Jeannie's Travel Addiction

The Cute…. this is a mystery bird but he sure is cute

Friday, August 19, 2016

My backyard birding adventures continue…..

Looks like a serious encounter between this female Cardinal and the mystery bird.

More Cute… looking close you can see the last of those baby-downy feathers on this  fledgling Cardinal.

Cute continued…..  I found this female Goldfinch resting on my back yard bench.  She sat still as I sprinkled seed at the end of the bench and watched ( at a distance)  as she came to eat it.

Cute , but sadly, my parakeet visitor  made daily visits to my back yard for about a month and I have  not seen him since

The Bad… this an adult  Cowbird – known for laying their eggs ( sometimes as many as 3 dozen per year) in other bird species’ nests.

Also happy to let the other bird  foster, feed and raise the baby cowbird.  Cowbirds hatch sooner, grow faster, are larger, hungrier and out-compete the host’s nestlings for food.

This  sometimes leads to the legitimate babies  demise.  Yet, somehow the  foster cowbird still develops their own song, social and breeding behavior.

For example this female Cardinal is feeding a cowbird fledgling.   I thought I had captured a rare moment until I Googled  ” fostered cowbirds photos” and saw what a common occurrence it is.

The Bad continues…..the Red Tailed Hawks that nested in my tree this summer still linger and several times have left me disgusting- looking  heaps of loose feathers, which I can only  conclude was a the remains of  dinner.

The Ugly…..  bald or semi bald Cardinals and Blue Jays  are somewhat common sightings.   The Bird World experts  is not quite sure why this happens but assures us the hair evidently grows back.

These last shots  of mealtime discussions between a  Red Bellied Woodpecker and Blue Jay with  another mystery bird.  Anyone  have a guess who the mystery birds are?

The Bad? or  The Smart?  This fledgling cardinal is a step ahead of the rest and  has no need for  discussion – he just intends to  undo and steal the whole  feeder.

Burkett’s laws of birding

The First Law of Birding: The greater the time spent searching for a rarity, the greater the chances it will be sitting on your car when you return to the parking lot.

The Second Law of Birding: There are two sides of a tree; the side facing you and the side where the bird is.

The Third Law of Birding: When you see the bird that you have always wanted to see, it will be in the last spot you thought of looking for it.

The Fourth Law of Birding: The best bird seen during a trip is usually seen in bad light, isn’t calling or singing, is seen for less than a second, and is the last “trip bird”.

— by Cody Burkett, Phoenix, AZ

Thanks for reading!

Hope you enjoyed my back yard birding!