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.”
James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.
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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.