Juvenile Bluebird

Yesterday I walked outside and one of the juvenile bluebirds was sitting on the kids' clubhouse. I ran inside and grabbed the camera. He sat there long enough for me to get a couple of shots of him. This was the best one. It's fun to watch the juvenile bluebirds come to my birdbath. There were three or four of the juveniles out there. This was the only one that stayed around to be photographed. Pretty often I'll see the adults come to the water as well. I love living where we get bluebirds!

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.

Fledged

The bluebirds fledged today. I checked the box at 4:30 and they were gone. They couldn't have been gone long. There was still a very fresh dropping on the nest. So, out of two broods, we had six bluebird chicks fledge. Hopefully this is a trend that will continue. I'm going to move the box in my yard to another spot in hopes of getting two pair nesting next year. All that the box in my yard has done is house red wasps. It's a lot of fun to see the bluebirds hunting in my yard. The male and female spend quite a bit of time sitting on the fence watching the ground for insects. I've seen the young birds at my birdbath. It will be fun to watch them mature and learn how to do things on their own over the next few months.

First Day Of Summer

I decided to celebrate the first day of summer by mowing. Real fun! But, it needed to be done. I was just about to finish up when I looked up and a Swallow-tailed Kite flew by. He was low, just over the treetops. I saw him for about five seconds and he disappeared. Then he came back and flew closer to me just over the treetops. He gave me several seconds of great looks at him this time. What a beautiful bird!

There isn't much to report. I haven't had time to go birding on the property. The baby bluebirds continue to grow. I will post some pictures soon. They are 13 days old today. They should fledge today or tomorrow. If they all make it, we'll have six new bluebirds in the world out of that box. I still see the young from the first brood flying around occasionally.

New Property Bird

Yesterday I was outside working on a frame for a movie screen to take to camp. My aunt came over and began to describe a couple of birds that she saw while on her walk that morning. The only thing that came to my mind was Monk Parakeets. While we were talking about it, two Monk Parakeets flew along the road heading west, making property bird #186. I suspect we'll see a lot more of them in the days and years to come. They can join the House Sparrows, European Starlings and Eurasian Collared Doves as birds that aren't supposed to be on our property. Sigh. When will people ever learn that it's not a good idea to mess with nature?

Other than that, the baby bluebirds from brood #1 are doing well. They hang out in our yard quite a bit. They are learning to hunt pretty well. I watch them catch insects by themselves. I don't see them around the male that much anymore, so they're getting more independent all the time. A Roseate Spoonbill flew over yesterday. He was the first of his species that I've seen from the property this year.

I'm slowly getting to my goal of seeing more than the 129 species I saw in 2004. It's summertime now and that typically means slow birding days ahead of me. But, fall migration will be here before I know it.

'08 Birds as of May 29: 126
'04 Birds as of May 29: 105

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!

Just Sitting Around

Today was sort of a Big Sit for me. One of the teens from church came over and we sat in one spot hoping the hogs would come up for the corn I've been throwing out for them. We didn't see any hogs, but there were more birds that I expected. I got a couple of new property birds for the year. A Blackpoll Warbler looked for food in the top of a water oak. He was joined by several American Redstarts, Black-throated Green Warblers and a couple of Magnolia Warblers. An Eastern Wood Pewee entertained me by showing off his flycatching skills. I saw a large, black bird fly over and he called. I quickly identified him as a Fish Crow which was the first of those for the year. One thing that really excited me today was a male Painted Bunting singing his territorial song. I've always wondered why I didn't hear Painted Buntings singing on the property since we've got great habitat for them. Looks like we've got at least one nesting now!

Birds Seen 5/17/08 (33 species): Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Cattle Egret, White Ibis, Red-shouldered Hawk, Killdeer, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Mourning Dove, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Common Nighthawk, Chimney Swift, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Eastern Wood-Pewee, White-eyed Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay, Fish Crow, Purple Martin, Barn Swallow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, Eastern Bluebird, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Black-throated Green Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, American Redstart, Northern Cardinal, Painted Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird

'08 Birds Seen as of 5/17: 124
'04 Birds Seen as of 5/17: 105