The TJTwitter

[hazelrunpack]

But then he'd have to fight giants and somehow I don't think Sandman is that motivated at this stage in his life.

[hazelrunpack]

Our hummers at dusk:

[hazelrunpack]

Originally Posted by luckypenny

Sweet dreams and lots of smoochies to all the fuzzbutts from me .

Consider it done at this end.

Sleep well, LP. Sweet dreams to you, too!

[Dee-O-Gee]

Originally Posted by luckypenny

Bean stalks .

YES!!! Now we know Sandman's real name.....JACK!

[Dee-O-Gee]

Originally Posted by hazelrunpack

Our hummers at dusk:

Attachment 74810

Oh Hazel...I'm so jealous!

Do you ever clean your feeders with bleach? I read to clean them at least once a month with a 1/4 cup of bleach to 4 quarts water?

[hazelrunpack]

I clean them every time I empty them with a little white vinegar and water, scrub them with a hummingbird feeder mop, and rinse well. I normally don't bleach them until I put them away at end of season unless I see a buildup of icky stuff in the reservoir.

[chico2]

Beautiful pics everyone
LP,I am happy for you starting bird-watching-feeding,it's sooooo rewarding and fun..

[Claudia36oh]

Originally Posted by hazelrunpack

Our hummers at dusk:

Attachment 74810

Wow Hazel, I counted 18 hummingbirds, love those little birds but I don't get that many on my feeder, there is always one that chases the other's away

[hazelrunpack]

We have 2 or 3 of those feeders up and they're all that busy. The birds are feisty but mostly peaceable. The trick is that when there are so many birds and so many ports to the nectar, one bird can't defend the nectar, so none of them do. There are little spats and chases, but by and large the hummers just tolerate one another and everyone gets a chance to eat.

[Claudia36oh]

cool gotta get me some more feeders

[Dee-O-Gee]

The baby Orioles are now being schooled on how to eat grape jelly!

Daddy Oriole had his baby up on the feeder a couple times today and plucked grape jelly down the baby's throat. Soon after, the baby hopped up onto the lip of the container and started feeding himself!

I didn't get any pictures. I was too amused with the quick sighting and just wanted to enjoy and watch them. It was so pretty.

[hazelrunpack]

Sweet!!!

In more ways than one, I guess!

[ownedbycats]

All these hummer pics were amazing. (I forgot to check in until I had something to post and fell waaaay behind in commenting.) Any chance of pictures of the grape jelly eating lessons?
I saw a red tail on a billboard level with a bridge near my house yesterday and got one really good picture and lots too blurry to post. There was a robin on a tree below the billboard alarm calling non-stop. He eventually couldn't take any more and started dive bombing the hawk, even landing briefly on the opposite end of the billboard at one point. The hawk, swiveling his/her head around, watched then went back to preening. I spent almost half an hour watching before I decided I had to go home and feed the animals whose breakfast was already overdue, and when I left the hawk was still sitting on the billboard and the robin was still perched in the bare top branches giving the alarm call at the top of its lungs.

[hazelrunpack]

That last shot is gorgeous, obc!!!! What a magnificent bird!

And the robin shot is funny--that's just what it's like when they're mobbing--constant motion! Silly bird, though--red-tails eat primarily rodents, so Robin was probably safe.

[ownedbycats]

Rodents, really? That bridge has a ton of pigeons that visit and live underneath, I thought maybe that was what was attracting the hawk. I like the pigeons, nice to know they are likely safe. That robin was asking for trouble, I couldn't believe the hawk would keep ignoring him. the tree he/she was in was full of green shady hiding places, and yet it was perched way out on the end of the only bare dead limb, where it would have been eadily seen/snatched. If red-tails eat mainly small mammals that must be why the robin got ignored.

[hazelrunpack]

Yep. The birds here don't even send up alarms when the red-tails and broad-wings fly overhead, but man do they yell if the Cooper's, Sharp-shinned, Merlin or Shrike are around!

On a different topic, I've been trying to get caught up in my editing--I'm working on February images now. In my defense, I started shooting in RAW format about then and had to learn a new photo-editor. It's taken me a while to get familiar with it. So it's not all laziness!

Anyway, I found this image of a February white-breasted nuthatch--do you see the snow flake on her head?

[chico2]

WOW obc,that Hawk is stunningly beautiful,I've only seen one once and he was high up in the sky.
As soon as it gets snowy here,I'll get Hawks every day again and they certainly feed on my pigeons

[hazelrunpack]

We've had a young Cooper's hawk come through almost every day trying for mourning doves. So far I think he's only caught one dove, but it was encouraging enough that he keeps trying. Yesterday I was out watching hummingbirds and I heard a thump and crashing about in the brush. I thought it might be squirrels, but all of a sudden the Cooper's hawk stuck its head up out of the thicket, saw me, and took off without a bird. The noise was another missed strike! Must be a steep learning curve, luckily for our doves!

[hazelrunpack]

Now that the heat has broken, the February pictures are looking less inviting and just plain cold to me. Here's a few more:

Goldfinches swarming the thistle feeders during a snowstorm:


One of these things is not like the other... Remember that from Sesame Street? A male purple finch hanging out with American goldfinches:


An American tree sparrow looking for food in a snow shower:


And now things are getting warmer, cuz I'm done with February pics and have moved into March

[ownedbycats]

Chico2, I've never seen a wild redtail this close before, and since my presence didn't seem to bother him/her I just kept taking pictures. The bird kept preening in front of me, andyway, and I don't think birds groom when they feel uncomfortable. The only other redtail I've seen this close was one a wildlife rehabilitator had for an educational show they were doing at the fair.

[hazelrunpack]

Something a little more current: Hummers from July:

[hazelrunpack]

A male house finch from April:

[hazelrunpack]

From June, a gray catbird:


A female red-bellied woodpecker showing off both her brilliant nape and the reason they're called 'red-bellied':


A chipping sparrow taking a brief break from feeding babies:

[ownedbycats]

hazel - those hummingbird pictures are stunning particularly the first and last ones of the post.

[hazelrunpack]

Thx, obc! We're inundated with them this year--hundreds of them are passing through. It's actually hard to go out warbler watching cuz the hummers keep distracting the eye. So when I can't focus on the warblers, I stalk the hummers instead.

[Dee-O-Gee]

Love your Hummer stalking Hazel!

We haven't had very many finches around our feeder lately. They tend to show up later on in the season.

[hazelrunpack]

We only see house finches twice a year--they come through but they don't stay. The purple finches with the conjunctivitis arrived with the house finches this year.

The goldfinches and purple finches are starting to come back to the feeders now. Haven't seen the house finches again, but they usually don't show up till later. I hope they don't bring more conjunctivitis with them.

[Dee-O-Gee]

Interesting!

How do you know the finches carry conjunctivitis?

[hazelrunpack]

When house finches were introduced to the east coast from the pacific west, they were exposed to an organism that causes conjunctivitis. The house finches are the birds most often affected by it. Luckily, most of the finches that evolved in the east have pretty good immunity to it, but it's extremely contagious and all the finches can be susceptible to it.

I think the purple finches that had it here were actually hangin' with the house finches. Likely they contracted it from close contact with the house finches in their travels. But they knew when they had it good and there were other purple finches here, so when the house finches moved on, the purples stayed. The fem died of the disease--probably picked off by a predator while she was in the blind-in-both-eyes stage. The male, however, appears to have recovered. Last time I saw him, one eye was normal again and the other only slightly affected.

[luckypenny]

I'm a little stumped with the breed of bird this one is. A night bird of some sort?? Went to fill the feeders this evening (too much in a rush to remember to do it in the mornings lately) and my hand brushed against this fella as I was taking the bird feeder off the hook. I can't believe he didn't move while I ran into the house (after getting over the shock of touching him) and out again with the camera.

So, any guesses ??