From The Beach To The Mountains

 I left the beach yesterday morning.

Most people don’t seem to make it out before 11. So from 6 am until 10 I can be pretty alone. 

There were some birds, 

Goodbye beach for this trip. 

Golden Boy (not his name) is filling out. 

Then for the evening Joe and I went to the bluegrass night at Chautauqua. 

The head line band wasn’t exactly bluegrass. I made the comment that if someone came wanting to hear bluegrass they might be disappointed. 

Joe’s reply was “they have the same instruments but they make a different racket.” But they were still good. 

But I had left 90 degree weather to come back to 60’s. 

Good thing I dressed for it and had a blanket in the car. 

Trees And Birds

No, the birds are not in the trees.  The trees are on the fence again.  Maybe you remember this tree from last year (HERE)

Well, another part of the tree fell over the same spot in the fence.  

This is on rented land but we have to keep up the fence.  A neighbor drove by and said he would take the wood but he didn't offer to help get it off the fence.  There was a lot of cutting and eventually a tractor was involved. 

But Joe got it done as usual.  

Now there are just 2 trunks left to fall.  

On the bird front, my bird box that had the camera has birds but  no camera.  Ants had gotten into it and I gave the replacement bird house away at Christmas.  But I can open the side and hold my phone over the nest for a picture.  Not sure how many are there.  They are tree swallows.  

And a surprise find inside one of my grapevine balls.  

A mockingbird nest with 3 eggs!  So, if a bird in the hand beats 2 in the bush, what does 3 in a ball get?

First Hummer

I was sitting at the kitchen table yesterday when I saw a hummingbird at the irises off the back deck.  I yelled “it’s a hummer, my first hummingbird”. 

I went directly to the garage to get the hummingbird feeder. I think he appreciated the sugar water.  

Birdfy Update

As you can guess, I was a little worried about getting a refund for my mystery shopper experience. 

I had to follow the links to purchase the product then set it up and review it on Kohl’s wedsite. 

After that I had to send a screenshot of the review and a copy of the invoice on how much I had spent. 

All of this was over two holidays so 3-5 business days turned into over two weeks. 

I have been enjoying the videos of the birds and the ability to check out the feeder live. So I had sort of resigned myself to the idea that I just bought myself a present. 

 But guess what, the refund came through. As an added bonus, because I had purchased it at Kohl’s, I had $20 in Kohl’s cash to spend.  So not only did I get a free Birdfy bird feeder, I got a new shirt!

Thanksgiving Is Coming

I saw a treat leaving for work last week. 

There were several turkeys just milling around.  

They never acted spooked.  A couple went over the fence but most just went back and forth until they found a way through.  

Looks like they have another month to learn how to hide better.  

And…They’re Gone

Remember back on July 2nd we had 4 tree swallow babies. 

I ended up not putting the Birdfy camera back in the nesting box because I had found an ant nest in it. 

Apparently, ants are not particularly good for electronic devices and it had stopped working.  I think it is still under warranty so I need to make a call about that. 

Anyway, there has been a lot of activity at the bird house the last few days. 

There were definitely four still on Friday. 

But Saturday looked like only three. 

Today I checked and they were gone! After seeing the first batch of six all die I was trying to not get my hopes up too much.  I’m glad I could witness this success. 

On The Beach - Not The Book.

Most would not understand the book reference but it was something I read in high school (not for school but enjoyment) and it has always stuck with me.

Anyway, I am at the beach!  Keiran and Emily were coming so I thought I would try to join them. Two of my sisters came too.  Sadly, Joe did not come. He felt there was too much to do on the farm to be able to get away. 

Emily and Keiran went for a walk today and said there were hardly any birds. I went later in the day and said I saw several.  These are laughing gulls and willets. 

But the surprise bird was this parrot.  I have seen someone walking a cat on the beach before (you can read about that  HERE) but this was the first person walking a bird.  We had a good conversation. Here is a link to a website they are starting about wildlife. It was a very interesting conversation, with the man and the bird.  The bird had quite the vocabulary. 

 But the bird was not the only unicorn on the beach. There was this actual unicorn. No telling what will happen tomorrow 

Ten days ago I checked the bird box and saw 4 eggs. I have taken the camera out of the box because ants had set up house keeping in it. But the birdhouse has a side panel that drops down for easy viewing. 

Then I can just hold my phone over the nest for a picture.

Sunday I checked and 3 eggs had hatched

Emily checked in on the nest yesterday and said there were four baby birds. 

Some of her past jobs entailed checking bird nests and obtaining blood samples. I said I did not need blood or any DNA testing. 

The only thing cute about the baby bird was the fuzzy feathers starting to come in on top of its head. 

 Maybe this brood will work out better than the last. 

Ant Barrier

Ants found my hummingbird feeder and were keeping the hummingbirds away. I didn’t want to give up on the feeder so I googled how to keep ants out of it. 

I found a good YouTube video on making water moat. 

A pop bottle, coat hanger and hot glue did the trick. 

 Now the hummingbirds are back and happy with the ant free feeder. 

Yet Another Loss

My Birdfi camera stopped working Thursday.  I thought the adult birds were making so many trips in and out that the solar panel couldn't keep up with the camera charge.  So Friday, I got an extension cord to plug in the charger.  When I opened the box I thought, "wow, those little birds are like rabbits and have just froze to protect themselves from a predator"  Then on second thought, that just didn't seem right.  So I took a closer look.  They were all dead.  

I don't know what happened.  It had been pretty warm Thursday so over heating could have been a possibility.  Emily said bird numbers are decreasing, especially Tree Swallows because of pesticide use.  Whatever the cause, it is very depressing.  Emily suggested cleaning out the box and the parents might try again.  And it looks like they are.  I will hope for a better outcome.  

 

Moving Around

All 6 are still there.  They are moving around a lot more now. Joe killed the 6 foot long black snake that was making his way towards the bird house.  The flower beds are safe again for Sadie and the rabbits.  

 

Hatched

Remember the six eggs,

Here they are the morning of May 21.

Then around 9:30 this started happening. 

Mom was there to help clean up.

 But on the 22nd it still looked like there was an egg.  I just couldn’t tell if all six had hatched.

Then I saw this and was pretty sure there were six.

They are now 8 days old and growing like weeds.

The parents have been very busy.  There is no way to watch all the videos. There are over 3000 now.