Here’s a better shot of one of the Carolina Bewick’s Wrens who is nesting in the box on our porch. He actually came up while I was outside with my camera. Probably to demand mealworms. I checked the box and saw that the eggs hatched today. Hopefully, I’ll be home when flying lessons start.
Last weekend, we decided to see what other birds we could attract. I put up a woodpecker feeder since my wife saw one in the yard the other day. I’ve never seen one before, but the seed block had been pretty heavily pecked by the time I got home.
The only finches I’ve seen in the yard are house finches, but I put up a finch feeder in the hopes that we’ll attract some goldfinches. I think it may be the wrong time of year for them to be here, but perhaps if I plant a garden of lettuce, they’ll come as they seem to have for Amy at Esau.
So far, though, it’s mostly white-winged doves, house sparrows, and Carolina chickadees around here, although this afternoon I did hear a song I hadn’t heard before. The woodpecker, perhaps? I’m hoping to add him to my list.
And, of course, our wrens, one seen here singing “Bird Dream of the Olympus Mons.”
4 Comments | Filed under: backyard wildlife and birds | Tagged: wrens
Thanks for the link, but I don’t want to give the goldfinch a bad wrap. I didn’t mean to blame them for my garden woes. They, as far as I know, are sticking to the finch feeder. The birds that ate the lettuce are ones that I can’t identify, mainly because they are plain looking, mousey brown birds that are probably twice as big as the sweet goldfinches. They remind me of what I remember a robin looks like but without the red breast. If they start to eat the tomatoes I just planted, I’ll be really mad.
We get woodpeckers all the time, by the way, acorn woodpeckers I think. They mostly hang out on the telephone pole in our neighbor’s back yard; occasionally they come down and eat from the feeders.
We used to get parrots! but they haven’t come by in a very long time.
Wow, parrots? I guess the escapees all flock together.
We had heard a rumor that they were birds let free during a fire back in the 70′s but I just found a website that suggests that they’ve always been in Santa Barbara (http://www.santabarbarabirdfarm.com/Wild%20Parrots/wildparrots.html). They were very cool, but boy do they make a racquet!
Amy, I bet they do. I think it would be cool to see those kind of exotics, though, even if they’re not native.