What a wild night! But a good morning at the feeders …..
Last night, we had at least four big thunderstorms with lots of thunder and lightning, wind, and buckets of rain which generally means a good morning at the feeders and this morning is no exception. Some are feeding, but even more are singing and calling. If you are interested in identifying the birds you are only hearing, read my article on the Merlin App.
Last night at about 10:30, we had a raccoon under the feeders eating the scattered seed. It cannot get into the feeders because of the baffles. If any of you have questions about baffles, please ask them in the Public Forum part of this website. Our birdcams run 24/7 so from time to time, you will see raccoons at night. In December and January, you will be able to hear owls – most often the Great Horned and Barred. Never a dull moment in our neighborhood!
We do have a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks in our neighborhood and early this morning, one of them was screaming. The Blue Jays do a wonderful imitation of this hawk so I held my phone with the Merlin app on Sound ID up to the computer screen to confirm (as I explain in the article), and Merlin said it was a Red-shouldered Hawk. But I still was not absolutely certain – these Blue Jays are that good! So I looked out all our windows and finally saw the hawk across our small inlet, in one of our neighbor’s big oak trees. Confirmed!
As most of you know, we are still having trouble with the livestream for the birdcams. The website developer is working hard to solve this with the person who oversees the cameras. I am so pleased to be working with both these people as none of this would be possible without them and thank goodness they can talk to each other because when they start speaking of these technical issues, I do not understand one word! This website will not have its public launch for at least another week so there is time to sort this out and solve the problems. And I am completely indebted to Cheryl from Serpentine Web Solutions and Justin from CTI Computer Techniques for not only their expertise, but their ability to talk to me in terms I understand so at least I get the big picture.