This week I have been enthroned on the front room couch due to knee surgery. From this vantage point I can see through to the west dining room window, looking out to see a hanging seed feeder which is attracting a variety of birds.Blue Jays, very wary, land on the brick post, check all around, and then go to the feeder. Whitewinged Doves flutter up to the feeder, making a not very graceful landing. An occasional Grackle will investigate, but never seems to be too interested.
But Cardinals—oh, boy, do they ever enjoy those seeds! The male is such a gorgeous in-you-face red now, but the female also comes to eat. Sometimes the male gets a seed and feeds it to the female; better than getting chocolates or flowers, in bird life, probably.
Peggy Hafernick called to report a Rosebreasted Grosbeak in their feeder; it was a life bird for her.
Becky Johnson had a Rosebreasted Grosbeak and a pair of Painted Buntings in their feeder. The female bunting was there first, and she wasn’t sure what it was, but when the male arrived, with all his glorious color, there was no doubt. She said they use cake feeders, and Cardinals and Chickadees like them.
Recently in the Lake Jackson area she saw a pair of Bluebirds enjoying a puddle.
Butch Bowers also had a Rosebreasted Grosbeak, so guess this is a good year for Grosbeaks!
Dennis Morgan relates sitting outside one afternoon and noticing a pair of Mockingbirds fussing.
Then saw three of their young fluttering about on the grass. The parents coaxed the young onto a fence and continued to care for them, but the next morning the young were dead. Dehydrated? Seemed to have no injuries.
Dennis says he will put our a pie pan of water, keep in clean and filled, for the neighboring birds.
Mary Johnston’s Cardinal keeps coming back to her car to check out the outside rear view mirrors. She made some covers for the mirrors—got tired of cleaning off bird spit—but the birds haven’t forgotten what is under the covers, they keep expecting to find that bad Cardinal which lives in the mirror. Funny to watch.
This is the time for buntings, so check out local fields and watch for a bit of blue (Indigos) perched on the top of tall grasses or the colorful Painted variety in the tip top of local trees. The Painteds like to be high up when they sing. Their ‘wives’ are plain-jane, like sparrows. It may be that the Grosbeaks and Buntings are late this year due to the continued bad weather up north.
Helen Fields, writing in the May 2006 issue of Smithsonian magazine, says: “Most paleontologists now agree that birds are the dinosaurs’ closest living relatives. In fact, they say that birds are dinosaurs—colorful, incredibly diverse, cute little feathered dinosaurs. The theropod of the Jurassic forests lives on in the goldfinch visiting the backyard feeder…” So give those birds the credit due them!
This beautiful cat is called Blanca. She is a Blaze Siamese with beautiful blue eyes. She is approx 14 months old. She is an inside cat and is very calm, good with people. She takes a little bit to get use to other cats, never been around dogs. Would make a great cat for older couple with no other animals.
This week I have been enthroned on the front room couch due to knee surgery. From this vantage point I can see through to the west dining room window, looking out to see a hanging seed feeder which is attracting a variety of birds.