Look! A bird!

[professor_pat]

Woohoo—or rather, Who-cooks-for-you—I get to be the one to restart the birders' thread in the new Fora!

After getting increasingly jealous of postings in our regional birders' email about their sightings of Rufous Hummingbirds, I've finally gotten to see some in my own backyard! A female and then a male have been showing up at my feeders. I've also had visits from both a male and female Black-headed Grosbeak. I've been hearing Western Tanagers in the woods around my house but haven't glimpsed any yet.

In other news, a trio of Band-tailed Pigeons have been hanging around and I'm pretty sure there's a nest hidden somewhere. I love hearing their cooing.

Who's arrived recently in your neighborhood?

[turing_complete]

Birds that hang around our feeder include chickadees, sparrows, and finches (house and gold), mourning doves, grackles, cardinals, and we're always happy to see the pair of downy woodpeckers.  We've occasionally seen a cowbird.  Sometimes a bluejay.  And this time of year, there are pairs of ducks wandering around people's front yards.

[happylittletrees]

A new thread inspires me to figure out what we have hanging around the yard. We have a pair of hummingbirds plus most of those listed by turing_complete. We also have a pair of pileated woodpeckers and an occasional appearance by a kestrel, although we haven’t seen it since the winter. We have trouble with birds smacking into our picture windows. Any suggestions to prevent that?

[turing_complete]

We tried a few different things, but this one seems to have stopped it completely:

The Warning Web

[Thursday's_Child]

My sliding glass door has a warning web on one side and a diving falcon on the other - they have both worked well for years.  If you need a temporary something quick and don't care about looks, try making a lattice from painters or masking tape.  Lots of things work - it can be anything at all so long as it lets them know there's something there to avoid.

[mamselle]

One place I worked had a breezeway that had sand littlecsplats every now and again. They did a sort-of lattice (or diagonal matrix) of paper-cut-outs of birds which apparently worked out well.

One of the day care classes on-site was tasked with cutting out all the birds that summer...

M.

[happylittletrees]

Thanks for the suggestions. Our windows will be sporting new decor very soon.

[Thursday's_Child]

I have goldfinches!  They don't seem to visit the feeder - the old seed heads of coneflowers and such are preferred.

Other recent sightings include a blue-gray gnatcatcher.  I usually spot them by first thinking they're a titmouse and then realizing that the activity pattern is wrong.  T-mice don't skitter through the branches after bugs like these do.

[mamselle]

I love seeing goldfinches.

They fly as if they were on swings.

M.

[nebo113]

Twice, hummingbirds have gotten their long beaks stuck in window screen.  Both times, they backed out. 

[mamselle]

Speaking of goldfinches...a treeful of cheery, chatty little yellow-feathered bodies were flitting around my head as I left the library yesterday.

I smiled.

M.

[backatit]

I LOVE goldfinches. We are currently inundated with the baby cardinals, which, while adorable, is also fraught. They are attempting suicide every time I let the dogs out, and the dogs are acting like there is a buffet on order for them - gah!

The bats, otoh (not birds, but still flying) are having a field day with the mosquitoes after the recent heavy rain. I really like watching them - I swath myself in mosquito netting and sit out by the pond at dusk so that I can hang out with them.

[mamselle]

Upside down?

Like Stellaluna?

   https://www.amazon.com/Stellaluna-25th-Anniversary-Janell-Cannon/dp/0544874358/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=stellaluna&qid=1566337594&s=books&sr=1-1

;--}

M.

[backatit]

I wish, but that makes me dizzy :D. I mostly just watch them swoop over the pond.

I'm installing a couple of bat houses in the maple trees this year - we seem to have a lot of bats but given the mosquito population we can never have too many...

[nebo113]

I wish, but that makes me dizzy :D. I mostly just watch them swoop over the pond.

I'm installing a couple of bat houses in the maple trees this year - we seem to have a lot of bats but given the mosquito population we can never have too many...

I installed a bat house according to guidelines, and I've seen bats (I live in the country) but alas, they spurn my offered lodging.