I had plenty of activity at home yesterday at the feeders.
As you know, I am not fond of House Sparrows......however......taken one at a time, a male House Sparrow is a very "natty" and beautiful bird! This one was very pretty.
The problem is that there is never just ONE.....here we have 15 eating everything that isn't nailed down.
The Blue Jay showed up.....I usually only see them as the weather gets cold.
Just to show how "cheeky" the House Sparrows are.....the Red-Bellied Woodpecker was eating suet and minding its own business when this female House Sparrow showed up and tried to share the suet. The Red-Bellied was NOT pleased and twice jabbed at it with its beak. However the sparrow kept trying and finally the woodpecker gave up and flew away! Persistence wins the day for the House Sparrows. I like the look in that one red eye of the woodpecker at the arrival of this unwanted nusiance.
My first Pine Siskin for the season! Another sign that cold weather is coming.
"You looking at me?"
The Junco has also arrived.
5-6 pair of Mallards dropped in and spent the day on our pond. Mike saw them fly away later in the day. Glad we could provide a resting/feeding spot for their journey.
With cold weather coming, what do I do with this Avocado tree??? When it started growing in this pot, I didn't know what it was and yanked it out. The seed was still clinging to the roots and then I remembered sticking one in the pot "just to see what would happen". I somehow don't think that Avocados will do well over the winter here.
I still have a few gourds growing on my vine! A few of the really small ones split open with the weather changes, but this one looks like it will make it. I already have 4 drying in the garage.
I think there are 3 squirrel nests in the Oak tree out front! This one is right above the "squirrel highway"......a limb that allows them to jump to another oak on the other side of the road. How smart of them to not only pick the tree that has the squirrel feeder attached to it, but the tree that is the central tree to the whole "squirrel highway" system! From this tree they can get to the ash and the maple (both of which have feeders) as well as get across the road without coming down. My new squirrels appear to be very smart! With the leaves coming down, I see squirrel nests all over town.
Way up at the top of the neighbor's White Pine trees are some nice bunches of cones.
This may not look like a "sign of winter" to you, but this is our mystery cat who only shows up in cold weather....we call him "Shadow". I haven't seen him all summer, but this morning he was on the front walk staring at the door and upsetting my cats.
I always give him a few dry munchies. I wish some day I would find out who he belongs to!
Not at my house....but another sure sign that winter is on the way. I am seeing hawks everywhere perched where they can watch the fields. This one was on the back side of Mouteau Park, the old landfill, sitting on one of the pipes that release the methane gases.
Saw this one Sunday on the way to church and made Mike stop and park where I could get a picture.
As you know, I am not fond of House Sparrows......however......taken one at a time, a male House Sparrow is a very "natty" and beautiful bird! This one was very pretty.
The problem is that there is never just ONE.....here we have 15 eating everything that isn't nailed down.
The Blue Jay showed up.....I usually only see them as the weather gets cold.
Just to show how "cheeky" the House Sparrows are.....the Red-Bellied Woodpecker was eating suet and minding its own business when this female House Sparrow showed up and tried to share the suet. The Red-Bellied was NOT pleased and twice jabbed at it with its beak. However the sparrow kept trying and finally the woodpecker gave up and flew away! Persistence wins the day for the House Sparrows. I like the look in that one red eye of the woodpecker at the arrival of this unwanted nusiance.
My first Pine Siskin for the season! Another sign that cold weather is coming.
"You looking at me?"
The Junco has also arrived.
5-6 pair of Mallards dropped in and spent the day on our pond. Mike saw them fly away later in the day. Glad we could provide a resting/feeding spot for their journey.
With cold weather coming, what do I do with this Avocado tree??? When it started growing in this pot, I didn't know what it was and yanked it out. The seed was still clinging to the roots and then I remembered sticking one in the pot "just to see what would happen". I somehow don't think that Avocados will do well over the winter here.
I still have a few gourds growing on my vine! A few of the really small ones split open with the weather changes, but this one looks like it will make it. I already have 4 drying in the garage.
I think there are 3 squirrel nests in the Oak tree out front! This one is right above the "squirrel highway"......a limb that allows them to jump to another oak on the other side of the road. How smart of them to not only pick the tree that has the squirrel feeder attached to it, but the tree that is the central tree to the whole "squirrel highway" system! From this tree they can get to the ash and the maple (both of which have feeders) as well as get across the road without coming down. My new squirrels appear to be very smart! With the leaves coming down, I see squirrel nests all over town.
Way up at the top of the neighbor's White Pine trees are some nice bunches of cones.
This may not look like a "sign of winter" to you, but this is our mystery cat who only shows up in cold weather....we call him "Shadow". I haven't seen him all summer, but this morning he was on the front walk staring at the door and upsetting my cats.
I always give him a few dry munchies. I wish some day I would find out who he belongs to!
Not at my house....but another sure sign that winter is on the way. I am seeing hawks everywhere perched where they can watch the fields. This one was on the back side of Mouteau Park, the old landfill, sitting on one of the pipes that release the methane gases.
Saw this one Sunday on the way to church and made Mike stop and park where I could get a picture. Even though it is still pretty warm here, the critters seem to know that winter is coming!
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18 comments:
Put your avo inside where it will get lots of warmth and sunlight and I am sure it will survive. Some people here cover trees like this with long wild grass and bind it down so that it does not get frost or snow on it.
Lovely House Sparrows Mary, they are just friendly and misunderstood really.{:)
...lucky you that you have siskins already (or at all--I waited all last winter, but none showed up). Your photo of the male House Sparrow is lovely. He's quite handsome. I have had a colony slowly growing at my house. Over the summer they've become quite numerous!!
Wow! I've never seen on many pinecones in one bunch! Interesting post. Looks like winter is coming by the birds you are seeing.
Joan: I'm very bad with plants in the house and finding a warm sunny spot in our weird house is difficult. I'll try to find somewhere to put it. Should I water it a lot?
Roy: They are TOO friendly, but I will concede that they are pretty...sort of.
Kelly: I'm sure that I had at least 3-4 batches of baby House Sparrows this year each with a half dozen new mouths to feed....why is it they breed so much better than all the other birds?? Nature's survivors. They swarm in like locusts and eat all the seeds that I leave for the cardinals and other ground feeders.
Dorothy: They were very attractive and all of the cones are way at the top of the tree!
Mary the photos of the House Sparrows are really neat. The black kitty is so pretty. You can tell he is well taken care of by how big he is.
Signs that winter is coming are happening here also Mary. First, we have to rake and blow all of the many many leaves!!!!
I did see my first (first to my feeder) Junco this past weekend. Haven't seen the Pine Siskins yet--and hope I don't (since they are like your Sparrows). Last year, they ate me out of house and home.
Have a wonderful day.
Hugs,
Betsy
Somehow you are ahead of me Mary. I haven't seen the Siskins( and I had 100's last year) or the Juncos, or the Red Bellied woodpecker. I do have plenty of Sparrows( they never go away), Goldfinch, and House Finch, a few Chick-a-dees, Blue Jays, and 3 Titmice, and of coure 2 White breasted nuthatches. I'm going to order one of those wreath peanut holders too. Might keep the Bluejays off my feeders.
Funny thing, I'm starting to see more Hawks too.
Cute cat. Looks well fed. My grandparents had an all black cat named Clinker.
Cool arrangement of the cones. Never saw this before.
B.
The signs are all around us.Some we welcome.some we wish would go away,like some undesirable birds.Love the pine cone picture,it has such a lovely color.Hope you are enjoying a great day.
Blessings,Ruth
We haven't seen any Pine Siskins yet, but we expect to be overwhelmed in the near future. We've never had many House Sparrows -- perhaps they are all hanging out at your house.
I had a day where sparrows where in my lens, I got a great shot of a group down by the Nile playing with the water.
Interesting that black cat turning up it looks in real nice condition thats if its a stray,
I found the photos of the Mallards and put them on my web site/ with the story how they came to be there on the river.
http://www.myegypt.co.uk/index.php?f=data_home&a=9
after the cat photos.
I love that red eye photo too Mary. I'm glad you got some nice weather for a change! Makes all the difference doesn't it! (-: I think I've said before, that we'd take our sparrows back if we could as they're not doing too well over here!
Those cones will be beautiful with snow on them. The cluster is so pretty. Liked all the variety in this post.
Kathy: When that black cat first showed up it was wintertime and he was a tiny kitten taking shelter in my garage and really hungry. He came back every day for awhile then disappeared. About a year later he showed up again. Now he shows up every winter! I think he obviously belongs to someone now, but wonder if he was on his own for a time when he was little.
Betsy: I think sometimes different groups of birds show up. Often I have large groups of goldfinches, but other times it might be house finches or pine siskins. I never know from one year to the next.
Becky: I usually get less than a dozen siskins in the winter. Changes from year to year.
Ruth: Everyone seems to like those pinecones! I don't know why they are all at the top and none down low.
George: I have a lot of dense bushes and the House Sparrows love to hang out there with the Cardinals.
Tony: the cat is a strange one, but he stops by every winter. I've been gone all day, so may not get photos checked until tomorrow.
Jenny: the sunshine makes it great outside! We were out all day today, so I'm behind.
Leedra: Thanks! I hope they don't get too much snow on them :-)
Sure signs of winter on its way Mary. All lovely pictures and I enlarged some of them for detail. The pine cones looked wonderful and I loved the photo of Shadow's tongue - well caught! A x
Lots of activity at your place! I've never seen a siskin; it's a pretty bird. I have to agree with you about the house sparrows - they eat EVERYTHING and are pushy!
Great Siskins Mary! I wonder if I get them here?....I'll have to look that up!
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