Dec
10
2011
The Birds Outside My Window
Author: siggyIn a short time–twenty seconds–I saw a Carolina wren, a brown creeper, the ubiquitous titmouse and a red bellied woodpecker–all from my window. They were feeding on the birdseed I put out on the ground plus the suet cake placed next to the trunk of my large white pine tree. The woodpecker took a chunk of fat from the suet cake and disappeared. I could never understand why it is called a red bellied woodpecker. The red is on its head not its belly. It is a big magnificent woodpecker I never saw before I started putting out suet cakes regularly.
The small sized downy woodpeckers are more frequent visitors than the red bellied woodpeckers. Sometimes you can see two or three downy woodpeckers at one time although they maintain their space between each other. They march up and down the pine tree stiffly like they are at attention. The Carolina wren is a big wren as far as wrens goes–maybe the biggest and feeds on the ground as well at the suet.
The brown creeper is a nondescript little brown bird with a curved beak that does just that creep up and down the trunk of the pine tree. It occasionally can be found on the ground but usually is found on the trunk of the tree going up and down the tree. Of the four birds, it comes here the least. These birds mentioned can be found here all year around.
Every once in awhile I spot a new bird and become excited. The latest was a red-cockaded woodpecker that came every day for a few days although I saw no red on it. It took several visits before I could make a positive identification. It is a midsized woodpecker between the size of a downy and red bellied woodpecker. I had never seen one before. Watching birds from my large living room window gives me much pleasure.
Tags: bird feeding, bird seed, bird-watching, birds, brown creeper, Carolina wren, downy woodpecker, large window, red bellied woodpecker, red-cockaded woodpecker, suet cake, titmouse, white pine tree, woodpeckers
December 11th, 2011 at 7:18 pm
Bird TV is the best! A sad note……..we had a very athletic squirrel figure out how to drop many feet from the pine tree onto the feeders, which hang on a shepherd’s hook type thing. We found him dead this week. Apparently he misjudged the jump and hurt his little heart when he hit the hook. We buried him in the Zen garden, lovingly, thanking him for his entertaining antics.
I love your dog stories…..and, what’s the deal with your primroses?? I now have that song “Primrose Lane” stuck in my brain and I can’t make it go away!
ARGGGGGHHHHH
December 11th, 2011 at 7:29 pm
I still love watching birds even after a lifetime of doing so. Yesterday we Lynelle saw a pair of bald eagles and one red tailed hawk.