I was outside working in the garden, listening to the dawn chorus, and I finished in the garden as the chorus was ending. I came into the kitchen for a cup of hot coffee and turned on this website and the birdfeeder cam. My back was turned to the screen as I bent to pour […]
Look how they have grown! The three families from this past spring still come to the feeders every other day or so. Generally they are all together in a loose flock – scattered over the yard. This is one of the families. The juveniles are now flying and these families take an excursion each afternoon. […]
We are in the midst of hot and humid weather here in central Illinois. July and August are always for heat lovers – and that is definitely not me. Give me long underwear, a heavy coat and hat, and I am in heaven! I love working outside and have gardens all around our house and […]
Anyone who has an outdoor space, no matter how small, has a habitat. The definition of habitat from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary: The physical environment that provides organisms with their basic needs for survival: food, water, shelter, and space. Our yard’s habitat was a savanna with a wide strip of woodland and our acre of property […]
Two things happen in the skies over our house in July, August, and September every year. The first may sound to you like we are part of nearby strafing run – right out of a WWII movie. Thank goodness that is not it. It is crop dusting time! We live in the middle of chemical […]
Today we will be taking down the feeders and thoroughly washing and disinfecting them. We will also clean the birdbaths and the rocks. The feeders will dry in the sun before we refill. All this takes about 2 hours. The birds do come to the area during that time – some will even sit on […]
Northern Flickers live here with us, but are not always in our yard. They come to the feeders from time to time in winter, but rarely in summer. We do see them fairly often on the ground with their beaks down ant hills – their favorite food. But right now, there are two who are […]
Blue Jays have been practicing tough love and the Common Grackles need to take a page out of the jay’s book on parenting. For the past few days, if you have been watching the birdfeeder cam, you will see juvenile grackles practically on top of their parents at the feeders – and screeching – and […]
If you were watching the birdfeeder cam this morning, you saw Blue Jays and heard a whole lot of loud, incessant squawking. The squawking was coming from three juveniles. They have their adult feathers but hardly any crests at all – all three heads are fairly smooth. When one of the juveniles was on the […]
You may have seen the injured male Mallard on the birdfeeder cam. Right now, he is coming to the area under the feeders about once a day – always entering from the right side of your screen. He is sometimes alone and sometimes with a female and from their behavior, they appear to be a […]