Every winter, it is one of my favorite pastimes to look and find some hummer feeders that are a bit out of the ordinary. I like vintage ones but they are often not practical. This time around, I came across this one, and I fell in love with the style. It’s made by Allura and has a clever system with easy to clean containers and an included ant moat that even comes with a little perch. Perfect for me because I never get a ton of hummingbirds. They were so kind to send me one to try. They are on FB but also have a website allurafeeders.com.

The beginning of May,

my favorite month of the year, is also the point in time when the serviceberry blooms. And everybody comes to pose in front of it. (male Rosebreasted Grosbeak, Blue Jay, Grackle (‘tis the Count himself!), MoDo, female Redwinged Blackbird, female Rosebreasted Grosbeak)

Vitamin O to start the week!

We had the the first real thunderstorm and rain pour of the season. The yard’s vegetation has pretty much exploded and the bird songs have calmed down because many are busy building nests. Last week, I saw the first female Oriole (see first photo), and there is a good group of them visiting. It is funny to me how much they can differ in color. On of these is of course the Orchard Oriole, so it is generally darker.

I had an exciting Friday and Saturday morning - the Bluebird babies fledged! I sat all Friday, thinking that would be the day, and when my DSLR battery died down and I decided to go in to make dinner at around 7, they decided to go for it lol The first two were smooth and fast, third and fourth had some issues, and number five spent the night in the box and fledged early today. They all looked nice and strong! I emptied the box, scrubbed it to get rid of the poo, dusted it with foodgrade Diatomaceous earth, added some more kerfs outside for easier grip and some more vent holes and rehung it. Here’s a clip, it’s longer but it shows them all. I hope to see them soon again - usually the parents start bringing them to the yard two weeks after fledging.

This is from last night. The babies have started to exercise their wings, and this is where the new larger box will hopefully prove it’s worth. In order to take their first flight and not drop to the ground, young birds need to have strong wings to carry them. In a larger box, there is more space for them to practise and develop their muscles, making them stronger for fledge day.

(I have two more videos from recent days, you can see them on my website ostdrossel.com. I don’t want to clog the feed with BB video upon BB video post here.)

I may be biased but Bluebird babies have the best faces.

Usually when the Orioles arrive,

I also get lucky to see an Orchard Oriole too. This year does not disappoint in that respect. He has been here for a couple of days now, he likes to chatter, and I hope he sticks around a bit and maybe brings the wife. Apart from the difference in color, Orchard Orioles are also smaller than Baltimore Orioles. Immature males are yellow with a distinctive black bib. I had one one year and always hope to see it again.

Happy Mother’s Day!

It is a beautiful spring day here, and I hope you all get spoiled today. Thank you for all you do, you make this world a better place.

Sorry, another nestbox video. They are just so much fun right now. They are 12 days old, and this is currently happening every 3 minutes On an interesting sidenote - Mom waits for the one to be done stretching because that is how they usually go when they poo. They are so dramatic, and I love their grumpy little faces.

And at 7:30 PM, this little guy showed up - first of the year! I hope he comes back tomorrow for an actual sip.

While migration is going on,

we might often see birds that can be a bit confusing to identify. They are the youngsters from last year and are still molting into their adult plumage or females that are usually more shy. In the last two days, I saw some of this in Rosebreasted Grosbeaks and Redwinged Blackbirds (the third picture is a female).

Grackles and rain

are a fantastic combo that makes a murky day worth the while. The textures and colors that the water causes make them look even more elegant and impressive than usual. For some reason, I am also very fond of them looking down. So here is a selection of “Downward Gracks”.

At the Nest Improvement store.

The Bluebird babies are getting bigger and stronger by the minute, thanks to the dedicated feeding of the parents. I’ve seen spiders, ants, wasps, bugs, worms, caterpillars and moths being brought in. This is from yesterday, today I see some eyes open too :)

This is a transition time,

there is a lot of coming and going right now. Migratory birds are passing through on their way north and there may be fun surprises if you get lucky. Here are some current regulars. And a screenshow from a Yellow-Rumped Warbler. He visited today and was so well-camoed that the camera did not catch him. It was sheer luck that I checked.

Lunch time! Also for Mom. Yes, you saw that right

The most exciting thing

this week for me was watching the Bluebird family raise their babies. Wednesday night, temperatures dropped to below zero, and when I saw the parents bringing dried mealers in the box, I rehydrated some of them in boiling water and after cooling, mixed them with the dried ones to help them a bit on that frosty morning. There is a constant coming and going, and Gayle and Mr. Business are bringing all kinds of insects to feed the babies, and apparently, we have some icky stuff crawling around here

Here is Mr. Business in all his glory. There will be more nest videos soon too, I just need some time! Have a great Friday - it looks like frost is over!

Two nights ago, this beauty made a comeback. The camera was not positioned right but I still thought it was fun to see :D It always seems to show up in April, so hopefully there will be more sightings. We certainly have enough rodents for it.

During migration time

it is always fun to see the “winter world” clash with the “summer world”. Yesterday and today we have snow, but migration has started, and so they mingle. A flock of Cowbirds passed through the other day (the first photo shows a female), and the Juncos are still here, enjoying the snow and filling their bellies for the big trip up north. On Thursday, we are expecting truly springlike temperatures, and i have to say I am more than ready to say goodbye to winter for now. Gayle and Mr. Business will also have a much easier time to raise their babies (they are due to hatch on / around the 24th.)

Finches are so peaceful,

and Goldfinches even more so… Not. Hormones are raging in the backyard right now, and there are lots of colorful wing displays during the daily fight for territory, dominance and food. It’s gotta be stressful. As you can see, the Goldfinches are transitioning to their summer feathers, and they look adventurously patchy right now too. These tinies lead a stressful life!

With the weather basically

changing daily at the moment, there can be cool light moments against inast dramatic stormy skies. This was one moment, and the Redwinged Blackbird looked so lovely. He has a nice little spotty pattern going on in his wings too. With the RWBB, not all individuals look alike, the vibrance and size of the epaulets differs according to age and genetics. If you live within their range and see one with just a thin yellow line on the wing, chances are, it is still a RWBB, just with slightly less color.

Woodpeckers are regulars here

but in the winter, some of them have made themselves rare. Now, the males are coming out and visit more frequently (apparently they love the sunshine as much as I do). Here are a Red-bellied Woodpecker and a Downy Woodpecker. Downy Woodpeckers look very similar to Hairy Woodpeckers, but they are noticeably smaller and have a shorter beak (there are other ID features but these are the most obvious). The Redbellied is named so for his red patch on the belly. There is also a Redheaded Woodpecker, but I only had one one time here. I love Woodpeckers and am happy to have them around.

It’s been a busy couple of days

but I finally managed to sit down and go through photos. Early spring is also Grack season, and I am sure you all have missed more photos of them, so here we go. These are several individual birds, some of them are more purple, others more blue/ green. One of them is a big male that is missing part of the lower beak. I think the first one is a female, and I would love to hear some expert thoughts on my theory that the females don’t have the bright eyes that the males have - if you zoom in you can see her eye is different from the rest of them (it might be bs but I am curious). Happy Tuesday, I hope it’s gracking!

Happy spring greetings! This is a video from 20 minutes ago. Sigh.

The Gracks are turning up the heat

Spring is in the air,

and there is no denying it, despite the frost, and the birds are starting to show up as couples. I saw Blue Jays gathering stuff, the Robins are becoming more defensive, the MoDos are snogging things up and the House Finches are getting romantic. So much to see, such nasty weather!

Nestbox news: The clutch is complete

Yesterday at her usual time, Gayle laid egg number five. she spent the night in the box, and today it was clear that she is done with laying and incubating now. During incubation, she will spend a lot of time in the box, warming the eggs evenly with her brood patch, and also turning them so they all develop evenly. Mr. Business will come occasionally to bring her a snack, and sometimes she leaves to get a bath, drink some water or eat. This will continue for the next two weeks. I started a little timelapse when she went into overdrive building, and ended it today.

Nestbox news: The clutch is complete

Yesterday at her usual time, Gayle laid egg number five. she spent the night in the box, and today it was clear that she is done with laying and incubating now. During incubation, she will spend a lot of time in the box, warming the eggs evenly with her brood patch, and also turning them so they all develop evenly. Mr. Business will come occasionally to bring her a snack, and sometimes she leaves to get a bath, drink some water or eat. This will continue for the next two weeks. I started a little timelapse when she went into overdrive building, and ended it today.

Trying out new feeders is a lot of fun to me, and one of the perks of having a bit more exposure is that sometimes I get sent some to try. When Kingsyard contacted me, I checked out their spread and decided to give it a try. And I have to say, these are so much fun. They sent me three. All of them are well-made and sturdy, and two of them I really loved with the Birdsy cam. One is the most adorable little house, perfect maybe as a gift, the second one is a super nice feeder that keeps the seeds dry in wet weather and will go into permanent rotation here, and the wooden platform is also great, and it even comes with a pole mount. They sell on Amazon and are also present on social media, and they are easy on the wallet. The cute little house will be in the next post since I cannot post more than one video.

Redwinged Blackbirds…

They are special.

Another week

with a suboptimal work-bird balance, but I managed to go through some photos. The weather has been too cold for my liking these last days too, and it felt a bit like all that spring feeling came to a temporary halt. Nevertheless, it is not just Goldfinches, MoDos and Grackles here anymore. Along with the Orioles, a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak has arrived, and yesterday, a female joined him. You can see nicely why they have their name - for their big, strong beaks. They love black oilers and can sit down at the feeder for a long time.

the Bluebird babies have hatched! The first two did so yesterday, and the remaining three took a bit longer and hatched this morning. It was a bit nervous yesterday because I saw Gayle looking out the entrance hole a lot and also leaving a lot, and Mr. Business was nowhere to be seen. These birds are hardy but anything can pretty much happen to them any time. Thankfully, this morning, he finally seems to have realized that he has babies now, and him and Gayle have been feeding them diligently all day. The next couple of days will be on the cooler side, and this is when the babies are most vulnerable.

You can hear Mr. Business sing a little melody when he arrives with food. that is later going to be the parents’ call to lure the babies out of the box for fledging. I really like how much space they have in there, how they don’t have to hover over the babies but can watch them from the edge of the nest. Nobody is crammed unless they want to.

All five eggs have hatched (last two over night, and the female ate the shells), and all is well here. I haven’t seen the male a lot yesterday and the female looked out and went for food a lot so I was getting concerned that something had happened. But this morning he finally seems to have realized that there are babies, and both have been feeding them like champs ever since. They still need to coordinate better though… I love how the big box seems to make it easier for them to take care of the babies, things are not so crammed.

The Bluebirds are hatching! I am so happy. I also saw my first Grosbeak of the season earlier.

Today, about a week earlier than in the last couple of years, the Baltimore Orioles have returned. I hear that people are also seeing Rosebreasted Grosbeaks, Warblers and Hummingbirds, but they have not come here so far. Happy Spring, everyone!

It’s no secret that I love the Grackles, and today they delivered quite the show :D Two males are competing for a female. It is a bit longer but worth it, I promise. Sound on!

Happy Earth Day!

Nature is slowly waking up here, and I have started to do my daily walk around our perimenters to watch the budding progress on flowers, trees and bushes. Things are happening slower than last year, due to the recent cold snap, but spring is definitely here. The anticipation can sometimes lead to unrealistic expectations, and so I put out some orange halves for possible early arriving Orioles the other day. The House Finches were delighted, the Goldfinch not so much. I have my Hummingbird feeder out as well, and keep an eye on journeynorth.org to see when they are likely to arrive. We are trying to add more native plants to our garden every year, to make it into a bird paradise that benefits us humans too, and I cannot wait to dig in the dirt again.