The nest on our point and the nest on our neighbor’s point were both destroyed this year. And because we have had an increase in the number of raccoons living here and raccoons are ground nest predators, I wondered if any nests around our lake had been successful. Today I had a big surprise in […]
There are folks here in central Illinois who are quite successful with Purple Martin houses attracting Purple Martins. But I also have friends who have tried putting up houses and all they attract are European Starlings and House Sparrows. Both species are aggressive and once birds of either species have claimed the house, they will […]
We started seeing Baltimore Orioles in our yard about 8 years ago – and the first year it was just 1 male. We think there was also a female and that they nested in the large trees in our neighbor’s yard across the small inlet that separates our properties. The following year, we saw both […]
Those of you who have been watching the birdcam since the beginning of March have probably witnessed what Cleon and I call The Annual Great Goose War. We have lived here almost 20 years and each year, we have a nest out on our point. Most times the nest is successful and the parents will […]
Last Tuesday was a rainy day here in central Illinois which is often a wonderful time to take a drive on rural roads. It can be a whole different world from a sunny day. We were driving through the Eagle Creek area of Lake Shelbyville when we saw these Wild Turkeys walking through the woodlands. […]
In many places in North America, the House Sparrow is not rare. In fact, it can be so abundant as to be a nuisance. When we first moved here to central Illinois, we started with a few House Sparrows, but within 10 years, we had a flock of about 30 eating at our feeders every […]
This past Saturday during feeder and birdbath maintenance, we made some changes which you can see on the BirdCam. First, the log feeder is gone. We do not provide suet during the spring and summer months. In the warmer months, birds have insects and fruit on which to forage throughout our yard and gardens so […]
It is unusual to rare for us to have Purple Finches in our yard. We did have a female for a week or so this past winter, but many winters we do not have any. We do have birding friends here in central Illinois who have Purple Finches at their feeders throughout the late fall […]
How to tell them apart? For a long time, this was difficult for me. At first, I tried to rely on the color of the males – the male Purple Finch is more of a raspberry color and the male House Finch more of an orange-red. But what I discovered is that in winter when […]