normally go to Kmart because their prices are too high normally but their clearance can be unbelievably cheap. I highly recommend going their to see if you can find some dirt-cheap deals like I did. Here's a picture I took of the $2 dollar feeder:

Perky-Pet 3221 Grandview Wild Bird Feeder with 12 Feeding Stations

UPDATE 8-9-2011:

I went back and got the rest of what they had, which were three more of the feeders pictured above, and one six-port one, which was only $1 dollar! And I picked up an 18 lbs. bag of premium bird food with nuts, etc. for $9 dollars, regularly around $18. But I went to a few other Kmarts and their prices were sky-high as Kmart usually is. But if you can find the stores with the dirt-cheap clearance items, snatch it up quick...before I do! ' ' )

Hummingbird Chasing Other Small Birds

I've been trying to figure out what it means when a hummingbird chases and seemingly plays with other smalls birds. I couldn't find a lot of information on google about this, other than it chases other birds that are near the hummingbird feeder. Not sure if the "other birds" meant other hummingbirds or just other birds, in general. The other small birds are kind of nearby the hummingbird feeder, about 20-30 feet away in a nearby small tree where other small birds perch before they fly to my porch area where the feeders are (near the hummingbird feeder). When the hummingbirds chase them, the birds seem startled and afraid, trying desperately to get away from the hummingbird. I've just been wondering if it was just some kind of playful game the hummingbird is playing, or if it's trying to defend the nearby hummingbird feeder. Maybe it thinks the other small birds are competition for the hummingbird feeder. I haven't quite figured it out yet exactly.

In other news, it's been very busy at my feeders; a lot of common grackles, blue jays and house finches. Today, though, I saw a grackle with a very large mass/tumor on his right talon/leg. I've never seen anything like it before. I hate seeing things like that on birds at my feeders.

Something I wrote on Walden's Puddle's Facebook

I wanted to share my experience of going to Walden's Puddle for the first time today. Well, the reason I went is because I saw a sick House Finch with House Finch Disease, noticeably where the eyes get red and swollen shut, making it very difficult to see to be able find food and defend yourself from predators. The disease has other things that affect the bird, too.

So I make an appointment by phone. Upon arriving at WP, I notice the driveway is very steep and curvy, not to mention the thin creek you have to drive over near the entrance. So I eventually make it to the main house and there are multiple outdoor cages with animals inside near the parking area. While walking to the house, there are multiple birdfeeders all around. It is so quiet out there in the woods. I loved that. You would hear a chickadee or titmouse calling from time-to-time, though, which was nice to hear a familiar sound. I rang the doorbell (because it says to on a note outside) and we were greeted by a very nice woman. She immediately took the bird downstairs while we are in the waiting/main area. There are cages all around, with cute little wild animals in each of them. They looked so sweet. When I went up to the opossum cage, he was laying in his carpeted cat post, but he got up to come take a look at me. I think that was the sweetest thing. I would have loved to pick him up and hold him in my arms. There were squirrels in hammock-like sleeping areas, a very small owl (the first animal I saw when I entered). I believe I've seen it in pictures online before. It's the one with one eye. It's a surprisingly tiny owl. There were so many wild animals in the room, it was quite overwhelming to remember. It was very exciting to see so many wild animals up-close. After I talked with the nice lady and got a few pieces of papers, someone came in with a baby mockingbird. Only seen one online. It was so cute. The woman before I left said I could look at the outdoor cages, so I did. The first one was a raccoon and it came over to me and put it's front feet on the cage. So sweet. It really did look sweet and precious. I then went to the other cages, most having hawk-type birds, which were cool to see up-close. Then I saw the squirrel. He was burying his nuts and food in the dirt that he was given. That was so cute. The last animal we saw was a turtle in a pond near the parking area. He swam over to me, which was sweet, but due to the rocks wasn't able to climb up them to get closer to me. I kind of felt he was being sweet and wanting love. After that I left. I didn't really want to. I would've loved to have stay out there forever.

I do want to donate and volunteer at some point. I had an incredible experience at Walden's Puddle. And I'm glad I was able to potentially save the life of a bird, and that Walden's Puddle are able to help save and cure the bird of this all-too-common disease in House Finches, and potentially stop the spread to others that could be infected by this contagious disease.

Old Video I Took of Mister Kitty Sleeping on My Birdfeeder

The Summer Molt

Yesterday, I noticed two mated cardinals and two grackles were molting. It's always strange to see. I remember last year around the same time or a month or so later I discovered this strange thing happening with my Blue Jays. I had to google it to find out what was going on back then. I'm sure I'll be seeing a lot more birds molting in the coming months.