Yesterday (11-21-06)Virginia and I were picnicking on Roast Beef sammichs from the Kitchen Door (very excellent by the way) at Red Bud Isle just below the Tom Miller dam. We heard so chipping sparrows in the trees, but I didn't get a good enough look to confirm. What we did see though was the South American Anhinga, a cormorant-like bird that gets up here along the coast and on large water ways during the summer. I thought it odd he would be up here this late, but his fan tail, long slender neck and dart like head and beak was pretty unmistakable. (I only saw him flying, low over the water, and originally thought he might be a cormorant, but the book confirmed he was an Anhinga. Pretty cool.
Beautiful day, but those were the only birds we saw.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Wren Family Moves in!
You may wonder at the exclamation point in the heading. Why all the fuss over a nesting pair of Carolina Wrens on my porch?
Well, it's because it was these energetic little birds that got me interested in learning about avians in the first place. While laid off in January of 2002, I noticed a nest in the shelving of my back porch built in a space between two power tools. Then I noticed the parents, little brown-red birds flitting in and out with nest material and later insects in their bills. I later found one dead in my house, no doubt the work of my wily kitty. While I regretted the loss of one of the parent birds, the silver lining was I got to closely examine it and was armed with excellent info when trying to identify it.
I went to the Bookstop and leafed through bird books, trying to find the little bird. Most of the books were bewildering. I had no idea how to classify the bird and thus refine my search to the proper part of the book. (Luckily it wasn't a sea bird, so that eliminated about half the birds in the book.) I knew it was only 4 inches long or so, so that eliminated larger birds, but still, all the sparrows and warblers and other small songbirds were still in play. And most books used drawings, and not pictures, and were of no help to me at all. To my brain, the drawings were totally misleading.
Finally, I found Kenn Kaufman's Field Focus guide and there it was! Under Wrens. In a minute or two, I narrowed it down to the Carolina and Bewick (pronounced Buick)wren and then decided it must be the Carolina.
Well, inordinately excited by this I went home and monitored the nest very closely. Soon I heard cheaping in there and noticed that there were 5 little chicks. Soon, they were fledging, leaving the nest. Three were strong enough to follow dad around and learn to feed. Two weren't so strong but were forced from the nest nonetheless. Kitty was really interested in them. I rescued them and put them up in a tree away from the cat, but am pretty sure they became food for some animal.
Last winter, a wren again built a nest in my back porch, but for some reason he abandoned it. Either he couldn't attract a mate or he felt it unsafe, I don't know. I was disappointed, but I never disturbed the nest.
I got to meet Kenn Kaufman at the Wildflower Center this spring and while in line to get him to sign my book, someone mentioned they couldn't keep wrens out of their hanging basket planters. That stuck in my brain and while at Home Depot for another item saw one on sale in the garden center, so I grabbed one, hung it on the front porch, and then carefully removed the old nest from the back porch and placed it in the planter.
I had no idea if a wren would come and use it, but about 2 weekends ago, I saw a wren on the front porch, early morning, flitting about, eating insects and flying up to the hanging basket. I saw him again this weekend but I didn't think he had occupied the nest until Monday, when I showed Virginia the nest. She asked me if it was occupied, and right as I said no, a wren popped out of the nest entrance and flew away!
Then I took a close look at the nest and it was obviously modified and renovated. The entrance hole was even moved and rebuilt. I'll try to get a picture soon.
Hopefully, this means chicks are coming. I'll try to provide pix as it happens. More as it happens.
Well, it's because it was these energetic little birds that got me interested in learning about avians in the first place. While laid off in January of 2002, I noticed a nest in the shelving of my back porch built in a space between two power tools. Then I noticed the parents, little brown-red birds flitting in and out with nest material and later insects in their bills. I later found one dead in my house, no doubt the work of my wily kitty. While I regretted the loss of one of the parent birds, the silver lining was I got to closely examine it and was armed with excellent info when trying to identify it.
I went to the Bookstop and leafed through bird books, trying to find the little bird. Most of the books were bewildering. I had no idea how to classify the bird and thus refine my search to the proper part of the book. (Luckily it wasn't a sea bird, so that eliminated about half the birds in the book.) I knew it was only 4 inches long or so, so that eliminated larger birds, but still, all the sparrows and warblers and other small songbirds were still in play. And most books used drawings, and not pictures, and were of no help to me at all. To my brain, the drawings were totally misleading.
Finally, I found Kenn Kaufman's Field Focus guide and there it was! Under Wrens. In a minute or two, I narrowed it down to the Carolina and Bewick (pronounced Buick)wren and then decided it must be the Carolina.
Well, inordinately excited by this I went home and monitored the nest very closely. Soon I heard cheaping in there and noticed that there were 5 little chicks. Soon, they were fledging, leaving the nest. Three were strong enough to follow dad around and learn to feed. Two weren't so strong but were forced from the nest nonetheless. Kitty was really interested in them. I rescued them and put them up in a tree away from the cat, but am pretty sure they became food for some animal.
Last winter, a wren again built a nest in my back porch, but for some reason he abandoned it. Either he couldn't attract a mate or he felt it unsafe, I don't know. I was disappointed, but I never disturbed the nest.
I got to meet Kenn Kaufman at the Wildflower Center this spring and while in line to get him to sign my book, someone mentioned they couldn't keep wrens out of their hanging basket planters. That stuck in my brain and while at Home Depot for another item saw one on sale in the garden center, so I grabbed one, hung it on the front porch, and then carefully removed the old nest from the back porch and placed it in the planter.
I had no idea if a wren would come and use it, but about 2 weekends ago, I saw a wren on the front porch, early morning, flitting about, eating insects and flying up to the hanging basket. I saw him again this weekend but I didn't think he had occupied the nest until Monday, when I showed Virginia the nest. She asked me if it was occupied, and right as I said no, a wren popped out of the nest entrance and flew away!
Then I took a close look at the nest and it was obviously modified and renovated. The entrance hole was even moved and rebuilt. I'll try to get a picture soon.
Hopefully, this means chicks are coming. I'll try to provide pix as it happens. More as it happens.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Hawk!
Okay, this wasn't taken in my back yard but it was taken nearby in a residential area of central Austin. (Arroyo Seco and Justin Lane) Looks a lot like the guy in my back yard.
Wow, long time no blog. Hummers Gone, Hooters here
Well, the hummingbirds have been gone for about a month and a half now. Just yesterday evening about 6:30, my neighbors Mike and Barbara called me over to their house. They had the Eastern Screech owls living and breathing in their yard this spring. This time, they heard hooting. That's an owl, but no little screech owl. It was a pair of Great Horned owls two house up in an Elm tree. I tried to get a shot but no luck.
These are magnificent looking, impressive birds. We all involuntarily gasped when they took off and fly away, their wingspan is so impressive. That reminded me that I saw a hawk in my yard a few weekends back, attacking a sparrow nest in a bush in my side yard. Didn't get a shot of that either, darn it.
That same weekend, I saw a Carolina wren on my front porch, eating insects and checking out the nest I put up there in a hanging basket. I was hope he'd claim it as his own for breeding. But I haven't seen him since.
I put up two new thistle feeders in the attempt to attract finches. No luck yet.
My Oriole Feeder never attracted Orioles, just hummers. I'll try again in the spring.
And I'll try to stay up to date here from now on. Really. ;-)
These are magnificent looking, impressive birds. We all involuntarily gasped when they took off and fly away, their wingspan is so impressive. That reminded me that I saw a hawk in my yard a few weekends back, attacking a sparrow nest in a bush in my side yard. Didn't get a shot of that either, darn it.
That same weekend, I saw a Carolina wren on my front porch, eating insects and checking out the nest I put up there in a hanging basket. I was hope he'd claim it as his own for breeding. But I haven't seen him since.
I put up two new thistle feeders in the attempt to attract finches. No luck yet.
My Oriole Feeder never attracted Orioles, just hummers. I'll try again in the spring.
And I'll try to stay up to date here from now on. Really. ;-)
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