SIGNS

For a couple of cold days I didn't see any birds feeding. Then that night there was about 1/2 inch of snowfall. The next morning I looked out at the patio and was happy to see little tracks in the snow.
My first thought was to take a few pictures. After that I brushed away the snow from each area they had been searching. I proceeded to spread black oil sunflower seeds. It wasn't more than 5 minutes after I went inside that chickadees, juncos, sparrows and a pair of white-breasted nuthatchers showed up to eat.
I do know that because I feed birds regularly, they are out there watching for me to put out some seed.

A bit of Bird Trivia...Red-Breasted and white-Breasted Nuthatch eat cantaloupe seeds.

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IF YOU'RE READING THIS.....

my husband blew up my bird bath.
In a few of my past blogging episodes, some of you may remember my husband blowing up my bird bath.
That was this past April.
Since then I was using his gold panning dish. It isn't going to work for winter. The last birdbath (my first actually)
had a heating element wound around and secured under the bird bath.
Christmas is only 31 days away. It will be great if he remembers. Think positive. It's in the mail?
You know what. I don't think he reads my blog. If he, did you would assume he wanted to be a follower.
I should tell him to buy from  www.birdsnestinginn.com Ya think?

TRIVIA

American Robins enjoy cottage cheese.

ANYBODY MISS ME?

 Haven't blogged in for a while. It's snowing here in the great northern Wisconsin woods. Did I miss fall?

As busy as I have been with other matters I still feed our back yard birds every day.

Every year we have a new generation of cardinals. They are so enjoyable to watch, Right now we still have a young fledgling coming to feed.

My garden is done for the winter. Just about the time everything is in full bloom we get a frost and it starts.

Bye bye plants...one at a time. 

 So, to brighten this gloomy day I'm posting a few reminders of summer

HOME OF THE FREE BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE

IS THAT A BEANSTALK?

I recently noticed that I haven't updated some of my backyard images, (to busy picking weeds). This is our third year of working on our yard, aiming for it to become a Certified Habitat. Since summers in Northern Wisconsin are limited too, maybe three months, only so much can be done each year.

Any one who has ever done their own landscaping and gardening knows that time and expenses are a big factor.

I still enjoy the wonder of all four seasons this beautiful state of Wisconsin offers. But with this goal set to establish the bird habitat, summer comes and goes too fast.

My sunflower plants were something else to watch. One day it was a seedling and the next week five feet tall. Not really. What is so great about sunflowers is they are a great way to save some seed expense. Also a factor in becoming a Certified Habitat.

Photo to the left is of my 6' 5" tall son-in-law next to the tallest sunflower. And that was about a ten days ago. There was only one bud on top of plant. In the photo below is how the flower looks today. (8/28/2010). The sunflowers in front are a separate plants. The photo on right measures 11'8'. Above I can see new buds coming. http://www.thenestinginn.com/

 

MOUTH TO MOUTH

Well I have totally enjoyed watching a male adult Cardinal feed his two fledglings. This is the first year after waiting three years to see this. My bird feeders have fed baby yellow finch, chickadees, pinesiskin and house finch and cardinals.

The young cardinals seem to be more at ease when they comes to feed. The adult male flies in with one or both fledglings and picks up seeds to put in " the mouths of babe's". The adult female also come by, but she either feeds herself or perches near by making the Cardinal caution tweet. These are the one species of birds that I know are at my feeders. just by hearing that sound.

Arrive at patio

Because I am inside my house, (how convenient is that?) and usually crawling on the floor around furniture so they don't see me, I get
some fun photos. http://www.birdsnestinginn.com/

Lesson one. Listen

Open wide

Nature is fascinating. But if it took me that long to get food...well,

let's just say I don't want to come back as a bird.

Shove it in.

 

Haven't been blogging for a while. A lot of things going on in our family. I would like to dedicate this entry to my beautiful fun loving sister-in law, Colleen. She fought a tough battle with cancer. She passed away on Tuesday, June 29, 2010.

THIS ONES FOR YOU, COLLEEN

My husband, brother in-law and I had journeyed three hours north to be with her earlier in June. She was still in a wheelchair and able to talk to us and joke around ( which she was very good at). Her favorite place  was sitting on the porch birdwatching. In the tree right in front of her were six hummingbird feeders. Her favorite of all birds.
Every time I see a humming bird I will think of Colleen.

STARE DOWN

 Went to visit a friend this past weekend and she had bird feeders everywhere. We spent time sitting in her screened in porch. She asked me what would be a good birdseed to buy because weren’t many songbirds coming by. I told her to get black oil sunflower seeds. Even if that is the only type of food you buy, there... will be birds hanging around. After she filled the feeders we were still sitting in the porch. It maybe was an hour later and a purple finch showed up. I grabbed my camera and took some pictures. http://www.birdsnestinginn.com/

Check out the picture. What's his problem???

A BIT OF TRIVIA

Did you know bluebirds like baked apples?

LIGHT IN THE ATTIC

Maybe I'll get a new bird bath for Memorial Day?
As mentioned earlier, my husband blew a hole in mine. I happened to be looking for anything that would imitate a bird bath. Shallow serving tray or a large pail, anything that might work. Then I came across this.

A couple times a year he likes to go panning gold for a hobby.
What a great idea!( "I have my moments") I cleaned out one of his gold pans, put about 2 inches of water in it, then some stones on the bottom for birds to set on and drink comfortably.

This is now my new bird bath. Think He'll notice. I can't wait for his comments!!!

WE HAVE SUNSHINE

Well we have sunshine and the temperature is predicted to be in the 70's for a few days.
I moved my garden plants from the house to the patio. My husband worked up an area for a rock garden
last summer. Even though summer was a bit short, this first time garden turned out pretty well.
Next my husband is going to till the garden area.

One of my favorite feeders.

We planted a few thing but didn't have as much success as we would like to have seen. Last year it was cold until the 2nd week of June.

This year we are planting now!
The bird feeders have been up for a couple of months with great success attracting yellow finch, raspberry finch, pine siskin and chickadees.
http://www.birdsnestinginn.com/

GOOD GRIEF!

Three Summers ago, my husband and I decided to start landscaping our backyard into a Bird Habitat. We started this project not only because we enjoy watching wild birds but to help preserve wild life.
We are new at this so we plant and build as we learn.
I know to attract and keep birds visiting year after year there are four major elements to have. Water supply like a pond or bird bath food supply, nesting areas and adequate cover.
In June 2008 we purchased four blossom trees. Two Prairie Fire crab trees and two Pink Spring Crab.
once we marked off where we would plant each one, the digging began.
My husband dug a three foot wide and two foot deep area. Before putting the tree in we mixed natural ground and a small amount of horse manure that we had in a pile for five years.

He placed the tree in the spot as I held it straight and he filled in the area. Then he set the hose by it to trickle water for a while. As we planted the other trees, every thing went well until we looked up and the first tree was floating away. Told you we were new at this. So a word of advice, "look up more often".

Here are a couple of photos of what our yard looked like in summer 2008.

Back of house

(Pretty cool how the names of each tree just floats next to it.)

                  

KABOOM!!!

Has anyone ever noticed that as adults their husband, boyfriend or brother still have that hidden child
syndrome that comes to life every so often? Well, every so often found its way out of my husband.

There are a few essentials needed around the yard that assures birds keep coming back.

One important item is water. This could be a pond, fountain or a bird bath.

I had this perfect starter bird bath that attached to the patio rail. It was close by so I could clean and fill it. I put a few rocks on the bottom so smaller birds could balance themselves for drinking. There was also an attached but hidden electric heating cord which worked great for the winter birds. This was just the perfect  little bath and watering item. One day my husband was on the patio filling cans with water and throwing waterproof fire crackers in them. Apparently he ran out of cans, because the next thing I hear was," honey, I owe you a new bird bath. (gotta love em). Pictured to left is the one I had

last year and I'm still waiting for it's replacement. Let's see, Christmas is over, Valentine's Day long past, birthday gone and forgotten. Mother's Day? I'm not his mother. All these things shall come to pass. I'll be sure to post a photo when he replaces the bird bath.
Find a similar bird bath at  http://www.birdsnestinginn.com/

THUMP

The other day I heard a thump come from our patio window. I walked over to look out and sure enough there lay a young pine siskin. I went outside and picked him up. He was still breathing. I noticed a couple of areas on his body where he had swelling. One swelled area was affecting his eye. And another was next to it

but not on the eye.
                                                      

                                  He was doing well when I took these photos.

I went to my basement and brought up an old bird cage I had kept.
After lining the bottom of the cage with newspaper I put a small flat container of water on the bottom of cage.

I gently laid him inside on the newspaper. I couldn’t believe how small he was. Since it was cold outside, I thought the warmth of the house would help.
Using my finger, I trickled a drop of water on to his beak and he anxiously drank it. After repeating this a few more times with success, I let him rest.

About an hour later I slowly reached into the cage to pick him up. He responded by hopping up and clinging to the side of the cage. I reached forward to put him in my hand again.
The bumps were just about gone but there was something still in his eye. I gently removed the obstruction with a q-tip. I didn’t know if was either frightened or trusted me. He didn’t try to peck at my hand or wiggle.

When opening my hand to free him he flew and landed on a rock on our fireplace. I got the camera and took a couple of photos. Then reaching up for him, I cupped my hand to pick him up.

He was looking much better. The bumps were gone, so I put him on the patio where he sat for a moment, before flying away.

Love That Red

Well this morning I heard a familiar sound coming from my patio where I have black-oiled sunflower seed spread about. One of my favorites, the male Cardinal.  I barely made a move and he took off. Those male cardinals are so cautious.
 It doesn't matter how many times I see these birds, I still have the urge to take a photo. My camera is always close buy and loaded. Last week he stayed long enough for this photo. I had to crawl to my camera and hide behind a plant so he didn't hear or see me.
Interested in attracting these colorful birds. Go to http://www.birdsnestinginn.com/

                                                               

AMERICAN ROBIN

 The American Robin is the state bird of Wisconsin.

First Robin of the season, yeah! Sometimes I tend to forget about these creatures.

While growing up in this beautiful state, there are Robins everywhere. I have seen Robins many times.
 Often finding pieces of there fragile pale blue eggs reminded me to watch for Robins.



My dad always said "the early bird gets the worm." He was an avid fisherman and made it our quest to pick more worms for fishing and beat the Robins at it. Getting to the worms first was definitely a challenge against the Robins. So, after each rain I would be ready.


Sorry if I take you for granted. This photo is dedicated to the beauty of all the Robins.

Birds In The Snow

Haven't been blogging for a while. I'm getting ready for a new season. I don't know how many of you experience long winters like we do in Wisconsin, but seeing these birds gives me springfever.

I took this photo in March 2009. And it's snowing.

Once Raspberry Finch and Yellow Finch along with the Pine sis kin birds started showing up the birds continued to come all summer into September.

So get those feeders out soon.