No Vacancy!

Honestly, I've lost track but believe for the last 5 years or so I've had American Robins make a nest under my back deck and raise a brood.  It's fun to have them there and watch them come and go and raise the young but it's also in a place where I come and go all the time, which scares off the adults and has in the past caused the young to leave the nest too early, as they get spooked too.

Last year they built their nest atop the ladder that is stored under there.  This is where that darn "Murphy" comes in. You see, like last year, once they build their nest, lay eggs and get settled I'm gonna need my ladder, UGH!  Last year I had to wait until the young left the nest before being able to use the ladder, which isn't cool.

So, this spring I've been removing their nest constructions every day or two.  I'm doing this so they'll get the point and move on to a different location, however, they are persistent, OMG!  They're working their feathered butts off and actually make quite a lot of progress with each attempt.  I feel bad but I want to break the cycle...

They can visit but NO lodging!

My Littles...

A pair of Robins made a nest atop my 30' extension ladder that I have stored under my back deck. They made it in less than a couple days, and when I was away in RI for my daughter's graduation.  Seems they like the spot and have been here for the last couple of years.

There are two nice and plump youngsters in there now.  It won't be long now before they're old enough to "fly the coop".

I'm looking forward to it, since the parents get all hot and bothered when I'm out and about in that area and carry on and on and on but also because I need to use my ladder!  Soon enough...

Snow Covered Abodes

We got about 15" of snow with our last snow storm, which today, a couple weeks later, is completely gone!  As always things are awesome following a snow storm, here are some of the "houses" in our yard covered by snow - 

Under Deck Nester

A Robin chose to build her next on the support beam under our back deck.  It was not a spring build, rather a late season build - these pictures were taken last night.  Perhaps, it was her second clutch, who knows.  I'm not a big fan of having birds nest under the deck.  They're messy with the nest building materials, they poop on everything, and that's just the adults, and the nest is in a high traffic area.  The mother is constantly being spooked of the nest, where she'll fly to the other side of the pool and sit on the fence hollering. Last year I took the nest down along with it's 3-eggs.  Fortunately, I set it aside because when Emilie came home and saw what I did there were 4-eggs, so I had to put it back.  This year I just left it.

Anyway, when I peaked in last night I was surprised to see just one baby and it's pretty good sized too.  I guess it's a lot easier to feed one mouth versus multiple.

Just home Oliver is outside when Emilia takes her first flight, could be devastating...

Oh Bother, (Christopher) Robin

The Robin's nest below was built under our back deck.  Since I didn't want birds nesting there I removed the it, pictured below.  It sat on my workbench in the basement for half a day.  That was until Emilie came home and found it.  After some arguing (might as well been talking to the wall) I reluctantly placed the nest back under the deck.  I like to think I caved because I was hoping the two eggs had gone cold enough and wouldn't hatch...

Boy was I wrong!  Not only did the two hatch, she laid two additional eggs and all four have hatched -

Sorry, not one of your parents, just here to grab a couple pics. Carry on -

For Rent. Used One Season. Like New.

So that's where the Robin nest was...

Perfectly hidden by the leaves in the Spring.   Sticks out like a sore thumb now.

A Black-Capped Chickadee Moved In!

A pair of Black-Capped Chickadee's moved into the pool fence bird house this Spring.  In the past this little house has been a favorite of and home to many a Wren family.  I'm not sure how they decided that the Chickadee would occupy this year but I'm happy either way, as both bird varieties are terrific at foraging and catching unwanted insects for their brood.

Have a look for yourself below!  Quite the variety of creepy-crawly meals!

** Pictures taken by and a courtesy of Ms. Emilie Frye

North American Wasp Paper Nest

Check out this basketball sized North American Hornets nest Emilie and I came across, YIKES!

 



 

This abode is hanging over the driveway entrance to the park!  If you were ~8 or 9 feet tall you'd bump into it with you head.  Perhaps, this was a "first build" for the little wasp engineer who designed it.  I don't believe size and weight, as the casa grew, was taken into consideration otherwise they would have chosen a larger branch.

 

 

I pity the fool that unknowingly disturbs these dudes.  With any luck it will be one of the inconsiderate people that visit the park and treat it as if it was there very own.

Name the Bird II

The first ever 'Name the Bird' contest was a HUGE success! We had great participation and some very creative guesses. However, in the end and even with the hints and clue provided no one was able to 'Name the Bird'. Although, we did learn how to spell PTERODACTYLUS (TER-o-DACK-ti-lus).

Here we go again! Y'all have a chance to redeem yourselves. The bird nest pictured above was built in our Forsythia bush just behind the pool fence, about chest high and next to the raspberries.

Can you 'Name the Bird' that built this nest and produced these eggs?

Name the Bird - Update

There were some good answers and some very creative answers to the original 'Name the Bird' posting, however, all incorrect. Let me throw out (baseball term get it?!) another clue. There is a professional baseball team named after this bird :-)

Here are a couple pictures that may or may not help in determining what type of bird these guys are -

The babies are just hours old in this picture. Only 2 of the 3 eggs hatched, the other was tossed out - we found it lying on the ground beneath the nest. Not sure if the mother tossed it knowing there was something wrong or one of the new babies accidentally knocked it out.

Here they are again just three days later. Isn't it amazing how fast these dudes are growing!! Both the mother and father have been bring food and feeding this guys.

Can you 'Name the Bird' now?!

Name the Bird

Participation for 'Name the Poop' wasn't what I thought it would be.

Perhaps, this was a result of the icky poop topic.

Therefore, I've come up with more user friendly 'Name the ' game.

The bird nest pictured above was built in the rhododendron just outside our playroom window.

Can you 'Name the Bird' that built this nest and produced these eggs?