Monday, June 16, 2008

For The Birds!

I recently placed a bird feeder on my deck in hopes of getting a closer look at some of the pretty birds that I occasionally see flying around. For a while the bird feeder remained full, I guess it takes time for the birds to discover it. Well, I went outside and noticed tons of empty shells scattered all over the deck. My first thought was, “these birds are messy!” It was not long before my “neat nick” husband suggested that we move the feeder to a tree in the yard. Before doing that I was able to get some great pictures. I even discovered who the messy bird is:









After scaring away this rather large "bird" I was able to take a few pictures of a "real" bird. I have no idea what kind this is...any idea???





There is a beautiful red cardinal that eats from the feeder but I have not been able to capture a picture. That bird is just too smart, I can't sneak up on it like I do other birds but I will keep trying.

The bird feeder has since been moved off of the deck so that the birds can have their feeder back, or so I thought.....


Can you believe that this daring raccoon did not run off when I walked out on my deck with a barking dog in my arms??? It actually posed for the picture and continued to eat! Obviously my newly purchased pole is too short; I have since purchased a taller one but it does not keep the squirrels off.


Lastly, I will share a few pictures of my son's high school graduation. The 1pm ceremony was held inside the gym during the horrible heat wave. The temperature was 96 degrees and there was no air conditioning ~ it was so hot!

Rather than the traditional cap and gown, the guys wore a white tuxedo.



I mailed off three exchanges today so I will have a few stitching pictures to share in my next post.

Until next time...

12 comments:

Katrina said...

Congrats to your son :-).

My parents are seriously into bird feeders, they have finch and hummingbird feeders as well as the generic? feeders. Love to watch the birds. Your pics are great.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing such a cute bird feeder story, it made me smile. I love critters and birds; my mom has squirrels, she lives in SC. I only have birds and lizards in my desert home. We have a nest under an eave of the roof that has been there for several years and has seen many generations of baby birds. I don't know what kind of bird that is in the photo but it is a beautiful one. I also love to stitch birds and did one once of a crossed wing collection with a rather large bird feeder.

Heather said...

Fun pictures!

Someone told me to put grease on the poles of birdfeeders, it keeps the squirrels from climbing up them :)

And I think that bird is a woodpecker? Maybe?

A huge congrats to your son!!!!

Lennu said...

Congratulations to your son!

Oh we had lots of problems with squirrels couple of winters ago :) We had this bird feeder hanging in the tree. It was wooden, my brother had made it for us. At first the squirrels ate parts of the feeder itself! They gnawed so that all the seeds flew down and we had to repair it. Then they realized that it would be much easier to eat the seeds if the feeder was on the ground... So they gnawed the cord and dropped the whole feeder! They did that couple of times before we (mean people...) changed the cord into a wire :)

Well, actually I like squirrels in general, they are so cute, aren't they :)

TinaTx said...

We have squirrels that empty our bird feeders too. Hubby wants to put up a squirrel feeder, but I think they would just empty that first, then the bird feeders!

I'm pretty sure that is a woodpecker you have feeding there. We have one around here, but I've never seen him at the feeders - I see (and hear) him in the trees often though.

Congrats to you and your son on his graduation. I thought ours was bad - it's outside in the football stadium. They finally changed it to evening rather than the 10:00 am they had before - the sun was right on you then!

Vonna Pfeiffer said...

Marie! What sweet pictures and commentary ;)

The bird is a Red-Bellied Woodpecker, I do believe...google it and see, but I'm almost certain that's what he is ;)

And you DS graduation looked wonderful...how handsome they all where in their white coats...were they tuxedos?

Michele said...

Oh the joys of bird feeders and all the animals that come to enjoy the food! I really enjoyed your pictures! That large "bird" is quite cute! lol .. I'm very partial to racoons :) That is one beautiful bird! I bet it is a woodpecker :)

Congratulations to your son! Wow, that is hot!! What, no cap and gown??

mainely stitching said...

The boys look SO handsome in their white tuxedos!!

The squirrel has me laughing so hard - my Uncle Don used to go to the most elaborate lengths to try to make his bird feeders 'squirrel proof' but the furry varmints always found a way!

The red-headed woodpecker is not a bird I'd thought would visit bird feeders - cool!

Jen said...

Very cute pictures. I googled "red woodpecker" and found a picture of your mystery bird. Vonna is correct. It is a red-bellied woodpecker. That Vonna is a sharp woman.

Congratulations on the graduation.

La Brodeuse brode said...

Red bellied woodpecker it is!

Congrats to your son! They were all looking handsome!

Ruth said...

I love the birds -- be they 2 or 4 legged. :)

Despited the heat, the graduation looks marvelous. Congrats!

Jennifer said...

The red bellied woodpeckers were always my favorites. The one you got a picture of is a male - see how the red feathers go all the way down to his beak? With a female, the red coloring stops around the eyes.

At our old house, we used to have a few of these, including a little family. The momma and the baby would sit on the top of our deck divider and spread out their wings to sun themselves on sunny days!

If you can find a Wild Birds Unlimited near you, they have lots of information and bird feeding supplies and can help you not only get a few feeders set up, but deal with pests like squirrels as well. Ask about the Yankee Flipper - the feeder is pressure sensitive and will actually gently flip squirrels off it by spinning. (The video in the store is HILARIOUS!) You can also buy No Mess Seed. It's a little more expensive than regular seed, but you don't have any shells.