Claire, I really enjoy the photos you manage to take of birds that I've never had in my garden. Aren't those baby turkeys so cute!? They must be pretty young. You are lucky, you might get to see them grow up.

PM2: I'm sure you've had these birds in your garden. The new brood of House Sparrows has been racing around exploring their brand new world. This morning they gathered on the one bare branch at the top of the winterberry (I couldn't reach it when I was in pruning mode). The branch remains a major staging area for birds.

They also had a wonderful time exploring my gutters but I didn't get a photo.

Claire

It'll be interesting to see if you can watch the poults grow into adulthood - or at least car hood ornament size. Like everyone else, I'm now filling the feeder and suet stations way too frequently. The RB Woodpecker sifts the feeder until he finds a raw peanut or cashew. Meanwhile, as all the feed is bouncing off the saucer onto the ground, the squirrels appear to be praying that the woodpecker stays forever. Of course the fledglings (like yours) are now coming to the feeders.

In my back garden, House Wrens incessantly chirp their alarm whenever I am too near and today I found the reason. They've nested in a fence post where the mortised railing joint has thinned with age. The babies are still inside the fence post nest.

They are in an out of there constantly. Another ad for Walpole, lol.
Jane

Hey, Jane, your fence has a feathered finial!

I've never seen a House Wren, that I know of. Are they always in motion?

Claire

Yes, we do have a lot of sparrows out there right now, Claire. I am just not that great about identifying which are the new fledglings and which are the adults. I'm sure there are a lot of new birds at the feeders. The only ones I can identify are the starlings because the babies are always following their mother around with their mouth open. I love your sparrow bush...lol. It is shaped just like a 'Y' by the way.

Sometimes, there's not that much going on bird wise in the garden. I don't remember this much activity in the winter at all. It is really like a three ring circus out there at present.

Jane, I love your new birdhouse, that's a riot! I love the shot of the wren with the bug in his mouth. You get great photos, too!

You two continue to inspire me. I have a tripod that I just don't bother getting out, but I'm going to have to give it a try one day soon and see if I can't get some decent photos.

Noticeably, Claire, they seem to be in motion more than most of the other backyard dwellers. I caught a few still moments whilst they were in the birch, but from across the street while the neighbor was talking and the Canon showed the shaking sign. Here she is about as peaceful as I've seen her...could be him...both are remarkably plain.

Very vocal birds, Audubon mentions that they can nest in some strange places, "lay 5-8 thickly speckled with brown eggs". How hollow is that post? Two posts down, Chicadees used a hollowed out spade top (hole opening about 1.25 inches) for several consecutive years. I keep repairing the old fence (1981) and wonder why I ever spent a dime on bird houses.

PM2 - FYI, I own a tripod and every time (without exception)I've used it, I've screwed up every picture. Despite the camera being on the tripod, I do not have a shutter release cord, so the act of pushing the button to take the picture negates every thought of stillness. Just 'point and shoot', you'll do well.

Jane

Hmm....I didn't realize that Jane. I wonder if I could use the self timer on the camera? I don't have a shutter release cord either. I try to use whatever is handy to steady the camera so I don't have to drag out the tripod, but so far the only photos I've tried to take of the birds has been from inside the house and I'm feeling like I'm too far away and my camera does have a zoom but I don't like the photos it takes from a distance. I've been too busy in the garden recently to think about taking photos of the birds, but I'm about to take a break from major gardening efforts, with the heat on it's way, so bird photos might be more likely.

That fence does not look that old, Jane. Amazing what paint does to preserve a fence.

Figured the Hummer thread was too heavy to load, so my news is going here. After all the waiting and changing the stale sugar water, I have HUMMERS! No picture yet, but they've come back repeatedly,whizzed around my head a few times, so I am hopeful to get a photo. Here's the beauty: they're babies! No kidding, these little guys are now almost 1/2 adult size, but when I first saw them, they were no more than -max- 1/3 of adult size. Everything is miniature! This morning one finally landed, but when they first came they appeared too short to perch and drink at the same time. Smallest hummers I've ever seen. Anybody else seeing tiny juveniles?

Jane

Jane, that's really exciting. I still have my feeder out, but I am not changing it more than once a week. How often were you changing yours and do you have more than one feeder? That's encouraging, I'll keep changing the nectar and keep my fingers crossed. Baby hummers have to be so tiny. Can't wait for photos!

Glad you've finally got your hummers, Jane! I've never seen juvenile hummers that I know of - they're all so small and they come one at a time so I probably haven't noticed. Maybe I should tape a ruler on the hook by the feeder to measure them. I hope you can get photos.

PM2: I rarely use a tripod, and that's usually only for night shots like Christmas lighting. I'll sometimes brace my elbow on my coffee maker or on a big jar, but otherwise it's just grab and shoot.

On the other scale from hummingbird babies, two of the turkey babies faced the dilemma today of how to get down the granite steps. There's only three steps but that's a huge height for a small bird that probably doesn't fly well yet.

The two stood on the top step and looked around

then one took flight.

The other soon followed and they continued their walk.

In the category of "Why didn't I bring my camera?" I took my own walk this morning. It was intended to be a short quick walk and then home for breakfast but I took a side trip to the edge of the salt marsh and saw a pair of swans with four cygnets swimming in a pool in the marsh about 30 feet from the road. Then a mallard swam out with four ducklings and the two families swam around keeping a close eye on each other. I would have been able to get all of them in one shot barely using the zoom...... sigh.

Claire

Anyone who lives in such a diverse and wonderful natural spot, can't leave the house without a camera! Claire, you absolutely have to have a pocket size Canon. Time to put that out to the Universe! We want cygnet pictures!

I drove by the marsh this afternoon but the tide was higher and the swans were over on the other side, much too far for my camera (which I didn't have with me anyway). This was just a trial run to see if they were still around and where they were hanging out.

I'll try again in a day or so, before the cygnets grow up.

Claire

King of the world!

Granted, it's a rather small world, but it's a start.

Claire

And just to show that I do have mobile features in my garden besides turkeys:

A few days ago I was enjoying my two Iteas that have just started blooming with their blooms intermingling on one side with dicentras.

A number of bees were enjoying the blooms also, including this bee which I think is a carpenter bee. Bigger than a bumblebee.

Claire

Excellent! Those turkeys are in a Perfect world! Doubt that they need more. Cute little guys - and good shots. Yes, those are carpenter bees and interestingly, my dicentras were out in April and then a few weeks ago, a few smaller blooms appeared. Your Itea looks very happy. Wish I had opted for Itea instead of Clethra for a semi-shady spot. oh, well. Still waiting for my camera to meet the little hummers; it's all in the timing. They are gaining weight quickly. Thanks, Claire, good show.

Jane

well, its mobile, but certainly not a feature... at least this probably explains why a new hosta I planted was de-planted twice. I also think I may have spotted a big hole in the ground that might be its home. I need to research and investigate, but I'm procastinating (burying head in sand style).

Skunk? I must admit my first thought was Vietnamese Potbellied Pig, but that didn't seem too likely. The modus operandi certainly fits a skunk. Hopefully it found all the grubs or whatever was under the hosta.

Claire

Lately I've been throwing out peanuts in the shells for the Blue Jays, which is really appreciated. The jays fly back and forth taking the peanuts to undisclosed locations. My jaw aches watching them.

I was surprised to see a chipmunk join the feeding frenzy - it couldn't fly, obviously, but kept carrying the peanuts into the nearby rose/grass/peony bed - back and forth.

Not easy fitting a big peanut shell into a small mouth.

Claire

And orioles! That's apricot jelly in the jar; all nicely color-coordinated. They far prefer the jelly to the orange slices, so there's sometimes a traffic jam on the jelly feeder. The female is feeding here, and the male seems to be trying to lay a guilt trip on her. She didn't buy it and he left. He came back later.

Claire

What great shots! Color coordination is wonderful! It's beginning to look like my invitation to a bird-friendly backyard habitat was accepted by mostly brown birds.

Everybody nesting here is brown: House Wrens, Robins, Sparrows. Even the resident Northern Goshawk - brown. Guess I'll liven things up and go feed the crows.

Jane

Got a lot of brown birds here too - I just watched three adult turkey hens and five poults saunter by (stopping for a drink of water). Grackles everywhere, all brown and black; cowbirds, doves, sparrows ..... The orioles and jays and cardinals and hummers and the occasional flash of a male red-wing are nice accents.

I have to clean out the birdbaths several times daily in this weather. Not a big deal; I take the hose and blast out the dirty water replacing it with nicely aerated seltzer. A good opportunity to hose off the car as well, since it's in the bird flight path.

Claire

These pictures are delightful!!

Claire - that looks kind of like a fledgling Baltimore Oriole on the feeder? I had a BO nest in the Pin Oak right above the feeders/deck this year. They are finished with the nest however, I believe they only have 1 brood per year.

Corunum - those "brown birds" are female and perhaps fledgling House Sparrows. They are an invasive species and very prolific breeders as well as aggressive on feeders and in nestboxes/nesting cavities. They will likely discourage other birds from being around your yard. They are largely despised by birders, farmers, etc.

terrene: You're probably right that the feeding oriole is a slightly older fledgling. A while back I photographed a male oriole shepherding an obvious young fledgling around. This could be that pair with the kid grown older.

I know that House Sparrows can be a big problem in some areas - it simply hasn't been a problem here. Perhaps because I'm in a rural area where the birds have many other options, and because I have many birds larger than them, the House Sparrows don't dominate anything. Their population never gets out of hand.

I also don't put up nest boxes and have no intention of doing so. I'd rather the birds nest where they're out of sight and have a decent chance of survival. That means I miss seeing parents feeding nestlings, but I don't have the feeling I lured them into a situation where the babies get eaten by raccoons, hawks, squirrels, cats, snakes, whatever. There's a lot of native predators out there too.

Claire

Hi Claire, yes there are lots of other predators to the birds out there. Unfortunately I've learned that all too well because after 4 successful broods in the back yard, the Bluebirds' nest got raided by a predator 10 days ago, and the nestlings and female Bluebird disappeared. I think it was a raccoon that got the nestlings and the female probably fled. The male Bluebird is still hanging around and seems intent on finding a new mate and nesting in the snag again. I am planning to baffle the dead tree with sheet metal to keep climbing predators away.

As for House sparrows, they are supposedly the #1 threat to eastern Bluebirds, but that proabably depends on the location. Where they are prolific, you are unlikely to have Bluebirds. House sparrows aren't too bad here (yet), but then I've trapped a few in the Spring and also don't feed the birds much in the summer to discourage the them from being in the yard.

Love all these photos too! Cute peanut lovers and what a crowd at the birdbath! I've never seen a jelly jar holder, those Orioles are something else!

We've been cleaning and refilling the birdbaths at least every day and sometimes twice a day. They really make a mess out of it because they are in it so much. I cringe if I happen to see a bird trying to get a drink from dirty bath water and I just have to go change it. Yuck! lol We have three birdbaths, but one is their favorite that gets the most use. I think the Robins just love water. Every time I turn around they are taking a bath. The cardinals are rarely at the birdbath and I've never seen them take a bath, but the other day a pair flew in to enjoy the sprinkler. They kept flying in and out of a large Cornus that was under the sprinkler. Great on a hot day I'm sure.

We have a lot of 'brown' birds. Some of them are sparrows but I suspect some are wrens. I would rather not have sparrows but I've resigned myself to them. We do discourage them from nesting in the garden. They tried to build a nest in the exhaust from the bathroom fan and we cleaned it out twice and they came back again until we put up hardware cloth over the opening. I don't notice them bullying at the feeders though. Sometimes I see them getting pushed around by larger birds. We still get purple and gold finches, mourning doves, cardinals, chickadees and all the usual.

Here are the pair I would really like to be rid of......

They sit at our back feeder that is a three tube with safflower seed and stuff themselves for 20 minutes without moving. It used to just be a pair but this year they've told their friends and we had five in the yard. I've tried before to stop filling the feeders to get rid of them, but as soon as I start filling them again, they are back.

I found a bunch of bird feathers near the feeder the other day. I was so surprised. That's the first time I've seen that. I didn't see any other evidence of an attack but there were too many feathers for it not to be. I don't know what happened. I wonder since there was not a body, whether it was a cat that took it away or a Hawk.

Finally - a colorful character! More bird/food color coordination! That mini sunflower grew from a dropped seed and this little chap seems appreciative of its being. He shows up often and rides this flower and some "Irish Eyes" rudbeckia.

Jane

PM2 - years ago I heard a little girl on a Long Island ferry tell her father, who was complaining about pigeon poop, that he should be more understanding because (in her words)"Pigeons are people too". Thirty years later, I still remember her when I see pigeons, lol.

Oooohhh pretty! That's funny, the yellow on yellow. We love the gold finches! They used to ride our Cosmos but I haven't grown that in a couple of years and no sunflowers here either. I wonder if that is why some of my echinacea petals are being pulled out. I thought bugs were eating them. That's a cute story of the little girl and the pigeons. I really don't mind the pigeons. When I was young, we lived in the city and I loved pigeons! What I mind is how much they are eating. I just hit a sale yesterday and bought two 25 pound bags of black oil sunflower seed for $15. each. I had to restock. [g] Now I am seeing the chipmunk at the feeder. He can get into the squirrel proof feeder. He just climbs right up and fills his cheeks with as much seed as he can stuff in there, heads home to store it then goes right back to do it all over again. My feeders are not even lasting one day lately.

It is fascinating though, how much life is out there. There are very few times during the day that there isn't some activity. Now the butterflies are joining the birds. It's great! I planted a Cornus racemosa for the birds five years ago and I was hoping it would produce fruit, then I read somewhere that you needed to have male/female and I only have one shrub. Last year it bloomed for the first time, just a few flowers. This year it bloomed more and I think I see fruit developing. I am surprised. I hope that's what it is. I should get a photo. I wonder what birds will eat the fruit? Robins for sure. I haven't seen a mockingbird around this year.

I also bought a new saucer for another bird bath yesterday that was on sale. I couldn't resist, it was a pretty blue color, ceramic and it was square. Very different. I love it.

I saw a bird in the garden last night about dusk, that I have no idea what it was. It definitely wasn't a sparrow, but it was a small brown bird. He landed on a chair about 10 ft away from where I was sitting. It was almost dark, so I couldn't see his markings. He was very vocal making little chattering sounds and his body was moving in these jerking movements and his tail was twitching up and down and his head was moving back and forth checking out the area. I'm wondering if he was a wren. I'll have to check out photos later today.

Still no hummingbirds.

Well, here is one 'other mobile features' [g]. This bug is huge! I don't know what it is and I'm hoping someone else does. Is it one of those bugs that sit in the trees and make summer noises?

Looks like you have a cicada there! Hopefully it's just a casual visit, not a plague of locusts.

----------------------------------------------------------------
PM2: A pile of feathers near the feeder is probably a hawk - they seem to have no compunctions about eating in clear sight. Cats drag the prey into a more secluded area (I could be wrong here).

Jane: Great color coordination. My birdseed sunflowers aren't open yet. I hear the goldfinches in the woods but they don't usually bother to come to the feeders now.

I agree with that little girl - pigeons are people too, and at risk of alienating some - House Sparrows are also people.

Really nasty hot out there today. Yesterday a turkey and a few poults took a break in the shade of my wisteria.

I'm not sure if it's the heat or the aftermath of fireworks, but my bird population is way down. I'm right on the top of the coastal bank and there were fireworks on the beach on either side. Since a lot of birds nest or roost in the vegetation on the coastal bank, I wonder what the very loud, bright display meant to them.

The grackles usually leave around now anyway as the broods get to flying age, and they've been getting fewer and fewer. I still had a number of them chit-chatting away until the day after the fireworks. I think of grackles as New Yorkers (FUHGEDDABOUTIT - WE'RE OUTTA HERE!) Just a few left, looking around wondering where the crowds are.

I miss them, but the feeders are lasting for two days now!

Claire

I could have sworn I posted earlier....oh well. lol
Thanks Claire, I thought cicadas were an 'every seven year' thing? I've been getting them every year for the last three.

A hawk, huh, well, we do see one once in awhile but I've never known one to get any birds in the yard before now. My DH thought the feathers might have been from a pigeon. I haven't seen a problem since then.

I imagine the birds hate the heat too. Unless they're ducks...lol. I've been using the sprinkler a lot and the birds have been really enjoying it. That poor little turkey poult sure looks hot. Did you see the story on the news with a photo of a fawn going through the sprinkler in someone's yard? Really cute.

We have neighbors that usually manage to set off a few fireworks in their yard. *sigh* I was heading out the kitchen door about 9:30pm last night to shut off the sprinkler when they started going off. Nearly jumped out of my skin...lol. They were a day late and mercifully brief.

I just googled cicadas in MA and found this MassAudubon site. Apparently we have both periodical and annual cicadas - the annuals are sometimes called dogday cicadas which sounds very apropos right now. The periodical ones get all the press.

Yesterday I saw what I think was a White-crowned Sparrow on my feeder. I've only seen them once before and that was several years back.

Claire

Pigeons are people too, and I have one, a lost roller pigeon who adopted us about 6 yrs ago and is now a housepet (Hedwig II) but considering the work involved in de-pigeon-pooping her aviary (aka my office) I can thoroughly appreciate the mess that several hundred or thousand can do to a city. But they are a man-made problem.

English sparrows are a man made problem too, but I have less sympathy after fighting a two year war to eradicate them. Even by decimating the sparrow population, I wasn't able to make the environment safe for my bluebirds and tree swallow to nest again. (And nesting far back in the woods is not an option for them. They need to nest in open land at the edge of woods to obtain food and escape predators.) I miss the blue birds.

Claire, your turkey photos are great. I've been loving them. Also I really love the photograph of the goldfinch blending in with the yellow of the sunflower, corunum. That's a wonderful shot.

spedigrees: What a lovely paperweight Hedwig II makes! I thought for a minute of how nice a Christmas tree topper a live pigeon would be, but the droppings would not be so decorative. I hope the pigeon stays away from your keyboard.

Claire

Actually I keep the laptop closed while the bird is loose in the room, but I opened it to photograph the nest my bird built of rubber bands. (Now she has a nestbox annex on her cage and more suitable nesting materials.)

A dove would make a pretty tree-topper for sure, but the rest of the tree and other decorations would suffer as you said!

I just finished scrubbing down our front porch after our baby barn swallows fledged, but now the pair is back and seem to have intentions to raise a second brood. Oh well the fun of watching them grow up is worth 15 minutes of cleaning.

I wondered what the bird was sitting on - rubber bands must make a fairly comfortable, if bouncy, nest.

I have five turkey photos to post (I couldn't bring myself to eliminate any of them), so I'm starting a new thread. I don't mean to cut off the pigeon discussion, but this thread is getting a little long. As I type this I'm looking out the window at turkeys sauntering around the yard near their watering hole.

Feel free to continue to post here if you want.

Claire

My wildlife visitors are either too far away or too quick on the wing for photos, so you'll have to use imagination instead:). Along the back of the yard stand several black cherry trees, whose fruit has been ripening in stages all month. The primary consumers are robins, with an occasional cardinal or oriole dropping by. I allowed the self-sown catnip along the vegetable garden paths to grow this year, as well as some alongside the deck, and observe the seed stalks being visited by groups of goldfinches. Suddenly I realize why the single plant from 20 years ago is now all over our acre! Red bee balm is planted in a whiskey barrel by the deck and is patronized by the hummingbirds every year. The other day, as I sat under a shade canopy on the deck, a female hummer zipped into view, pausing at a day lily blossom, then flew in between the deck posts and hovered about three feet away from me for 5-6 seconds, before flying off. I was wearing a muumuu made from very vividly colored floral fabric--including life size red hibiscus blossoms--so I surmise she was taking a closer look before deciding they weren't the real thing! The same day, I saw a pair of song sparrows apparently courting--lots of flying around after one another, culminating in some activity partly concealed by maple leaves--"what IS that male doing, just sitting there and--oops!" as the female suddenly flew out from behind the leaves and the male took off after her again. You can draw your own conclusions, LOL. And last but not least, robins nested in the white ash tree by my study window for the second year in a row. That particular tree grows clusters of witches' brooms along its branches, which seem ideal for concealing a nest. The day before the eggs hatched, the male aggressively drove off a squirrel which was thinking about climbing the trunk--after a couple of dive-bombing runs, he thought better of it...

I'm happy to hear that hummingbirds like to feed from red bee balm, sequoia. I've seen mine covered in bumblebees a couple weeks ago (so it appears to be aptly named) but nice to know that the hummers may also like to feed there. Funny how I acquired my bee balm as a single stalk accidentally mixed in with phlox of the same hue, and it has spread to a clump 3 times the size of the phlox plants.

Funny about the hummers checking out your attire as a possible edible! I first bought hummingbird feeders when the little birds tried to feed from my hanging baskets of silk fuschia on the porch and I felt sorry for them. I was working a lot of hours then and didn't have time to look after live plants.

sequoia54, you seem to have a very nice wildlife habitat there. I never thought of sowing catnip for the goldfinches!

-and I too would have felt bad about the silk fuschias, spedigrees. Sort of a cruel joke to play on a hungry little bird (I know you didn't intend it that way).

Claire