SPECIAL BIRDS

Ah, some of my favorite birds have shown up this week, so spring is truly here!
One of my favorites is the Northern Oriole.  I am always amazed at how much the male's color matches the color of an orange.

In case you don't know, one of the easiest ways to get an oriole into your yard is to offer oranges!!  They love them and will come several times a day to drink the juice.  They also like grape jelly...  This guy showed up for the first time Sunday evening. (May 3)

I was sitting on the porch on that Sunday evening when I saw the oriole.  Shortly, the hummingbird arrived.  He didn't stay because the feeder is right near the chairs!  (There is a second feeder on the other side of the porch for when we are sitting out.)  I actually didn't see him at that moment, but the hum of the hummer's wings is unmistakable!  We have seen him many times since.  
The picture below was taken in 2006 and is a female or immature; I didn't get a picture of the male who has been visiting the feeder this year.

If you are feeding hummers, do NOT add red food coloring to the food; the chemicals are not good for the bird (or for people!).  Get a feeder like this one that has red on it, or put up a hanging red plant or even a ribbon and the birds will find the food.  (4 parts water, 1 part white sugar and change it every 3 days - more frequently if it is hot.)

Last Thursday, 5:15AM, the windows were open and we were awakened by the cacophony  of the birds!  I was dozing between alarm snoozes and hearing, but not listening to, the birds: titmice, mourning doves, chickadees...  WAIT!  That sounds different!  Now I'm wide awake!  But there is too much other bird noise to hear.  Gotta get my ear out of the pillow.  Under the sound of the doves... what is that?  Owl??  No, not likely.  Mourning doves are the most commonly mistaken call for owls.  I wish the titmice would be quieter so I could hear, cuz there IS a different sound in there.  I moved to the window.

YES!!!  There is a Great-horned Owl calling!  No, make that TWO GHOs!!!  VERY COOL.  Worth waking up for.  "Linda!  Wake up!  Great-horned owls!"  We listened at the window.  Yup.  Clear.  Probably a male and a female because there are two different pitches (the female is usually higher pitched than the male).  Whoa!  Listen to the crows!  Did they find the owls?  "No showers and exercises this morning, let's get out on the porch!!"  

We wonder if one of them was the same one that we SAW last weekend (May 1).  Suzanne called us mid-morning to say that there was a GH Owl sitting in the trees between our houses.  It then flew across the pond, but came back.  Made the circuit three times.  Linda got a good view of it; I saw the bird, but could not have ID'd it if I'd been alone.  It flew from the pine tree to the top of a broken off tree and sat there.  Wonder if it was looking for food for its chicks?  We have lots of gophers and squirrels!

Nice way to wake up!

CAROLINA WREN CHICKS, WARBLER MINI-FALLOUT

Exciting bird times around here!  Saturday AM, as we sat on the porch at dawn, we saw some Yellow-rumped Warblers.  We don't usually see the warblers, probably because we spend too much time looking at the feeder instead of the tree-tops!  Saturday was a three bird event day:  the yellow-rumps, our first hummingbird (Blake HATES it when he is on my lap and a hummer comes in to feed right above us!  I think he can't see it, but he hears the hum and it drives him crazy!), then later, we discovered that the Carolina Wren HAD laid eggs in the Christmas wreath nest!  
 

Mama Carolina at the entrance of the nest

Sunday afternoon, we came home, pulled the Subaru into her parking place and realized that there were birds everywhere in the trees in front of us.  Thankfully, Linda carries a pair of binocs in her car because it seems we were in the middle of a mini-fallout of Warblers.  We saw lots of the Yellow-rumps, a Magnolia Warbler, a Hooded-Warbler, a Palm warbler and something unidentified.  Very cool!  They swarmed all over the pine trees and the ground.

Meanwhile, the Carolina wasn't sitting on eggs, the eggs had hatched!  Monday I looked into the nest and there were two gaping mouths waiting for mama or papa to come with some food.  Yesterday there were four mouths, today five!

Carolina Wren chicks in nest.  The yellow is the gape (mouth).

Parent Carolina wren waiting to for me to leave to feed the younguns.

I've opened my summer office on the porch and today had a visit from the male hummer and our first Baltimore Oriole!  I called Carol to tell her that the oriole had visited and she brought over a half an orange.  Right now (15 minutes later), the oriole is happily chowing down on that orange!

 

Baltimore Oriole found the orange!