One thing I love about our new house is the back yard. We didn’t have one at our old house, so this is a real treat.
(Making good progress on taming the wild jungle, too.) The nice thing is that it brings all kinds of birds. You all know I love nature. I actually feel privileged when wildlife comes to my yard and feel safe enough to hang out there. Here are some of the birds that have visited. All photos are courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
This one came early in the spring and we kept hearing the call over and over again and didn’t know what it was. My sister is a birder extraordinaire and she helped us identify. Then we haven’t heard it anymore, which makes sense because it is a migratory bird and now is gone from the area. It is a white-throated sparrow:
Lots of cardinals – one of my favorite birds!
I think there might be 2 pairs of cardinals that come by. Hopefully we will see some babies!
The cute little chickadee:
Pixie always seems especially interested in the chickadees, for whatever reason.
The Pileated Woodpecker. I was walking into the back yard the other day and John called my name to have me stop. I looked up at the tree I was standing near and there he was!
These guys are really big birds, too. Woody Woodpecker is modeled after them.
Speaking of woodpeckers, the little downy ones have also stopped by – and pecked on the house. They won’t be getting food out of bricks 😀
The nuthatch. These birds are the cutest to watch because they walk up and down the sides of trees and walk upside down.
The peck at wood like a woodpecker does, but it is much slower and more like tap, tap, tap than the hammering of a woodpecker.
I have a couple seed feeders out, but the squirrels seem to get more than the birds 😀
We have also seen a couple hummingbirds and I have feeders out. So hopefully I can cross something off my bucket list, which is to have hummers in my yard.
I hope at some point to get a real DSLR camera so I can get some of my own shots of them in the yard.
I’m curious. Are the woodpeckers interested in trees that are dead or diseased? Around here we have quite a few dead or dying pines d/t bugs, and it seems like those are the only trees the woodpeckers are interested in.
I’m jealous of your cardinals. They just don’t come this way very often.
There is nothing I miss more about our tiny oakland domicile than our tiny yard to match.
here we have a pool (sigh. hate. for the child :-)) and no yard.
I love sharing my backyard with the birds. I even like watching the acrobatic squirrels. I go through a ton of black oil sunflower seeds and suet.
Such a treat to see these birds! I used to see a lot when I was a kid & lived back east.
No backyard here in southern CA for us.. 🙂
With our rustic backyard, we get lots of birds, and after 15 years of living in this house, I still get delighted when I see them. We have lots of cardinals, which I never saw before moving here, and this year, we’ve had a beautiful pair of blue jays. The occasional woodpecker, but a different kind than what you have. Glad you are getting to share in the bird fun!
We have lots of birds too – bluebirds, woodpeckers and I definitely have a bunch of owls, although I can never see them because they don’t start hooing until it’s dark. After seeing Roz’s hummingbirds though I am going to find a hummingbird feeder soon.
We also have orioles, if I put oranges out, they will come suck the nectar! The the possums come at night and eat the rest of the fruit – the joys of living in the “sticks!”
http://www.mybizzykitchen.com/2012/05/09/doesnt-everyone-grill-their-dog-treats/
Thanks for the introduction to your new neighbors, Lori! I miss cardinals out here in the Pac NW, but we do have a lot of the pileated woodpeckers. Not sure how bright they are, because I often see them going to town on stop signs. They’ll get about as much out of that as the little ones will get out of your house bricks! We also have Stellar’s jays – they are beautiful, but pretty nasty to the other birds. Fun post 🙂
What beautiful birds! We recently set up a couple of bird feeders outside our window and we see so many different kinds of birds out there–and squirrels too. 😉
Wow you have some really cool visitors in your yard. I have a lot of birds in the garden right now too but not so beautiful as you. I love birds in the garden, makes it more alive. Our little sparrow has finally completed his nest, 2 days ago I checked it out and 2 eyes were looking at me from the nest, so cute.
I’d be jumpin’ in excitement if I saw a pileated in my yard! Never had that cute little white-throated sparrow either. I’m trying to think of the right adjective for your yard right now. I know with your gardener’s touch and diligence it will be beautiful soon, but even right now it looks very … ummm … pleasant. That’s it. I’m glad you have it to enjoy.