Early Summer Birds at Canadian Hill Farm

The Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are eating most of my sunflower seeds.

Helping the Grosbeaks are the American Goldfinches. They are also eating most of the thistle seeds.

At the start of summer the Baltimore Orioles were absent from the feeders while they raised their young. They have now returned with their young.

Red-bellied Woodpeckers have been at the feeders all summer eating   suet, sunflower seeds and grape jelly.Downy woodpeckers have also been at the feeders.

The Grey Catbirds have a nest near the feeders and spend a lot of time eating grape jelly.

Mourning Doves spend a lot of time under the feeders cleaning up the mess.

Northern Cardinals are around year around.

More Spring Birds on the Farm

This spring two birds have turned up at my feeders that I have never seen on the farm before. The firs photo is of an Eastern Toehee. When it first turned up I thought the Baltimore Orioles had returned but I was wrong. A pair of Toehees spend their time feeding on the ground and running from under the feeder to a bush that provides shelter. The second bird is the Yellow-rumped Warbler which also turned up a few weeks ago. There are a number of them and they seem to like to feed on the suet.

A bird that I have not seen for several years also turned up at the feeder last week. The Red-breasted Nuthatch used to frequent my feeders and finally returned after an absence.

I still have lots of White-throated Sparrows around. Fortunately they are ground feeders and seem to do a good job cleaning up under the feeders.

Last week the male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks  returned. I have not yet seen the females. The only spring birds that have not returned are the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and the Baltimore Orioles.

Rose-breasted Grosebeak

Wet and Wild at Canadian Hill Farm

We had several storms move through yesterday. After the storms moved through I enjoyed watching the birds. The Baltimore Orioles seemed to have problems staying dry ad did the female Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.

More Spring Birds are back.

Last week I saw my first Chipping Sparrow at my feeder.

Chipping Sparrow

Yesterday the first of the Rose-breasted Grosbeaks returned.

Rose-breasted Grosebeak

Early Summer Birds

I have a number of birds at my feeders. They Grey Catbirds have been around and are raising their young in a pine tree near the feeders. They have been battling the Blue Jays most of the summer. Apparently the jays go after the eggs and young of other birds.

Grey Catbird

The goldfinches have been absent for much of the spring. I have no idea why but they have returned recently to feed on the thistle seeds.

American Goldfinch

The Rose-breasted Grosbeaks have been around most of the summer and have recently returned to the feeders with their young.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

The Baltimore Orioles were absent while they were raising their young. They have recently returned to the feeders in large numbers with their young.

Baltimore Oriole

I have a few Chipping Sparrows around the feeders from time to time.

Chipping Sparrow

Everyone Loves Grape Jelly

It is not just the orioles that like grape jelly. I continue to find a variety of birds at the jelly feeder.

Grey Catbird

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Baltimore Oriole

Early Summer Birds on the Farm

A couple of Grey Catbirds have been hanging around the feeders. They generally don’t feed except they do have a sweet tooth for the grape jelly I have out for the orioles. I’ve noticed they also have a problem with the occasional Blue Jays that come to the feeder. I can always tell if there is a Blue Jay around because of the posture of the Grey Catbirds.

Grey Catbird

Blue Jay

Large numbers of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are currently at the feeders.

Rose Breasted Grosbeak

There are a fair number of American Goldfinches around. This is a change from the spring when they all but disappeared from my feeders.

American Goldfinch

The House Sparrows continue to appear at my feeders. The past few weeks they had their young with them and now the young seem to be feeding on their own.

House Sparrows

The orioles have started to return to the feeders. They were here in large numbers and then left to raise their young. Now that the young are getting ready to fledge they have started to return. I would expect that they will return with their young with the next couple of weeks.

Baltimore Oriole

The Downy Woodpeckers are around feeding on my suet. I have regular suet out that I got from the butcher shop but they much prefer the more expensive peanut butter suet.

Downy Woodpecker

More Spring Birds Return to the Farm

On May 5th I saw my first Grey Catbirds of the season. They have been hanging out near my bird feeders and evergreens in front of the house.

Grey Catbird

On the 6th of May I noticed that the Baltimore Orioles and the Humming birds had returned.

Baltimore Oriole

Ruby-throated Hummingbird female

Today I noticed that the female Rose-breasted Grosbeaks had returned. The male grosbeaks returned last week. I also saw an Indigo Bunting at the feeder this afternoon.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak female

Indigo Bunting

Birds of Early Summer

The second week of May many of the spring birds returned to the farm. The Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Baltimore Orioles, Grey Catbirds, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, and Song Sparrows all returned at about the same time.

The Rose-breasted Grosbeaks stayed around for a couple of weeks before they went off to raise their young. Occasionally I would see one at the feeder. This past week they started returning to the feeders in increasing numbers.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

The pattern for the Baltimore Orioles was similar to that of the grosbeaks. They stayed around for a few weeks in large numbers. At one point I had 17 at my feeding stations and was going through a quart of grape jelly every day. The same thing happened last year. I also notice that they had nest building materials at the feeders. It was fun to watch them come to the feeder with nest building material and then have to decide whether to keep the nest building material or get some grape jelly. Usually the grape jelly won out. The important thing was that they were going to build nests which would mean they would return after raising their young. This past week they started to return for grape jelly.

Baltimore Oriole

The Grey Catbirds stayed around the feeders and built a nest close to the house where they raised one fledgling which left the nest several weeks ago. They do feed at the feeders occasionally. Mostly they like the peanut butter suet and occasionally they will eat the grape jelly. The fledgling and the adults have been hanging around the house.

Grey Catbird

The Song Sparrows also built nests near the house but I haven’t been able to identify the fledgling birds. The Song Sparrows are a frequent visitor to the bird bath.

Song Sparrow

The Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have stayed around although the past few weeks the numbers have declined. They are probably off raising their young.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

I have noticed that a fledgling Downy Woodpecker has been hanging out at the suet feeder where the adult has been feeding it. The same thing had happened with a Red-bellied Woodpecker.

Downy Woodpeckers

Red-bellied Woodpeckers

 

Spring Bird Shots

A few bird shots from the last couple of weeks.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak female

Rose-breasted Grosbeak male

Indigo Bunting male

Eastern Bluebird male

American Goldfinch male