Birds

One of the reasons I started this blog was to document the birds that come and go in my backyard. The posts below detail both the rarities and the ordinary wonders with wings!

Bow Tie’s a-beaking!

January 5, 2010 - Bow Tie has been spending too much time watching Beaky! He’s started to come peck at the window over the front door, just like Beaky. Goldy and Squirt get really excited when they hear the noise and see him hopping around. Happy house cats!!

Cowbirds

December 29, 2009 - While Rich and I were at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge today, these brown-headed cowbirds pigged out at home.

The goldfinches finally arrived!

December 22, 2009 - We got an early Christmas present today when we saw three goldyfinches in the backyard. I even got pictures! It’s frustrating that the migration is so slow and irregular this year, but it makes the first sightings even more exciting. :)

Eagle overhead

November 29, 2009 - I saw an eagle flying over the backyard this afternoon! He was flying really low, so I saw his head and beak in wonderful detail. Unfortunately I had just put the camera inside, or I could have gotten an amazing picture. :-p We’re excited that the eagles are back this year; we finally found their […]

Slow migration year

November 21, 2009 - Finally! Goldy saw some birds in the backyard! The migration has been really slow this year, and we haven’t been seeing very many customers at the feeders. So we were overjoyed to see this flock of brown-headed cowbirds and red-winged blackbirds descend upon the bird feeder. Now if only the goldyfinches would follow suit…

Fat lazy doves

October 3, 2009 - We haven’t been seeing as many birds as usual this year. We have a few resident house finches, a couple of cardinals, and plenty of doves. Carla tells me that she’s seeing baby cardinals, too, but Rich and I haven’t seen them in our yard. So I’ll post a picture of what we see most: […]

Bow Tie is back!

September 30, 2009 - I saw Bow Tie tonight! So now I’m sure that I’ve been hearing him for about two weeks now! (Bow Tie was our yellow-throated warbler visitor from last year. He regularly visits our front feeder after hanging out in Peter’s palm tree.) Picture coming soon… :)

Hummingbird!!

September 4, 2009 - There was a hummingbird in this picture….yep, that’s right, I saw a hummingbird in the bottlebrush tree this morning!!! I was so excited, and ran to get the camera, but it wasn’t there when I came back.

Baby Cardinal

June 13, 2009 - Mr. C brought by his latest offspring to meet me this morning. The baby was so cute to watch, begging his dad for food, and then getting annoyed and lunging at his dad to grab what was in his beak. Don’t worry, Peter and Carla, I don’t think this is Beaky…both daddy and baby were […]

Baby mockingbird

June 8, 2009 - With baby birds starting to venture out of the nest, there’s a lot of extra fussing in the backyard these days. This baby mockingbird was especially vocal!

Mum-mum’s Great Crested Flycatcher

May 16, 2009 - I finally got a picture of Mum-mum’s Great Crested Flycatcher! Although I usually only post pictures from my own backyard on this page, I think it’s worthy to make an exception when I finally capture a decent image of a bird Mum-mum’s been chasing for about a month. ;-) More pictures from this weekend at […]

Cardinals

May 3, 2009 - Today we didn’t see Zorro (our new little black-masked Common Yellowthroat!) but we did see the cardinals in full force.

Zorro the Common Yellowthroat

May 2, 2009 - Maybe the aphids on my roses aren’t such an annoyance…they attracted this Common Yellowthroat, another first-time visitor to the backyard! After several attempts I managed to get some pictures of him. He’s much prettier in person than he ever seemed in the bird books.

Goldy’s duckies

April 25, 2009 - Goldy’s duckies have been hanging out in our yard every afternoon. They go back and forth between our yard and Carla and Peter’s…a drink at their fountain, a snack at our feeders, and then a nap in the shade of the oleander!

Grackle Fly-in

April 21, 2009 - Goldy and Squirt say thank you to Mom and Dad Yarnell for this nifty peanut feeder, which allows felines in screened porches to watch the commotion as big birds vie for the coveted center spot!

Cape May Warbler

April 20, 2009 - A new bird came to visit Goldy tonight – a Cape May Warbler! These birds mostly live in Canada and are only in Florida during winter migration, but we know that a group of them nested at Oakland Nature Preserve a few years ago. So we were very surprised – and excited – to see […]

Ducks in the backyards

April 19, 2009 - Goldy had an exciting visitor this afternoon – three ducks! They looked like they were getting a snack from the feast underneath the feeders. Goldy was glued to the window watching.

Beaky vs. Peter

April 18, 2009 - The score is at least 10 to 1 in the Peter-vs-Beaky saga. The fake snake has ceased to scare off the stupid cardinal, who insists on repeatedly fighting his reflection in Carla’s nice shiny window. So the latest cardinal scare tactic is a new set of screens…good luck, Peter!

Grackle

April 13, 2009 - Mum-mum loves her grackles, and even though I consider them the piggies at my feeder, I must admit that this one is kinda pretty, with the sun on his feathers.

Happy Easter!

April 12, 2009 - Happy Easter! I don’t think yesterday’s picture of the Cedar Waxwings gives the scene justice…there were so many birds!! Here’s another view.

Beaky and his wife

April 9, 2009 - Here’s Peter’s favorite cardinal and his wife. Rich and I call him “Beaky” because he spends his life banging his beak against Peter and Carla’s back window! We think we saw where his nest is in a neighbor’s viburnum. Hopefully those babies will hatch soon and distract him…

Sandhill Crane family

April 6, 2009 - We saw our Sandhill Crane family again and the babies have grown so big already! It was just a few weeks ago that they were fluffy little guys, and now they are almost as tall as their parents. Their heads aren’t red yet, though.

Happy Hatch Day, Pickles!!

April 4, 2009 - I think the goldfinches are migrating earlier this year than they did last year. I’m only seeing one or two at a time these days. This female in full breeding plumage was pigging out at our feeder. Happy Hatch Day, Pickles!!

Palm Warbler

March 26, 2009 - There were great flocks of Cedar Waxwings flying all around the neighborhood this afternoon. I was out with the camera, trying to get some pictures, but the stubborn birds seemed to be camera-shy. But this little Palm Warbler didn’t mind my presence and posed for me quite nicely.

House Finch with oak pollen

March 23, 2009 - The yard really comes alive around this time of year! Literally hundreds of birds pass through, the roses all flush with new growth, the grass is getting green again, and Daylight Savings Time gives us an extra hour to enjoy it all!

Goldfinch with oak pollen

March 22, 2009 - The songbirds love the oak pollen almost as much as Rich’s allergies dislike it! Then in the afternoon we went to visit Missy’s Diner (a.k.a. my parents’ backyard!)   They’ve had a Painted Bunting visiting for at least a month – lucky!!

“Odd Couple”

March 21, 2009 - Flocks of Cedar Waxwings have been passing through the neighborhood. This morning our oak tree was filled with at least 50 waxwings, all doing their shrill whistle call! But when I looked at the pictures, I realized I didn’t just have waxwings in the tree…there were a few female brown-headed cowbirds in the tree as […]