Bird Brain

Even though we live practically in the middle of a small city, our house is at the edge of a ravine, near a creek and a river, so there’s a lot of wildlife around — deer, fox, gray squirrels, black squirrels, chipmunks, mice, voles, rabbits, woodchucks, snakes… and birds! It’s been a while, but I’ve even had Bald Eagles perching in our oak trees (we see them a lot). All that wildlife is even more noticeable in our own actual backyard, so to speak, since we haven’t had a resident cat in a few years.

Thanks to Kym sharing info about the Merlin Bird ID app (free) a while back, we’re having a blast identifying and saving birds to our Life Lists. There are different “packs,” depending on location, so when we visited my sister in Peru I was prompted to download an ID pack for that location. Now, in addition to American Robin, Mourning Dove & Northern Cardinal, my list includes Blue-gray Tanager, Saffron Finch, Vermillion Flycatcher, Blue-and-white Swallow, Blue-black Grassquit, and Bananaquit — some of those right in her very tiny, very urban backyard in Lima.

And I’m just more aware, no matter where I am. It was thrilling a few weeks ago when, walking out to the mailbox at work, I heard a call I hadn’t heard before… opened the app and “listened” to discover it was a Sandhill Crane! A few days later, walking through the grocery store parking lot, I heard it again & a pair flew right overhead, on their way north.

The other day, Kate & I took a walk at Heckrodt Wetland Reserve and spotted a pair of Great Blue Herons across the pond; we’ve seen Red-tailed Hawks there quite often, too…

…sometimes even close enough to snap a crappy pic. (Birds are so hard to photograph!)

A long time ago, Rusty built a big birdfeeder that we put up in in the area of the pergola (before the pergola). (Told ya… it was a long time ago!) I tired of the mess — mostly the birdseed weeds that would sprout up everywhere — and it needed to be moved for the pergola, so it’s been in the lower yard at the edge of the ravine for a while and has been overgrown with grapevine, which, it turns out, provides a lot of privacy… if you’re a bird looking to site your new nest!

Anyway, the birdfeeder bug bit again — mostly Kate’s idea (okay, 100% her idea), and now we have a birdfeeder hanging between a couple of the columns on the back porch. It’s making an even bigger (but sweep-able) mess, but it’s only a few feet from our big kitchen windows — when you’re sitting at the table, it’s like watching BIRD TV (as long as we make no sudden movements).

Yesterday, as I was getting ready for work, Rusty alerted me to a new bird that was perched on the porch railing. By the time I got there, it was pecking seed on the floor… very content.

Turns out, it was a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, which is kinda rare in our area — they’re usually more to the east of us.

He hung out all day! We figure he was pooped after his flight from South America & we were a pit stop.

The other thing happening on the back porch… again…

…is that Candy & Carl Cardinal are trying to build a nest on the light fixture. This happened last year, too, and even a plastic snake draped on the fixture didn’t deter them. Alas, they didn’t actually nest there, and I’m hoping that they won’t this year, either. It’s a very “busy” location, but I’m thinking that all the additional activity at the feeder — only 10′ or so away — will discourage them more than anything. Don’t get me wrong! I think hosting Candy & Carl while they grow their family would be AMAZING… just not very practical for any of us.

I’m not sure, and I hope I don’t jinx it, but it seems likely that a Bird Buddy might be landing here for Mother’s Day this year. haha.