Backyard Happenings
16th April 2014
With springtime beginning, and then a cold freezing night last night, I wondered how all my backyard birds would fair, especially the two hummingbirds that have been feeding for a couple of weeks. Not to worry, they were there at the feeder bright and early. I love to watch the feeders early every morning from the kitchen to see if a new visitor shows up in addition to the usual cardinals, finches,bluebirds and now the red-winged blackbirds.
The Eastern bluebirds are my favorite, they have been nesting in our boxes for a few years now. This morning the male watched from the feeder as the female landed below in the yard. no sooner had she landed than a mockingbird swooped down and flogged her. She held her on and came back immediately. As I watched her turn her head from side to side, I saw what had her attention. A big juicy worm, worth fighting for. A couple of tugs and she has him out of the ground and in her beak, headed for the house.
We have had a variety of woodpecker in the backyard, Red-bellied, downy, hairy, and even an occasional Pileated. Two years ago I began seeing several Norther Flickers in the back. This morning I heard a loud pecking in the front yard. When I looked out a Flicker was working away on the bottom of a tree trunk. She is still feeding around the tree so hopefully they will be nesting there this season. The temperature is recovering nicely and SPRING HAS FINALLY SPRUNG!
The Eastern bluebirds are my favorite, they have been nesting in our boxes for a few years now. This morning the male watched from the feeder as the female landed below in the yard. no sooner had she landed than a mockingbird swooped down and flogged her. She held her on and came back immediately. As I watched her turn her head from side to side, I saw what had her attention. A big juicy worm, worth fighting for. A couple of tugs and she has him out of the ground and in her beak, headed for the house.
We have had a variety of woodpecker in the backyard, Red-bellied, downy, hairy, and even an occasional Pileated. Two years ago I began seeing several Norther Flickers in the back. This morning I heard a loud pecking in the front yard. When I looked out a Flicker was working away on the bottom of a tree trunk. She is still feeding around the tree so hopefully they will be nesting there this season. The temperature is recovering nicely and SPRING HAS FINALLY SPRUNG!
