The Backyard Birdman

Bring In The Clowns photo by Mark Schmitt

The Acorn Woodpecker is easily identifiable by their clown-like faces.  They also show a conspicuous white rump and white wing patches when they are in flight.

Just Hanging Around photo by Mark Schmitt

Woodpeckers, like parrots, have two toes pointing forward and two hind toes giving them a very strong and stable grip to climb bark and hang from suet feeders!  (more…)

Happy Easter 

Ostrich Egg pysanky by Brigitte Jordan

A pysanky is a Ukrainian decorated egg.  These beautiful works of art are made by the wax batik method and are made as decoration, not to eat.  A small hole is usually made at both ends of the egg and the contents are blown out before the design is written on to the egg with an instrument called a kystka.  The kystka is a pen that writes with melted beeswax.  Beeswax is used because it has a high melting point which makes it easier to get even lines that will not smear.

This ancient method of decorating eggs was in practice well before the time of Christ.  Peasants believed that great power is embodied in the egg and they decorated eggs in the spring to celebrate the warming of the sun as it brought new joy and vigor to life. 

You can see the fine detail of the flowers beneath the deer on this pysanky and the bird singing atop the newly blooming apple tree in this depiction of Spring.  The photos that follow show the other three sides of this beautiful egg made by my wife Brigitte depicting the four seasons.

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House (English) Sparrows photo by Deanne Fortnam

I am a long time bird advocate. I have been building birdhouses or nest boxes, as we call them, for over 25 years now. There have been many different styles, sizes and materials used for building nest boxes over the years but it all comes down to what is best for the bird using that particular nest box. This of course depends on the species of bird and that species’ behavior. The materials you use for building the nest box may also depend on what you can afford or what you have available. The main thing you must always keep in mind is what is best for the bird.

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Incredible video by Austin & Paul Murray

I was sent a link to this video and just had to pass it on to my readers.  Three of my twenty nestboxes are currently occupied by the Oak Titmouse.  To see my previous post on these great little birds go here: Oak Titmouse.

This is by far, the best bird video I have seen to date.  It follows a Tufted Titmouse pair from finding a nest site to fledging their young.  You’ve got to watch this 9 minute video if you love Titmice or even ever wondered what goes on inside a birdhouse during the breeding season.

You can find all of Paul’s videos here: Paul Murray’s Videos

Happy Birding!

Jedi Hummers photo by Lisa Williams

I have been waiting a long time to post this photo by Lisa. Any of you who are familiar with hummingbirds know how tough it must have been to capture this photograph! This is a photo of a Rufous Hummingbird defending his feeder from a Black-chinned Hummingbird looking for an easy meal. You can see all of Lisa’s photos at Arizona Birder.

Well, spring has arrived in northern California. We saw our first Rufous Hummingbird at the feeder yesterday. The male Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) will aggressively defend feeding locations in his territory as you can see from the above photo.

The Rufous Hummingbird also has the longest migration route of all the hummers traveling well over 3000 miles from Mexico and possibly Panama north to Alaska. As a matter of fact the Rufous Hummingbird breeds farther north than any other species of hummingbird in the world.

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 I just came across an interesting post from Mike Bergin over at 10,000 Birds he writes:

“Have you ever started your day knowing that the word “mundane” just wasn’t going to apply? That’s how I felt this morning when I woke up in GUATEMALA!  I’m here to participate in the fourth Birding Encounter courtesy of the Guatemala Tourism Commission.  This noble enterprise has been conceived to promote bird watching and ecotourism in Guatemala, a Central American jewel oft overlooked by travelers.  Frankly, I feel that selling Guatemala to birders should be about as easy as selling water to people whose hair is on fire.  We’re talking about a country smaller than Tennessee harboring more than 550 bird species.  The numbers do not lie: Guatemala is a birding paradise”.

The Illusive Quetzal Bird photo by Steve Winter

I am looking forward to more updates on Mike’s trip to Guatemala.  It is a beautiful country with friendly native people.  A real joy to visit.

Here are some pictures of the hand woven wall hanging Brigitte and I brought back from our trip to Guatemala many years ago.  They depict the Guatemalan national bird, the Quetzal that is now endangered.

Close Up

Violet-green Swallow photos by Bob Sheldon

To celebrate my wife’s birthday we had a half a dozen Violet-green Swallows fly over our house on March 1st! These incredibly beautiful, acrobatic birds are a pleasure to watch. Just watching their aerobatics will relieve stress, kinda like watching fish in an aquarium only WAY better.

These streamlined birds have short, flat bills and wide mouthes.  They have long pointed wings and small weak feet.  They can be seen putting on acrobatic displays over open country and bodies of water spending most of their time in flight catching insects, their principal diet.  Swallows are very gregarious birds, migrating in large flocks by day you may see them perched on wires along the roadside.

The main features that distinguish the Violet-green Swallow from the Tree Swallow are the white patches that almost meet over the base of the tail and the white on their face partially encircles the eye.  The male is velvety green with violet above and is clear white below.  The female is a little duller in color, grayish on the sides of the head and the forehead.

One of the cool things about Violet-green Swallows is that they will nest in man made nest boxes or birdhouses.

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Brigitte took these photos of me making suet last night

Here in northern California it can get really hot in July and August.  We’re talking sometimes over 115 degrees!  So I began making my own “no melt suet” and the birds absolutely LOVE it!

Sure I have put out the store bought stuff and they will eat it.  But I have to tell you, if I put out a store bought suet cake and one of mine at the same time, the birds will go through 3 or 4 of my suet cakes before the store bought one is anywhere near gone.

So, I thought all of you might want my recipe along with a couple of tips on how I make my suet so you can have birds pecking your door down and screaming at you to fill up the suet feeder when it’s empty. (more…)