Backyard birdies

[Rudy]

I have a friend in Sterling Heights in a regular suburban neighborhood and his wife is an avid gardener (flowers) and they have vines and all kinds of other plants. Not a hummingbird feeder in sight and the hummingbirds are constantly buzzing around. They’re around.

I don't watch the garden with every waking hour, so I would imagine they probably visit more than I'm aware of. 💡 Maybe I need a few garden webcams!

We're likely in a migratory path for birds, as the Metropark is a known stopping point along the way and we're just a mile from the lake. (Actually, both Lake St. Clair Metropark and Erie Metropark have annual "birder" events as the migratory birds pass through.) We don't see/hear too many unusual birds here at the house, but the neighbor reported a blue heron swooped in and grabbed one of the koi fish from her pond.

I don't have any vines, but do have a lot of planters and hanging baskets throughout the summer. I may lean more towards the reds and dark pinks this summer and see if I can attract more of them. I also figured that if I attracted enough of them, they would discover a feeder and become regular visitors to that as well. It's something I'll have to read up on.

 

[mhardy6647]

They are indeed around. Flowers will, of course, attract them... but they're also attracted to nectar feeders even if flowers are few and far between on one's ranch. Here, the deer eat most of the bird/pollinator friendly stuff we plant. Not all... but most.
We only really have issues with yellow jackets in the very late summer into the early fall. They still don't out-compete the birds, though.

Bobwhite was back today.

 

[adnick]

Close to my daughters house in southern France….

 

[Rudy]

Here, the deer eat most of the bird/pollinator friendly stuff we plant.

We're lucky not to have deer in the burbs.

I tried a patch in the flower beds with a mixed pollinator wildflower seed and liked the results--we did have some butterfly activity because of it. I just need a bigger area to plant that sort of thing in. It was a nice mix that provided different blooms the entire summer.

And next time, I'd mix in some dill--it attracts the black eastern swallowtail butterflies. I was still getting the butterflies a few years after I quit growing dill behind the house--I don't know their lifespan, but it was cool that they knew there might be dill in the area and kept returning.

 

[mhardy6647]

Deer. We gots deer. Yay.

 

[JoeThePop]

Deer. We gots deer. Yay.

Deers

 

[mhardy6647]

Deers

Indeed.
We* call them deersies.
Not to be confused with bearsies.
Effing bearsies.


(taken last June)

_______________
* OK, I call them deersies.

 

[mhardy6647]

Class of '24.

Bawlmer OH-ree-ole, hon
(or, for those of you not hailing from Charm City or its environs, "Baltimore oriole" 😎)


To my chagrin, the repair of the hanging post of this mixed-mode oriole feeder visible in the photo above illustrates succinctly why I didn't go into civil engineering.
Male rose breasted grosbeak

 

[mhardy6647]

Ladies who lunch: L to R, hairy woodpecker, Northern cardinal, and rose breasted grosbeak -- all three females.

 

[Wntrmute2]

Captured with a cellphone camera. First oriole sighting of the year for me.

 

[mhardy6647]

Two female rose breasted grosbeaks.

 

[mhardy6647]

Female Baltimore oriole.

 

[JoeThePop]

It’s said that this particular specimen can smell carrion from a mile away.
I’m not dead yet!

 

[FalseMetal666]

 

[tonyp063]

Oh great.
Your Tree Rat nemesis has called in air support.

 

[mhardy6647]

I happened to witness a little exchange this afternoon which I... ahem... photographed and have cleverly called How I Met Your Mother.

 

[mhardy6647]

DSC_0550(2) by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

So -- we had a couple of white crowned sparrows in the yard today. According to Mrs. H, these are very seldom seen here. These are migrating through, says she.

 

[mhardy6647]

We had our first indigo bunting of the year in the yard today.



What could be better?



Two.
😎

 

[mhardy6647]

pine siskin on the left and indigo bunting on the right

 

[mhardy6647]

female oriole