Bird Brains

The usual suspects are back trying out backyard nesting sites on our Chick Magnet Garage. The picky chickadees are once again demanding endless walkthroughs. But they just can't close the deal on our bird house. Sweet but ditzy robins are again building a nest atop the light. It is a precarious business that demands no backyard illumination until the babes hatch and depart. Just how toasty would that nest get if we used that light? Maybe this spring, they would appreciate the extra warmth.

Robins nest atop our backyard light.
They need to tidy up a bit.

The blue jays seem to be considering the climbing rose site again. And who wouldn't want to nest all cozy and dry under garage eaves protected in thorny rose bramble? Soon it will be Time to Get out the Batting Helmet.

The blue jay nest is a fortress.
Not that they need any more defenses
with those claws and beaks!

This spring is definitely NOT Up to Eleven like last year. This spring is cold, rainy, and slowly unfurling ... as spring often is.

I don't like rain. When it rains, I wait it out. 

I think the rabbits and squirrels are with me on this one. They look miserable all soggy. 

But the birds really don't seem to mind it at all. The wet lawn was twitching this morning with birds who actually looked quite thrilled at all the tasty treats the rains seem to bring them. 

The white throated sparrows are back with their clear songs.

White throated sparrow                                                    credit

Woodpeckers are always fun in the spring. Especially when they hammer on the gutters and our house's wood siding. That's when Susan runs out to holler at them. I don't think they take her very seriously (neither do I).  We get hairy and downy woodpeckers year round. The sapsuckers mostly hang out in here the spring and slurp up the sap from the maple tree.

Yellow bellied sapsucker               credit

The warblers are moving through. 

A pair of ovenbirds were snacking all morning on the lawn. 

 Ovenbird                                                                       credit

Ovenbirds get their name from their ground nests. 

Ovenbird nest                                                             credit

While quite cute, these twitchy, little guys are clearly not the good kind of ovenbirds.

 The best kind of ovenbird.          credit

I rather like the brown creepers that meander up and down the tree trunks. When they stop moving they look like bark. They are songbirds but I can't say I know their song. I think they have their mouths full of bugs when they are in our yard.

Brown creeper                                                                 credit

Susan can't stop talking about the woodcock she found nestled in the garden a few weeks ago. Cornell's Lab of O says the woodcock is a shorebird that lives in forests where it probes for earthworms. Kinda messed up. Then again, I am a hound that lives in a Queen Anne house and eats dry dog food.

Woodcock                                                                    credit

I know I have said before that I am no bird dog. But Susan was raised by birdwatchers and her enthusiasm is catching. As I get older, I find the sunny deck more and more appealing. It really doesn't take all that much effort to open one eye to take a look when Susan squeals and points.

Birdwatching is easy.