The low temperature and the wind combined with the rain to make a miserable, dank, chilly day for birds. I think they needed lots of food to make up for the weather. Fledgling bluebirds gathered around the suet. One bird was soaking wet but others looked dry. A downy woodpecker had to reassert ownership of the suet. At least three brown headed nuthatches made repeat visits to both seeds and suet.
A hummingbird could not seem to see its feeder. Finally, it or another did find the larger, redder feeder that I had put out to try to get them retrained.
A grumpy-looking Carolina wren worked on the suet in the rain. A pine warbler followed. Then a female red bellied woodpecker wanted some. Meanwhile, chickadees, cardinals, titmice, and house finches ate sunflower seeds. A brown thrasher stayed below. Blue jays wanted barkbutter balls but I wasn't going to waste them in the rain.
At lunch time, one fledgling bluebird got the hang of the suet cage, sharing with a wren. But two others waited for Mama to bring them bites all of two feet away. Nuthatches and the pine warbler also were willing to share the suet.
After lunch, I checked on the hummer feeder to make sure the rain hadn't gotten in. While I was there, I made sure the Argiope was OK. It had made a very minimalist orb web. Honeybees were busy with the mountain mint but native insects had better sense.
By late afternoon the rain had slacked off though the humidity was so high it made little difference. A blue jay decided that there wasn't going to be barkbutter and it might as well eat suet. I think it was a young one as its black hood was more like gray. A hummer went right to its feeder with no nonsense about former locations. The wren was back and maybe the brown thrasher too.
No comments:
Post a Comment