Category: Birdfeeders/Birdbaths

Cardinal Hour

 

Cardinals are some of the favorite visitors to our feeders. Their family interactions are entertaining and they seem to form long-lasting pairs. The male will shell out sunflower seeds and offer them to his mate. On occasion I have seen a female offer a seed to a male. Once the young cardinals have fledged, they will follow “Dad” around and beg for food, fluttering their wings, calling and opening their beaks wide. The bird at the top of our site is a young cardinal, colored similar to the female but with a dark beak.

We have noticed that cardinals are the last birds we see out feeding in the evening. We call it Cardinal Hour though it is closer to 15 minutes or so. All the other birds have disappeared for the day but the redbirds are still busily cracking sunflower seeds. It leaves us wondering why this is so. Do they see better in the dimmer light or perhaps feel as if their daytime adversaries are less likely to be present. They are also usually the first birds seen in the early morning.

The male cardinal photographed in bright sunlight looks as if he thinks it is no one’s business why he stays out late.

Spring Bathing

Another sign of Spring is an increase in bathing

While there are some birds, like Bluebirds, which will take a bath any time the water is not ice, Spring usually brings with it an increase in the number of birds bathing in our birdbaths. Of our two birdbaths, this concrete bath is far more popular than our larger green plastic bath. We think that it is because the other bath has steeper edges. The more gradual concrete slope may feel safer for smaller birds (like the out of focus chipping sparrow) worried about getting in too deep.

And no, despite appearances, the Cardinal is not trying to drown itself. Though sometimes the bather has a great deal of difficulty taking off.And here is the greatest threat to the water in our birdbaths, the Brown Splasher (Brown Thrasher).

Popular Seed Block

There is something in there that they like

A couple of years ago we started hanging a Pennington Seed block on a pole outside one of our windows. It seems like every bird in the area, including a number of surprising suspects has come by to try it out. Above is a Northern Mockingbird. At first it was only one, but the first one convinced its opposite number that there was something good here, and since that time I have frequently seen pairs of Mockingbirds visiting the seed block.

Here we have a Tufted Titmouse and a Red-headed woodpecker on the seed block at the same time. Once it is eaten down, we move what is left to one of the tray feeders, and it typically doesn’t take very long for them to find it and finish it off. The recent snows had an interesting side effect. Normally, the local chipping sparrows prefer to eat from the ground or trays. They will also use standard perches. They would come over and land on top of the seed block’s cage and try to reach the top of the seed block. However, when the snow covered everything else, they discovered it was possible to hang on to the side of the cage and get at the only visible seed (everything else was under snow). Since that time, several sparrows have remembered this, and they have continued to cling to the cage to eat. This has led to a second variety of jailbird.I am sorry about the lower quality. I didn’t want to scare it off, and the sparrows seem to be a bit “nervous” about eating here. Don’t worry, it had no trouble getting back out again without help.