I wanted to share this interesting grouping of birdhouses I saw in a quiet neighborhood in northern California. This person has quite a collection! If you like to collect birdhouses for fun and conversation, this can be a cool hobby I suppose but it would be for your enjoyment and not for the birds. There must be at least fifty birdhouses in this yard but no birds did I see. Well, I saw one house sparrow.
Most of these birdhouses were strictly for decoration but would not be suitable for birds to breed in. Some had perches (a feature that only aids predators), some were made of metal (good if you want to cook your birds) and I didn’t see even one of these birdhouses that opened so it could be cleaned and monitored. There were many with two holes, one above the other, but no floor to separate the two.
The other important thing to note here is that these birdhouses are all way to close to one another for any cavity nesting species to use. There are only two species of cavity nesters that I know of that will live in a communal setting. Those are the Purple Martins and the Tree Swallows.
Purple Martin House
It is also very important to have the proper cavity size and the proper entrance hole size for the species of bird you are trying to attract. For more information on building birdhouses, read my article here:
Young expected to stay near Hwy. 44 nest as they learn to hunt
Story by Dylan Darling
One of the Turtle Bay eaglets has been testing its wings, say the scientists monitoring the pair of young birds, which have grown up in what was a controversial nest.
“At this point, everything seems normal,” said Tom Balkow, senior environmental planner in the state Department of Transportation’s Redding office. “And it sounds like they will be ready to get out of the area soon.”
Scientists saw what they think is the older and larger of the two 12- to 13-week-old eaglets fly from the nest Thursday and it didn’t return before nightfall, he said. It was spotted again Friday morning before another flight from the nest.
“Sounds like he is getting up and around,” Balkow said.
Friday afternoon, the pair of eaglets were in the nest, both spreading their wings, but not taking off. You can read the rest of the article here:
The Ash-throated Flycatchers are back in a big way! I currently have three pair nesting and others still checking out nestboxes. I really love these birds. See my other post here Ash-throated Flycatchers Nesting In My Backyard . I love this shot of the flycatcher my friend Frank took with its “crest” standing up like Don King on a good day. Here are a few pictures of the newly hatched flycatcher chicks I’ve taken in the last couple of days. Read the rest of this entry »
Eaglets Thrive Despite Bridge Work
Webcam could offer live feed of parents’ home by next winter.
By Dylan Darling
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Photo by Greg Barnette / Record Searchlight
Two bald eaglets wait for their parents to return with food in their nest near Turtle Bay Exploration Park on Wednesday afternoon. The eaglets are close to leaving the nest despite having been born and reared near a bridge construction site, state transportation and wildlife officials say.
Look out world, here come Conehead and Freedom.
Two bald eaglets who have grown up above a busy bridge construction site in downtown Redding could soon leave the nest.
“They’ve gone through the construction really well,” said Tom Balkow, senior environmental planner in the state Department of Transportation’s Redding office.
And next winter, a Webcam should provide people around the world with a live look at Redding’s now locally famous eagles, Patriot and Liberty, the eaglets’ parents.
The construction started in April and will continue for the next three years. Fearing that the work would cause too much commotion and interfere with Patriot’s and Liberty’s nesting instincts, Caltrans officials had workers wire a plastic cone to the nest in November. But the 3-foot-wide black cone wasn’t enough to persuade the eagles to select a new nesting spot.
Burrowing Owl with Sunset In Its Eyes photo by David Roach
I was very fortunate and extremely pleased to be invited to spend a day with my friend Steve on a 16,000 acre cattle ranch in Central California where he is in charge of monitoring over 400 nestboxes. That’s right, I said over 400 nestboxes. And that is only on the ranch I visited that day. Steve (with a little help from his friends) monitors nearly 900 nestboxes of different bird species in several locations.
I will be posting more stories of my trip with Steve coming up but I really wanted to share my Burrowing Owl story with you today. When Brigitte and I moved to northern California back in 1980, we were amazed at the abundant wildlife and beauty of this area. One of our first observations was the abundance and variety of birds we were seeing everyday. This is the reason I began building bird houses and putting them up all over our new property.
One of the many new birds we would see all the time was the Burrowing Owl. They would be standing in the middle of the road when we came home from town at night. I remember the first time we saw this little owl, just standing there, in the middle of our gravel road. He just stood there for quite a long time. We studied him so we could get home and look him up in our field guide. We had no idea what kind of owl it could be with those long legs, just standing there.
Tree Swallow Chick 13 Days Old photo by Larry Jordan
I had an incredible day on the bluebird trail the other day. Three pairs of nesting Tree Swallows and more Western Bluebirds on the way! This little guy was hanging out at the entrance hole waiting for mom and dad to bring lunch. In a few days he will be out there in the real world looking for insects to eat. And someday he will look something like this handsome fellow.
Tree Swallow Male photo by Steve Berliner
Steve has some incredible bird and wildlife photos here: Steve’s Photo Gallery . The Tree Swallow is a cavity nesting bird that will nest in natural or man-made cavities. They will compete with Bluebirds for nesting cavities anywhere their habitats overlap. Tree Swallows build a nest of mostly grasses with many feathers from other species. See the following photos. Read the rest of this entry »
House Finch Chicks at about 13 days photo by Larry Jordan
As you can see these chicks are fully feathered and nearly ready to fledge. House Finches usually fledge at day 16. In most songbird species, the parents carry the fecal sacs out of the nest and dispose of them but the House Finch doesn’t do this. That is why you see the fecal material accumulated around the rim of the nest.
These chicks are literally overflowing the nest as you can tell by comparing the photo above with this one when they were only a couple of days old.
Enjoy all the nesting songbirds in your yard while you can. Make sure you offer them plenty of food and water so their babies can grow up strong and healthy.
My Mom, The Number One Mom In The World (all photos by me)
Happy Mother’s Day Mom! We love you with all our heart. I want to extend this greeting to Moms all over the world. Thank you for everything you do, Mom.
This beautiful lady in her 90’s is the best mom in the world! She not only brought me into the world, she has supported me my entire life with unconditional love and wisdom. I feel like one of the luckiest people on the planet and I want her to know that I love her with all my heart.
A few months ago I put up a bluebird house in her backyard, along with a bird bath. My mom has always loved birds and I thought it would be nice to try to attract some birds to her yard. Even as I returned home from her house the following day, she had birds visiting her backyard.
Now, I want you to know that her backyard is in a senior community, near a golf course. She has no lawn, only some small bushes and immature trees in her small backyard. However, she now has a pair of Western Bluebirds building a nest in her birdhouse!
Female Bluebird with Nesting Material
I took a few photos of the Western Bluebirds while we were sitting on the back porch. My mom told me that she was spending a lot of time watching the birds and felt like she wasn’t getting anything done (smile). I know what that’s like! She also told me that she had been watching the birds from inside the house because she was afraid she would scare them away.
This is a very important point: when you put up birdhouses in your yard, get out there and do all your normal yard work and activities. This way your birds will get used to you being there and you can observe them from much closer without the birds being alarmed. You can even teach them to eat out of your hand or come to a special treat when you give them a certain whistle or sound a bell!
Here is a photo of the young House Finches no more than a couple of days old. I will try to get more photos as they grow. These were taken Sunday, May 4th in my neighbors planter on their back porch. These little finches make a variety of calls and will keep your backyard full of song. Click on the button below to hear there sounds:
It is so exciting to watch birds as they raise their young. Open your eyes to a whole new world of bird watching every spring during mating and nesting season and you will be amazed at what you will discover.
In the next few weeks I will be posting some stories of the birds I have watched nesting this spring including the Western Bluebird, Oak Titmouse, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Tree Swallow, American Kestrel, Burrowing Owl, Barn Owl, Wood Duck and coming soon, one of my favorites, the Ash-throated Flycatcher! Until then…
As I was driving home from town yesterday, coming down the gravel road that is the last mile to my house, I saw a Western Kingbird sitting on a neighbors fence. The Western Kingbirds have just arrived in my area and this one was in beautiful color. You’re probably wondering why I’m talking about the kingbird when this post is about House Finches? Well, let me explain.
I got out of my car to get a better look at the kingbird as it flew up into the top of a nearby tree. One of my neighbors had been behind me on the road and had turned up his driveway about a quarter mile back. When he saw me intently viewing something with my binoculars, he decided to come back out on the road and approach me to find out just what I was doing.
I explained my birdwatching activities and he and his wife were quick to jump in. They proceeded to tell me about a bird nesting in the potted ivy on their back porch! Since they din’t know what kind of bird it was, I asked if I could come take a look (my biggest fear was that it could be a house sparrow ).
I was much relieved when I saw this nest in the planter.
House Finch Nest photo by Larry Jordan
Sure enough there were a pair of House Finches sitting up in a nearby tree watching as I took this photo. These pretty birds are abundant in our area and most of the U.S. They make a very neat nest , in this case, lined with horse hair. Read the rest of this entry »
