Pop on top, the moon, and Will

Since I took down the BirdBuddy camera, I have to be more creative with finding birds to photograph. This bird house is in need of a complete rehab, truly held together with string (and hot glue, and wine corks for a roof) but the tree swallows still come back to nest there. 

That's Pop Swallow on top while Mom is inside keeping the eggs warm on this chilly day. It is 53° at noon this late in May. I am still holding off on planting my tomatoes...

For the night sky watchers out there: is this Venus next to that little sliver of moon on Tuesday night? I still haven't mastered the art of moon pictures, even with my souped up iPhone.

That's Will impersonating a mandolin. He will be 15 years old sometime over the summer. Other than his hyperactive thyroid, he is doing pretty well. He is still a very sweet boy.

Sunset time, chicks and Pidge

It's getting to be that time of year where the sunsets are prettier than usual, and they are usually pretty darn pretty.

Looking at this pretty sunset picture, I am seeing all kinds of things that still need attention. The painted peeling patio table and chairs need one more coat of paint, but I can only spray them when it isn't windy. It has been crazy windy lately, so windy it blew the ashes out from under the charcoal grill. And then there is that WoodMan who likes to poop on what we now call the poopdeck, the one I had just cleaned off earlier that day.

Hub did just mow the grass, and we had the baby tree people come out and straighten the baby trees, so that all looks good, but I do have to water the gardens again with that hose that I left there...

The teenage chicks are adjusting well to being free. It only took them about an hour yesterday to find their way out into the yard. I am curious to see how long it takes them to follow the rest of the chickens outside the open fence.

My pigeon friend is not adjusting well to the removal of the Birdbuddy. He only had 2 days of free food, and then it disappeared. So sad.

This post is for Sarah at CoopVet. She inspired me to be better about keeping up with the blog!

Big birds, little(r) birds

We got these 3 ISA Brown teenage chicks from Larissa when she decided they had too many for their little coop. We have plenty of room in our big coop, but I was a bit worried about our older hens and/or the young very fresh rooster beating up on them.

So the poor girls have been living in the big dog crate for about 10 days. I finally set them free today when only 2 of the other hens were nearby.

This will be a good test of how well the 5 Olive Eggers will do when I finally set them free from the plastic coop.

I decommissioned the BirdBuddy today. I ran out of sunflower seed, and there is plenty of other food provided by Mother Nature. I was tempted to leave it up longer when yet another species showed up yesterday—a pretty iridescent feral pigeon who came with a friend (in the background on the fence). But the pretty one wouldn't let the other one in, and he cleared out all of the remaining seed, even defending his position from the grackles.

Time to take a break. Grackles, squirrels and pigeons are the main feeders these days. The BB is not coming back until Fall. I have plenty of photos of other species to entertain you with until then.

Cyrus and some other critters

Cyrus is quite content to settle in the tall grass and soak up the sun while I am playing in the garden. Woody, not so much. Usually he prefers to stay inside and nap on his favorite bed.

I made Cyrus the lead photo instead of the cute snake, because I know some of you are not fond of snakes. But I really think this guy (or girl) is very pretty. He was hiding under a water bucket, and when I uncovered him, he just stayed there posing for his portrait.

And even I can find nothing cute or pretty about slugs, but I do very much love this photo of a grackle bringing food to the party. No Tupperware necessary, just carry those little slimers in your beak to share with everyone at the Bird Buddy party.

A bird obsession: Part 4 — Black-capped chickadee

I am still enjoying my expensive Bird Buddy. With some help from the IDs that it provides, and even more help from my David Sibley book, the camera has captured 20 different species. 

That's not counting #21, the squirrel. Cyrus finds great joy in chasing them. Woody doesn't care.

These little chickadees are mostly hit-and-run at the feeder. They usually don't stick around long enough to get their picture taken, but they have been coming around since we first put up the BB back in October.

According to the files, they have visited 204 times, and the camera did manage to catch a few very cute pics.

When I run out of sunflower seed (very soon) I will take down the feeder for a few months, but I will still have enough photos to fill up the downtime. I just need to get better about posting them here.