The hummingbird numbers took a dramatic turn yesterday. For a week or so, anywhere from 50 to 100 hummingbirds were around my feeders. Yesterday that number was down to about 20 or 25. This morning there were fewer than 20. It's always a little sad for me to see the hummingbirds go away. I love watching them at my feeders. Here's a video of what they looked like on the morning of Sept. 20. It's pretty low light because is was just before 7:00 am, shot through the glass on our back door and into the sun. But, it was a spectacular sight!

One of the first signs of cool weather showed up in my yard in the form of about 200 Common Grackles feeding in my yard. I was always told that when the grackles begin flocking, cooler weather is close behind. For those who still don't have power, I really hope that's true for them! I'm looking forward to cooler weather and the winter migrants coming into the area. There are several winter migrants that I need to add to my year list.

I had another White-winged Dove in my yard on Sunday. I'm seeing them more regularly now. I know from hearing from others about them that one day I'll wish they were all gone from my yard, but for now it's kind of cool to see a bird that isn't usually there.

I am still at 132 for the year on my property list. As of September 22, 2004, I was at 120. I will have a harder time birding on the property. It is next to impossible to walk in several areas in the woods because of Hurricane Ike. There are trees and limbs down everywhere. We don't have thick woods anymore. Maybe it will look different when the trees leaf out again and their foliage is full again. But from what I saw when I walked in the woods on Saturday, it is thinned out considerably. I have decided that I'm going to use the winter to cut a trail to all my favorite places on the property that way I can walk all the way around without ever having to leave the trees. Hopefully I can have it done before spring migration gets here.

Property List Goal Surpassed!

Hurricane Ike brought some unwelcome problems to our lives. Cleaning up limbs, trees and shingles has dominated most of my time over the past week. I'm still not done. As bad as it was for us, it definitely was worse for others. However, the cooler weather and lower humidity after Ike was a welcome relief. I was forced to be outside more over the past week and got to do quite a bit more birdwatching than I would have done otherwise. Because of that, this week I surpassed my 2004 number of species seen on the property. In 2004, I saw 129 species. I began 2008 with the goal of seeing more species than I did in 2004. I added the following birds over the past week to my 2008 list:

• Ring-billed Gull on 9/13
• Herring Gull on 9/16
• Chuck-will's-widow on 9/18
• Olive-sided Flycatcher on 9/19
• Baltimore Oriole on 9/19

That brings my total to 132 species on the property in 2008. There are still several species I didn't see on the property this year, so the total definitely has potential to go higher. I guess my goal now is to get to 140 species by the end of the year.

The hummingbirds have really come in large numbers now. The past three nights have seen 70 to 80 hummingbirds around my feeders in the evening. I have to make nectar everyday to fill the feeders. It will be much easier now that the power is back on and I can get water from the faucet.

Speaking of hummingbirds, I had a very interesting experience. I was sitting in my living room one morning drinking my coffee watching the hummingbirds at the feeders. All the sudden, a large bird swooped in and the hummingbirds scattered. The larger bird flew to a tree behind the feeders. I grabbed my binoculars and it was a Loggerhead Shrike with a hummingbird in its beak! It shook the hummingbird a few times and then flew off toward my neighbor's yard. I lost it then. Last year a shrike tried to catch the hummingbirds with no luck (that I saw anyway) but this one definitely had one. While I hated to lose one of my hummingbirds, it was neat to see the display!

Every night I've heard a Barn Owl screeching. It's amazing what you hear when you have to sleep with the windows open. Now that the heat and humidity are returning, I'll take the air conditioning!

Hurricane Ike and Hummingbirds

With Hurricane Ike bearing down on us, I've taken down all my bird feeders. The birds still come checking for food. I've taken down all my hummingbird feeders except for two. I'll take those down tonight before the winds get too strong. The hummingbirds are swarming those feeders. There are probably 15 to 20 of them out there right now. It's fun to watch them. I wonder if they have any idea of what's about to hit them tonight and in the morning. I'll watch the winds and put the feeders back up as soon as I feel it is weak enough where it won't knock them off. After Hurricane Rita, the hummingbirds absolutely swarmed my feeders. But, Rita hit to the east of us giving us north winds, so it will be interesting to see how a hurricane hitting to the west of us bringing south winds affects them. Hopefully we'll be able to find out Saturday afternoon.

One Step Closer

I'm one bird closer to beating my 2004 property list of 129. It's not because I saw a new bird recently either. I created a checklist for the property and ran a report of the birds I haven't seen this year. One of the birds that came up was Eastern Kingbird. I went back in my blogs and saw one in the spring - and have the pictures to prove it. So, I'm at 127 now with four months to go. I keep watching for Baltimore Orioles in the trees, but no luck so far.

If you haven't seen it already, check out my hummingbird video I put on YouTube. You can access it here. For some reason when I made the original file, the sound messed up and I didn't realize it until I had already uploaded it to YouTube. It's still pretty cool to watch.

Will They Eat It All?

When I worked at Wild Birds Unlimited, we told people repeatedly that birds wouldn't eat many of the seeds in the commercial bags of seed. We told them that they wouldn't eat seeds like milo, wheat, oats and others. We didn't have those seeds in our mixes. I have several Eurasian Collared-Doves around. They are large birds. I figured there was nothing they wouldn't eat. So, I bought a bag of mixed seeds from Wal-Mart and started putting it out. The ingredients are oil sunflower seed, millet, corn, milo and wheat. The Eurasian Collared-Doves are around the feeders most of the time. I've even had White-winged Doves there, thinking they would eat just about anything too. Well, about 3/4 of the way through the bag, the advice we gave at WBU was absolutely correct. Milo and wheat are covering the bottom of my tray feeder and my ground feeder. I got my binoculars out this morning and watched the doves eating and saw them picking through the milo and wheat trying to find some of the other seeds. I do have quite a bit of milo sprouting around my feeders giving it a nice green look! No doubt the rats and mice are enjoying the milo at night. Maybe the screech-owls and snakes are enjoying the rats and mice. So, no more mixed seed from Wal-Mart unless it doesn't contain milo and wheat. It's a waste of money.

Five Years

Today marks five years since we moved back to Cove. I was pretty excited to move back and be able to go birding on our property here. We moved down on Sept. 1, unpacked things and returned the U-Haul on Sept. 2 and then I finally went birding on Sept. 3. I saw my first property warbler that day - a male Canada Warbler still in full breeding plumage. I saw 22 birds that day. I was pretty excited and looked forward with great anticipation to the hummingbirds and spring migration. In the five years we've been here, I've seen 186 species of birds on the property. Here are some of the highlights over the past five years of birding on my property.

The Ruby-throated Hummingbirds swarm my feeders each fall. They literally look like bees around a hive at the feeders. I went through 55 lbs. of sugar in 2004 when I had 75 to 100 birds around my feeders every morning. I was filling my feeders everyday, including my 96 oz. Perky Pet feeder.

April 25, 2007 will always be special to me because I saw a male Black-throated Blue Warbler on the property mixed in with a multi-species warbler flock. That was one bird that I had always looked at in my books and wanted to see. I always assumed I'd have to go to the Atlantic flyway to see one. But, on that day, one perched in the top of a 25 ft. tallow tree and gave me some great looks at him.

The next day was very exciting to me as well. In the springs of 2004, 2005 and 2006, I didn't see any Kentucky Warblers. I couldn't figure it out because they nest here and we have great habitat for them to nest. Wondering what could top seeing the Black-throated Blue Warbler the day before, I went out birding. I was walking along the gully and saw some movement on the ground across the gully and there was a male Kentucky Warbler. As with most birds, I saw Kentucky Warblers everywhere after that! I learned their song and have heard them singing on territory in the past two springs.

When we moved in, I put up two Eastern Bluebird boxes with the hopes that a pair would pick one and nest in it. In 2006, a pair built a nest in one, but was usurped by a House Sparrow. They nested in one of my Purple Martin gourds. The day the chicks hatched a House Sparrow threw them out of the nest and took it over. My trap followed close behind and that House Sparrow is no longer with us. In 2007, there was another nesting attempt in the box in my aunt's yard and this time it was successful. They had one brood in 2007 and two in 2008. I am rewarded by seeing them fly into my yard to feed. The juveniles are all over the place!

Spring migration is a highlight each year. As of 2008, I have seen 30 species of warblers on the property. It's incredible to see the activity here. By comparison, I have seen only 20 species of warblers at High Island since we've been back. Granted, I spend a lot more time birding on my property.

The number of birds that I have verified that nest here is pretty impressive. Hooded Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, Great Crested Flycatcher, Red-eyed Vireo, Summer Tanager, Northern Parula, Painted Bunting, along with all the resident birds. It's great walking in the woods in late May and June and hear all of them singing on territory.

I'm looking forward to the next five years here. Hopefully I can get the other 14 species I need to get to that 200 number. It's going to be tough and probably require me to see some rarities, but I'll keep my eyes open.

This is a short video of the dominant female Ruby-throated Hummingbird at the feeder on the west side of my house. She has just returned from chasing a male RTHu and leaves in just a few more seconds to chase another bird. It was hot outside and she's panting with her beak open.