What a bird party!

Our backyard has been very busy since it snowed on Sunday. I'm reminded of one of my favorite children's books, Go Dog Go. Paraphrased for the occasion: "Juncos, mourning doves, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, sparrows, blue jays, woodpeckers, cardinals, house finches, wrens and goldfinches are all at a bird party. What a bird party!"


Above: L-R House finch, female cardinal, white-crowned sparrow

As the hostess of this bird party, I've taken care to make sure the refreshments are plentiful: white (or yellow) millet on the ground and the table for the juncos, finches and mourning doves; sunflower seed everywhere for everyone, thistle for the goldfinches. And don't forget the peanuts for the jays, cardinals, titmice, chickadees, nuthatches -- and for a couple of "bird impersonators" with bushy tails. We have suet for the woodpeckers, and they also like the peanut feeder.

Above: Tufted titmouse

I'm off work this week, and I've spent a lot of time standing at the kitchen window, or hanging out of it with the camera, enjoying the party from a distance. Sometimes the birds jostle each other for position, but everybody gets fed eventually. We have a little dish (actually a flower pot saucer) hanging under the eaves. When little birds get bumped aside by the big birds, they often take refuge at the tiny dish, where they can eat in peace.

It's been a fun party, even though I have to enjoy it from a distance for fear of frightening my guests!

"What a hat! I like it! I like that party hat!"

Baby wrens

Mr. Lonelyhearts is lonely no more. The little house wren we've been watching in our backyard as he sang next to all our birdhouses and stuffed twigs into each one (a kind of birdie hope chest) has finally made it. Not only did he get a date, but he has married (for the moment), settled down and is raising a family. It's difficult to count the babies. Two little beaks can be seen on the left; in this picture they're closed. They have feathers, so they are a few days old, or perhaps a week.

We opened the roof of the house to take this picture. It's OK to do this if you're quick. The parents resumed bringing food in to the nest as soon as we were out of the way.

Both parents are helping to feed the little guys, coming and going in an endless relay. They also clean the nest, carrying away the poop sacs so that parasites don't endanger the health of the babies. (Been there, changed those diapers!) I won't be able to check on them again until Saturday, but I'm thinking about them often.

High water

The water's been very high at Lake Monroe, near Bloomington, for the past few weeks. On the first of June, we took our canoe out for a little exploring. It was really strange, paddling around through the trees, where normally we would be walking. At one point the road leading down to a launch site was under water, and as we paddled across it we could see the yellow no-passing line beneath us. Recent heavy rains have made the water even higher. Last weekend, after the storms had stopped, we went back to explore more of the lake.

We saw: several turtles basking on logs, 2 small snakes, 1 eastern box turtle, 2 lizards, a red fox squirrel, a chipmunk, lots of yellow swallowtail butterflies, 2 baltimore orioles, 1 yellow warbler, a great blue heron, 2 families of Canada geese and their goslings, and 1 unlucky catfish. The catfish is a long story--we freed him from a fishing line tied to a tree, and then, realizing that he had been hooked on purpose and not by accident, fled the area for fear of running into the person who had set the line!

Fishing is not a kind sport--and sometimes it is not friendly to other wildlife, either. We untangled quite a bit of fishing line from trees, as it endangers the birds who get caught in it, and collected lead sinkers left behind. We also pulled plastic bobbers out of the trees; these I'm stringing together as a kind of trophy.

Southern Indiana has been hit hard by recent storms and flooding. Homes have been damaged, even destroyed. The full extent of the damage is just now being assessed. We haven't heard much yet about the impact on wildlife; I suppose that will become evident over a longer time.

A bird bonanza

Our back yard is full of birds! I am too tired to write much, and besides, the pictures are the most fun. So here is a photo album of visitors to our back yard. Please excuse the awkward placement & uneven sizing.

Female (L) and male (R) Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks. The photo of the female was taken a couple of weeks ago, but they are abundant in the yard.



This weekend we saw 3 Baltimore Orioles (L) and one vibrant Indigo Bunting (R).



Although others in our area have reported seeing Indigo Buntings, we were still a little surprised to see them this early. They usually begin visiting our yard in late May or early June. I love them just for their color. Buntings belong to the finch family and visit the thistle feeders along with Goldfinches.





Of all our back yard birds, I think I love woodpeckers the most. We had downy and hairy woodpeckers over the weekend. After this female Hairy Woodpecker (L) had eaten, she packed her beak with suet and flew away with it. Babies?




The most exciting visitor we saw
recently was the red-headed woodpecker.
It's been a long time since I was able to admire the rich colors of this bird in person. Male and female look alike, so we're not sure which this is. This bird, too, was taking suet away.

By the way, woodpeckers like both plain and flavored suet. But the kind with lots of seeds in it is less useful -- they pick the suet out and leave the seeds. We use plain in one feeder and "Peanut Butter and Jelly," which has peanuts and berries in it, in the other.

That's the back yard bird news. Next time, I'll give a nesting update.