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Monday, June 13, 2016

Birds, and lending a helping hand!

There is a cute little bird feeder shaped like a house on the top of a post that was already here in the garden of the house.  It didn't have any seeds in it and looked like it hadn't been used in a while, but I wanted to start attracting birds, so I put some seed in it.  I've also installed a tube feeder with mixed seed and another with nyger seed, and a hummingbird feeder.  So far, I've been really excited with the bird activity over just a few short days since I put the feeders up.

The hummingbirds are visiting regularly throughout the day.  We only have ruby-throated hummingbirds here in eastern Canada, but they are lovely.  This picture was taken through the window screen.  Hopefully someday I'll be able to take pictures outside without them flying away!


I've had the following birds so far at the seed feeders, all of which are common here, but it's still lovely to have them visit (since our previous house only ever had chickadees and the occasional robin).

  • black-chapped chickadees
  • white-breasted nuthatches
  • purple finch (male)
  • common grackles
  • dark eyed juncos
  • robins
  • a warbler (I think) that I haven't identified yet that is mostly brown and white but has yellow patches on the side of its face (the bird ID book hasn't been unpacked yet)
Here's a poor picture of the purple finch taken with my phone - but I was so excited to see it! Sometimes it's difficult to differentiate between the male purple finch and male house finch, but I'm pretty sure this is the purple finch.

So today, I looked out at the little house feeder to see if I had any visitors, and a grackle was taking seed (as usual), but there seemed to be some additional fluttering going on.  I wasn't sure if it was another bird on the other side of the feeder.  Then I realized, it was another bird INSIDE the feeder!  A poor little white-breasted nuthatch somehow got itself inside the house!

Not wanting to stress the bird out any more than necessary, I quickly lifted the lid so he could escape. Here's a little video of my "good deed of the day"!


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice to see such an assortment of birds. I miss my feeders in the yard, but with the two bucks in my yard, I figure all that bird seed would not be a good idea.

Lin said...

Hooray!

Boy, you sure got action quickly at that feeder. Maybe it was neglected as long as you thought it was.