17
Jun

What is happening at our house – and yours…..

The birds are having an unsettled time in our yard this week.  This is a week of severe thunderstorms, high winds, and tornado warnings.  Cleon and I have our emergency bag all ready for the storm shelter we have in our basement.  Water, snack, laptops, cell phones.  Today is the worst forecast – severe tornadoes for late afternoon and evening.  We will probably be glued to the local weather station and be listening for the town tornado siren.  All this is hard on us and on the creatures who live here.  Nests get blown out of trees, babies are upended, holes in the ground become flooded.  The creature who lives under a leaf is probably in the best spot!

Our new front door – I defy any snake – or spider (I am not the only one in this house with an unreasonable fear!) – to get through that door!

Next, we got a new front door.  Ours was only 20 years old and still in good shape but it never closed properly.  If it was not locked, it would slowly open – and we had no screen door.  If you have read my introduction to Landscaping and Gardening for Birds and Wildlife (click here if you have not and are interested:  Landscaping and Gardening for Birds and Wildlife), you know I have an unreasonable fear of snakes and we do have snakes here in our neighborhood.  The last thing I ever want to see is a snake in my front hallway!  So, the front door remained locked at all times.  With this new front door – which stays closed when unlocked! – is a screen door which also fits perfectly with no space underneath it or along the side for an ‘unwanted guest’.  Yes, unreasonable fears are just that – unreasonable.  Seriously, what were the chances a snake might slither under a door and come into the house?  And here is my answer to that – even if they are one in a gazillion, that is one too many for me.

The Baltimore Orioles spent yesterday afternoon chattering at the contractor.  The Catbirds mewed.  The House Wrens scolded.  The robins kept up their alarm calls.  It ended up being quite a din in the front of our house.  And this was all because to the left of this door is the garden where the large bird bath, the oriole feeder, and the hummingbird feeder are – what you see on the bird bath livestream.  And with the contractor not only working right there, but traipsing back and forth from his truck to the porch which goes right past where they wanted to be?  Not one bird appreciated this!  After he left, it was baths and snacks for everyone!  It was like they had not bathed or eaten for a week!  And they amazingly all got along – for once, very little posturing or aggression.  No one pushed anyone else off the rim of the bird bath or off a cup in the oriole feeder.

Before the work started on our new front door, I spent the entire morning in our back yard and gardens – working – but also spending a lot of time sitting on the bench, listening to the birds, and watching the tree branches sway in the wind.  It was a lovely day with weather we rarely have in mid-June here in central Illinois.  The temperature remained in the low seventies, there was no humidity, a wonderful soft breeze was blowing, and the sky was a brilliant blue.  Lots of birds were singing and calling throughout the entire morning, but an Eastern Wood-Pewee joined me for quite some time.  He was near the top of a tall shingle oak quite close to me and he called and called.  And he preened a bit between calls while looking all around – probably looking for something tasty flying by.  Click here to watch and hear him:  Eastern Wood-Pewee. 

I want to thank Sue from Michigan for sending me these photos of a Pileated Woodpecker using the feeders in her yard.  I am so envious!  We have Pileated Woodpeckers living in the several hundred-acre woodland and wetland across the lake from us and occasionally we hear them, but it is rare that they are in our yard.  And they have never used our feeders.  What a great sighting for Sue – and right out her window!  Birding in your neighborhood does not get better than this!

You can see from this photo that Sue lives in perfect woodpecker habitat.
From the size of the feeder, you can see how big this Pileated Woodpecker really is – crow-sized. And look how it is using its stiff tail to bolster and balance itself. Birds are just amazing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Florence was out walking in Huntington Beach, CA and sent these photos of a Canada Goose family and a juvenile Brown Pelican.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She also got a photo of a Vermillion Flycatcher but told me her phone just would not zoom in enough for a good shot – been there, right?  Songbirds are almost always difficult to photograph.  That Brown Pelican would have been so much more cooperative!  I am including her photo because this is normally the sort of photo we all take when trying to capture a songbird.  She did describe the bird to me, and it was a Vermillion Flycatcher.  An ‘Uncommon’ bird in southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and across the very southern portions of Louisianna, Alabama, and Mississippi in winter.  And how all the rest of us envy those of you who live there and have the opportunity to see this simply gorgeous bird!  We will have to live vicariously through you, Florence!

And this is a typical perch for any member of the Flycatcher Family – which this bird is. Just like my Eastern Wood-Peewee.  Out on the end of a branch – often dead – and looking all around for something tasty to fly by and then wham! Lunch!
This is what often happens when a photo is cropped – it becomes blurry. But I am including this because if you look closely, you can make out the contrasting red and black. Remember, this website is for us amateurs – to share and to learn from each other. No contributor is a professional. We all just do the best we can with probably our cell phones.  No one is lugging around a tripod with thousands of dollars of camera equipment.
And yes, this is a professional photographer’s photo – taken from Unsplash to which I pay a yearly fee for permission. All photos I use from Unsplash will be credited to them. I wanted to show you what a Vermillion Flycatcher looks like and this photo captured one perfectly. A striking bird! Photo by Uriel Soberanes on Unsplash.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our friend Miles who helps us one morning a week with our gardens sent me this photo of a swarm of bees right outside our local county courthouse  An expert was called and the swarm was successfully taken and moved.  Now that is NOT a job for me!  But so glad there are people who love this sort of work.

The swarm! The county courthouse is on the square which is in the middle of our small town. I imagine this made people stop a moment and stare – and then maybe scurry off in the opposite direction?
And here are the bees – successfully moved into a temporary hive to be transported to their new home. I know you will all join me in wishing them luck in their move and then settling into their new habitat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And we have a toad spending part of its day on our front porch.  If you look at the photo of our new front door, this toad is on the shelf on the left – back in the corner.  This is a narrow shelf as you can see – which will help you gauge the size of this toad.  I am no expert on toads, but I think this is an American Toad – a quite common toad in central Illinois.  In July and August, we often have one sitting on this porch in the damp shade.  A bit early this year but it is always welcome.  My guess is no one who uses the front door ever knows it is there.  Which makes me wonder – how many living creatures do we pass by every day, never knowing they are there?  And I wonder what this toad thought as the contractor spent an entire afternoon installing our new front door – right where it likes to sit – and also about the noise all the upset, opinionated birds were making?  Quite an afternoon for someone who is shy, quiet, and reclusive!

This is a 6-inch-wide watering can on a very narrow shelf.  You can see the toad in the shade of this can. Easy to miss!
And here he is – with the photo considerably lightened so you can see its markings. I think this is an American Toad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

P.S.  I added an anonymous haiku to Natural Thoughts – loved it.  The person who wrote it and sent it to me requested anonymity – both in name and state.

I have also revamped almost every page of this website.  Rewritten the introductory paragraphs.  Hope it is now easier for you to understand what I am doing and why.  Of course, the simple answer is that I want you to enjoy being outside as much as I do – and to become fascinated with the world of birds!  On that note – have a great day and Happy Birding!  Linda