Slow Summer Days

I've been outside quite a bit the past few days that I've had off and not much is moving around these days. The White Ibis still fly over with great regularity. I just wonder if they're having a population explosion because I don't recall ever seeing this many of them, except in the past couple of years. There are juveniles in the flocks now. A Downy Woodpecker is in our yard quite a bit. I've never seen them with regularity in the yard, so that's kind of fun. The young bluebirds are still hanging out in the yard. It seems that they are getting the hang of foraging and taking care of themselves. I see the male around pretty regularly. One of the most exciting things that happened is a Yellow-billed Cuckoo showed up in the trees to the west of our house on Saturday. I was sitting at our dining room table and saw him fly in and perch on a power line. There was no doubt what he was. I grabbed my binoculars just to get a good look at him.

I cleaned my birdbath and put some bricks in it that make the water depth about 1/2 inch. That should be better for the birds than the two rocks I had in there before which were kind of slick and didn't give the birds a good place to stand in the water. I'm really hoping the fall migrants find it and use it. The Baltimore Orioles used it quite a bit last year. Fall migration will be on us before we know it. I'm looking forward to it. I'm still three short of tying my 2004 number. I should be able to get it pretty easily. I'll be able to pick up a couple of the warblers that I didn't get in the spring as well as Baltimore Orioles. I didn't get one last year, but in years previous I have gotten an Olive-sided Flycatcher.

Also, it won't be long until the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds come through on their southward migration. It's usually the end of August that they start getting really thick around my feeders. I'll put one feeder out in a couple of weeks to see if any of them are hanging around here early. In case you haven't seen it, here is a video I took in 2006 of the hummingbirds at my feeders.

Dog Days of Summer

There hasn't been much to report from the property lately. Some of the most exciting things has been watching the male bluebird lead the three young ones around to teach them how to hunt. They sit on our fence pretty regularly and watch the ground below. All three of them seem to be doing really well. The second nesting is well underway. We've got five eggs again. We hope all five hatch. They should hatch sometime between June 5 and June 7. Amberlyn predicts the 6th and I predict the 7th.

White Ibis still continue to fly over in large numbers. Seems that everytime I'm outside there are several flocks that fly over.

I hope to get out for a little bit on Friday or Saturday to see if I can find that Painted Bunting that was singing. That would be pretty cool to know they're nesting on the property.

I head out to camp on June 1 where I'll be surrounded by Golden-cheeked Warblers, Bewick's Wrens, Ladder-backed Woodpeckers and Zone-tailed Hawks. It'll be pretty cool!