Siggy's Blurbs: Siggy's Edge of Country …

I keep looking for the two pheasants as I pass the meadow but I have only seen one again.  I did flush a small cottontail in the area yesterday.  No more pheasants, though.  Every time I drive along there I am curious what I will see.  I have seen red winged blackbirds fly over the meadow but not this year.  It is still too early in the season although not all migrate.  I have only seen the blackbirds in the winter time in a bog viewed from a nature center.  There are marshes a few miles away that attract red winged blackbirds.  It is still early in the season.  The farmer has strategically placed nesting boxes for them.  They come back every year.  Every time I pass there I try to spot them after they have returned from their migration.  These are two birds I like.  The pheasants wander to my area from the game lands.  They really are a rare sight here.

Tags: bird migration, bird-watching, birds, bog, cottontail rabbit, farmer, game land, marshes, meadow, nature center, nesting boxes, pheasants, red winged blackbirds, spring
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Soon the hummingbirds will stop coming to my feeder.  And will take the long journey south.  I never know when I see the last one of the season but I will keep nectar out for a few more weeks for any stragglers.  The “passing” of the hummingbirds is another sign the warm weather is out and the cold temperatures are on their way.  I can become too used to their sight and they have to go away for me again to marvel at this creation of God.  It will be April, again, before they come back.  And I will await their arrival.

Tags: April, bird feeder, bird migration, bird-watching, birds, cold temperatures, creation of God, God, hummingbirds, long journey south, nectar, seasons, warm weather
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I put out a fresh supply of sugar water for the hummingbirds fully aware it is probably the last time for 2010.  It is already September 5 and I expect any day the last hummingbird will come and the summer will be over.  It is becoming too cold for them and they have a long journey ahead of them.

Tags: bird feeding, bird migration, bird-watching, birds, hummingbirds, seasons, September, sugar water, summer
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It is March 12 and I am looking for my first sighting of a red winged blackbird.  I pass a marsh near my house.  The farmer puts out bird houses for these blackbirds.  They come back every year.

Every time I pass this area I have my eyes open to spot these beautiful blackbirds.  I looked today but I could not see any.  I did not see any with their tell tale red wings but I will keep looking for them every time I go on this road.

I have always loved seeing these birds.  And this is one place I look for them.  I just wonder where they spent their winters and how far did they have to travel to get here.  I will keep looking for them.  I just think they are beautiful birds.

Tags: beautiful birds, bird migration, bird-watching, birds, blackbirds, farmer, March, marsh, red wings, red-winged blackbird
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The sky is dimly lit just before the dawn.  The birds are in song in full crescendo.  I am wondering when I will see the first chickadees, tufted titmouse and downy woodpeckers come to my feeders.

I am thinking about that Carolina wren that built a nest in the large pansy pot hanging from my garage door.  Yesterday before it became light I shined a flashlight into the nest–flushing the poor frightened bird who high tailed it for parts unknown–and peered into the nest spotting three tiny speckled eggs.  My wife reprimanded me for scaring the bird.  I will leave her alone now.  I want the mother to successfully raise its young and I do not want to scare it out of its wits further, possibly abandoning her eggs.

Two years in a row (the last two) an eastern phoebe built a nest just outside our front door on top of the right lamp but I guess there was too much traffic in and out the house so it abandoned the nest and raised its young somewhere else.

This year a pair of robins have built a nest in the right corner in the gigantic bush.  At least twice I looked inside it but I could not spot the nest.  A few times when I walked nearby I flushed one of them.  Two robins keep feeding under our large pine tree which is somewhat unusual.  Several time I saw a robin extract a worm from the earth, toss it above its head, then gobble it down.

I love to observe the natural world around me especially the birds that come to our four feeders.  I am expectantly waiting for the first hummingbirds to come to our two feeders I have set up for them.  One is hanging from the pine tree mentioned and the other is hanging close to the window.

According to my bird journal I have kept for over five years the first one usually appears the end of April.  It is the twenty-second of April so my eyes have been continually sweeping the area outside our large living room window.  It was over a month ago the local nature columnist reported someone spotted one passing the Mason Dixon line and they would be here any day.  I put out nectar immediately after that announcement.  Well I am still waiting to spot one and already had to replace the nectar I set up and clean the feeder immediately after I noticed black mold in the feeder.  I guess they must have turned around or taken an extended stay along the way.

Watching birds give me such pleasure.  The money I spend on feed for them is worth every cent.  I love observing their antics:  they are all different.  This has been a lifetime hobby.

Tags: April, bird eggs, bird journal, bird migration, bird nest, bird-feeders, bird-watching, birds, Carolina wren, chickadee, dawn, downy woodpecker, eastern phoebe, flower pot, God, hummingbirds, lifetime hobby, Mason Dixon line, my wife, nectar, pansy, pine tree, robins, sun comes up, tuftet titmouse, watching birds gives me pleasure
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I make sure my two large bird house totems face outward, one on each side of my front door.  I want the birds in my neighborhood to feel welcome.  There are a multitude of birds that come to our five feeders, which I keep well supplied with anything from sunflower seed to thistle to suet and when the warm weather arrives I put out nectar I make especially for the hummingbirds.  That does not even include the birdseed I scatter on the ground for the birds who prefer to feed there.

Last year there were three birds nesting in our vicinity.  An eastern phoebe built a nest above the right front door light although there might have been too much traffic there for her to be successful in raising her young.  A nest was built there two years in a row.

A scarlet tanager raised a family in a bird box stationed at a large white pine a foot higher feet than my head less than an hundred feet away from our entrance although I never spotted the brightly colored male.  I had never seen one before.

A catbird made a nest in the thicket of one gigantic bush in the corner of our yard.  One of our cats found the nest and flushed the young catbird out of the bush and we shooed the cat away immediately.  The frightened baby bird hopped into the open garage chirping in fright.  My son who happened to be at my house first had to move a table and a filing cabinet out of the garage to reach the scared little bird who had hopped deep into the cluttered garage.  He trapped the baby bird carefully scooped up into a little box without touching it and safely released it back into the overgrown bush where its nest lay.

I want all the birds in our neighborhood to know they are welcome to visit our premises and raise their young.  Every day I watch them come to and fro our feeders.  Soon I will put out nectar for our hummingbird feeders and watch the miniature “helicopters” come back and forth and jostle for position at their feeders.  We will have one feeder at the window just so we can watch them closeup.

There is such a variety of birds that come to our feeders.  The magnificent ten inch long red bellied woodpecker with its gorgeously marked red head occasionally feeds on our suet feeder (which I have placed right next to the trunk of the large white pine tree) and there is his companion–the smaller downy woodpecker which stands at attention as it climbs up and down the trunk of the same tree also feeding on the suet.  Then there is the diminutive brown creeper who is aptly named who also feeds on the suet and my favorite–the fearless chickadee whose antics I always love watching.

This is, of course, an incomplete list.  I want them all to feel welcome and the birds continue to come here in a constant stream.  I joyously greet them each morning and watch them all day and never know when an odd bird makes its appearance like the indigo buntings that seem to come through here once or twice a year in flocks.  I never know for sure what I will see outside my window.  I want the birds to always feel welcome.

Tags: baby bird, bird house totems, bird migration, bird nest, bird-feeders, bird-watching, birds, birds are welcome, birdseed, brown creeper, catbird, cats, chickadee, downy woodpecker, eastern phoebe, hummingbird feeders, hummingbirds, indigo bunting, my son, nectar, pets, red bellied woodpecker, scarlet tanager, suet, sunflower seed, thistle, white pine tree, woodpecker
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