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

A Carolina wren had made its nest in a pansy pot hanging from the garage door.  The nest faced the inside of the garage.  I spied the birds repeatedly getting and bringing pieces of suet to their young.  I stood below the nest and still could not hear the young.  A while back I had shined a flashlight into the nest and spotted three eggs in it.

Today when I opened the garage door I flushed two young wrens out of the nest and they half flew, half ran into my very disordered, cluttered garage.  Their parents were squawking very excitedly nearby.  I left the door open so eventually the two birds would find their way out.

I did see one bird against the far wall, then flapping near the entrance of the garage door.  I assumed it got out.

Then I had another encounter with another local denizen later on.  I could not understand why all of a sudden six cats were congregating near the computer.  Suddenly I spied a small mouse trying to evade their grasp.  I quickly trapped it with two sneakers and released it outside near the woods.  It must have been terrified for I checked the sneaker an hour later and it still was in there.  I encouraged it to run into the woods.  These were my two encounters with the creatures around my house.

Tags: baby birds, bird's nest, birds, birds eggs, Carolina wren, cats, computer, creatures in my house, flower pot, garage, mouse, pansies, pets, six cats, small creatures, sneaker, suet, woods, wrens
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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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The dawn is only an hour away.  I can not wait to see the first chickadees come to my feeders.  They never fail to delight me.  I am always thrilled by the magnificent red-bellied woodpeckers who come to feed on the suet I have put out near the trunk of the large pine tree outside my large living room window.

The downy woodpeckers come during the day.  They seem to stand at attention as they feed and go around the trunk of the tree.  The occasional cardinals who feed on the ground are very wary.  The beautiful bright red male cardinal never fails to delight me, too.

Every once in awhile I see a brown creeper.  And the many goldfinch who love the thistle I put out for them.  They will sit at the feeder for five minutes eating the thistle.  Often there will be a dozen feeding on the ground.  I can not wait for the males to turn yellow again.  Before, I rarely saw them.  Now they have become commonplace.  Maybe, now I take them for granted.  The slate covered junco come in flocks and might have gone away.

These are the more common birds I see out of my window every day but I never know when I will be surprised.  I am waiting to see if I see any flocks of indigo buntings.  They are such beautiful birds who I only see a few times a year.

There are also the piliated woodpeckers.  I usually hear them not see them.  Their wild cackle is unmistakable and when I am lucky I actually spot one with its large long red crown.  It is such an exotic looking bird over a foot long.  I never forgot the first one I spotted outside my house.  I had to run into the house to grab my binoculars to get a good look at it.  It was over a hundred feet away perched on a stump.  I absolutely love birds.  I have all my life.  I guess you got that idea.

Tags: beautiful birds, binoculars, bird-feeders, bird-watching, birds, brown creeper, cardinals, chickadees, dawn, downy woodpeckers, exotic looking bird, God, goldfinch, I love birds, indigo buntings, my backyard, nature, piliated woodpeckers, red bellied woodpeckers, slate covered junco, suet, thistle, wild cackle
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