Birdsters! April is upon usIt's time to post our 'Firsts'!

Drum roll please...
Yesterday there were two birds at the birdfeeder!!!!!!
I was so happy they found me... is that just too cool?
I didn't think we would get any birds until we had some heavier foliage, bigger trees.
I was expecting not to see any until next spring.
I took some pictures but I couldn't get too close or they would fly away.
Oh my gosh, my dog... needs to learn some bird manners. He kept running up,
barking at them and scaring them away.
I wish I could have got a better photo.

I assume this is a husband & wife.
You can barely see the one bird has a red head and throat.
There is only one bird photo the rest of them were taken from so far away
couldn't see anything but a lump on the fence.
I don't know what kind of birds they are anyone care to guess?

Dove

The hummingbirds are in Ohio and heading into the Northeast... http://www.hummingbirds.net/map.html

don't have one at my feeder yet, but I'm looking... ;-)

Dovey, maybe purple finches? Look them up and see...
I had an great birding morning. I will load pics and tell you more later (aren't you dying to know?).

Cowbird and wife today :) LOL... aren't my birds exciting??? :)

Here's my list from today: crows, turkey vultures, juncos, chickadees, cardinals, white throated sparrows, bluejays, boat tail grackles, euro starlings, house sparrows, flickers, song sparrows, phoebe, yellow bellied wp, redwings, turkey vultures, killdeer, northern goshawk, red tailed hawk, belted kingfisher, unidentified yellowish warbler, wood ducks, and hooded mergansers. Keep looking huga they are hiding on you! Here are some pics. Red wing.

Turkey vulture.

Hooded mergansers. Male and female. Note big turtle (I didn't see him till I opened the photo!!).

These were shy and pretty far away so they are blurry. But what a show! I usually only see one a year if that. I've seen at least 20 this year.

Those were wood ducks. The peepers started peeping on Friday. Here is a wood frog-also a noisy guy.

oops. one more time.

Doesn't that look like fun. Here's a salamander. We're going birding tomorrow too. I'll post any new pics if I have them.

What a fun list of birds for a single day! Heck for a single month! WOW! Congratulations! :-)

-Julie

Beautiful shots, Boojum. Love the reflections in the water, too. What a trip that must have been.

I went back to check on the 'blue' bird I misidentified as a warbler. He definitely is a swallow.

It seems the tree swallows took over some of the bluebird nest boxes. A family of four young ones were out practicing their swallow ariel tricks. Try as I might I could not 'catch' them.

I did catch a cardinal (almost)

And one bright shiny grackle - love 'em or hate 'em, you have to admit they are pretty.

Yesterday, the Rufous-sided Towhee returned. The Towhee call cannot be mistaken. The last two days there was not a cloud in the sky and I have had a terrible time taking pictures with the bright sunlight.

This is the best shot I could get. I also took several of him taking a bath but all I got was splashing water.... no bird !!!

I also saw my first Northern Flicker (Yellow-Shafted) this year but could not get a good photo.

Boojum,
Did a google image search and you were 100% correct -
Ma & Pa Purple Finches
Thanks for the ID

Dovey thanks for letting me know.
Love that towhee pic!! They sure are beauties! Yestiddy we saw more wood ducks, red tailed hawks, belted kingfishers, song sparrows, but did NOT see the Wilson's snipe we were after. We did see something new though-a noisy red bellied wp.

Wow Boojum, Sounds like you got to see a lot of neat birds!
Here's a few pics of a few of my Newb's for this month which I enjoyed watching, But best of all I have a pair of White Breasted Nuthatch's setting up house and have the cam catching it all!! I am amazed at the all different vocals and behaviors these birds have while at and in there nestbox!! The male brings the female nesting material and food about every 15-20 minutes, And last night was the first night she stayed in the nestbox all night, It's great to be able to see whats going on in the box day and night! I was shocked to see that the one and only time that the male went into the box that the female beat the living **** out of him!! I thought she was going to kill him for a few seconds there!! ( He has not made that mistake since that happened, But he still comes and brings her food and nesting material. I watched to see what time she would go out of the box this morning that she woke up and was out searching for food at 10 past 6, She was back in the box about twenty minutes later arranging her nest. She does leave the box for a few minutes here and there throughout the day but for the majority of the day, She stays in the box rearranging her nest and the male brings her food and material througout the day, It's really a sight to watch all that goes on!! Iv'e included a few pics of her inside her nestbox along with a couple pics of the other birds...

The Bluebirds are back!! _

Bluebird at one of the nestboxes ( Not a good picture though) ~

Just a plain shot of squirrel and chickadee but I thought it was cute ...

This is the female Nuthatch as she is in her box right now

Another view....

One more...she's rearranging her nest...
(I look forward to watching the family grow once she has eggs and they hatch!)

Just got one of the male feeding her...

So cool, IRIS! You must explain your camera setup at some point. I am very interested in all the details!

John

This message was edited Apr 11, 2005 10:29 AM

John, I got a 'Nestbox-spycam', It's small, About the size of a thumb, You can mount it in pretty much any size nestbox roof, Run the wire to your tv/vcr, plug it in, And your all set, You can also get a component that you can watch 4 or more nestboxes if you want depending on how many cam's you have. This cam is 'Very Easy' to set up and use, And the picture and sound quality is great!!! Mine is a bit out of focus, But it's because I'm trying to get the whole inside of the box with the entrance hole in view also so that I can see what's going in and out of the box. It would normally mount about 6 inches above the nest so that you'd get a great view of the parents and chicks as they are on there nest, But I've got mine about 10 or 12 " up because I wanted more of a view and I still get a pretty descent picture! I wanted to get the screech owl nesting but she has not been back in the box for a couple weeks now and I was getting anxcious for something to watch and when I seen that the nuthatches were nesting I couldn't resist!! This is he first time I have ever tried one of these nest cams and I must say 'I absolutely Love it!!' I can watch inside the box Day and Night because it has infared lights and the microphone picks up all the sound, These birds ( Nuthatches) have a normal 'Nasal Sound' when heard outside, But totally different sounds when at and inside the box! Plus the different behavors - rapping/tapping/sqawling ect. is quite the sight to see! It's really amazing to watch!! You can also tape whats going on during the day or night if you want. If your ever interested in getting one of these cams, Let me know and I'll post the site where I got mine ( They have other cams/bird houses also plus, color cams to put by your feeders to watch the birds) I think you'd love it if you got one ( I know I do!) If there is anything you can think of asking, Let me know, And I'll answere the best I can.
P.S Something that I've noticed since watching them nest is that, They both seem to prefere bugs over seeds, There are feeders that they use to always go to, But now as I watch them since they started nesting, 8 times out of 10 they are hunting elsewhere beside the feeders.
Just checked the cam and noticed she's out hunting for food or nesting material, I know she will be back within 20 minutes because she doesn't leave the nest for long. ~

This message was edited Apr 11, 2005 10:32 AM

Yes, please post the site!! This is fascinating stuff!

Fascinating, Iris! Love the nuthatch nesting...

My "First" for this April is my first hummingbird this morning. The feeder only went up last evening, so I was a bit surprised. I'm sure they've been here a bit, I just hadn't seen any. This little guy looked like a ruby-throated hummer but with a yellow neckband...

Here you go... http://www.birdhousespycam.com/
There are different ones plus bird boxes so be sure to read it all, And please, If you get to look at the cam pics they have on there, Let me know how they are and how you liked them ( I unfortunately, Was unable to view them with the web I'm useing, But maybe you will be able to view them) ~Enjoy and let me know what you think ...P.S. ~I tried to write back sooner but had a hard time logging back into Daves and I don't know why, But I'm in now.

This message was edited Apr 11, 2005 11:16 AM

Darius, Thanks! :) And Congrats on the hummingbird sighting! Try to get a pic when you can, Would love to see it!
Got the mealy worm feeder made, Now I just need to get the worms, Hope I have as much luck as you did with this feeder...

different view...

Looks great, Iris! Cannot see the front clearly... what keeps the mealworms inside?

This is the nestbox the Nuthatchers are using,
Looks raggid but they love this box, They use it every year. ~ It's actually 4 nesting holes, But I blocked the first hole to protect the nest cam,And the Nuthatchers are nesting in the second hole.
One year, I actually had a squirrel nest in the top hole and the nuthatchers nested in the 3rd hole down! That was quite a show to watch when they each came out of there box! The squirrel ended up taking her babies and moving to another box.

Darius, I've got plexiglass on both sides to keep them in

Ahhhh, thanks. Mine just has plexiglas on one side, but I didn't make mine. Next one(s) I will make, with 2 sides visible.