2020: A New Decade begins in the backyard
Welcome to a new decade bird lovers, birders and birdwatchers!!
If your 2019 was a little rough, a little challenging and you are still here for 2020 just shake off all of the negative energy, the past failures and disappointments and puff yourself up for a fresh start. Enjoy the pictures I have taken.
💥2020 calendar will be available for purchase
hawk fluffing its feathers on the fence
We have garnered the attention of at least two hawks who regularly visit the trees, the top of the pvc pole and the community fence when the birds are making lots of noise in the backyard. Then all of a sudden you see the shadow pass over or hear the screech and the squirrels press low on the wood fence to try to blend in and hold as still as statues. The birds scatter into the nearby trees and telephone poles or simply fly away.
We are still learning much about the beautiful and interesting creatures that frequent our backyard. We have learned things like "squirrel proof" is subjective.
squirrel inside 'squirrel proof 'feeder
I am constantly having to rearrange the locations of the bird feeders to avoid squirrel domination, even though they have a separate feeding area quite a ways away from the main bird feeding stations. I watched as one very determined squirrel was trying to chew through the plastic of a tube feeder, so I had to switch to heavy duty feeders with metal. I also purchased a metal dragonfly embellished squirrel proof tube feeder that was suppose to close down with squirrel weight. after a few times the squirrel figured out that if it hung from the fence it could reach in without triggering the weight posts and eat to its heart content.
After a large flock of brown-headed cowbirds descended upon the backyard, I learned that they decimated not only feeders but were bullying the colorful songbirds in the yards. After searching on the internet to learn more about these birds which seemed to be ...and I hate to use the word...parasitic... I found a very helpful site and learned to my dismay that they overtake the local birds by laying eggs in the local birds nests and leaving it for the smaller bird to take care of and (foster) which then takes up all of the attention and food and basically starves out the other birds in the nest. If the host bird tries to take the egg out of the nest the female cowbird reportedly returns and destroys the whole nest or lays another egg. That is very dismaying. I read that some states pay for the capture and destruction of these birds. I am looking into options in my area.
*If you are a florida resident or experienced birder who knows or has knowledge of written material that addresses this issue please reach out to me.
So step one was getting tube feeders and changing the food in them to nyjer and peanuts and suet. Supposedly not favorites of the cowbirds. I did this and there was an almost immediate decrease in the cowbirds. The yard was once again filled with cardinals, titmice, chickadees, sparrows, mockingbirds, mourning doves, a few other small birds I have yet to identify, woodpeckers, hummingbirds and the occasional hawk. I slowly started introducing the regular seed back and once again the blackbirds started showing up and then the cowbirds followed. UGH!😞😠😡
There is a short video on my Twitter page @thebitboproject where you can see the flocking above and below the feeder. The birds were shoveling out huge amounts of seed.
brown-headed cowbird all fluffed out against the cold weather on the feeder #1
Yesterday the hubs picked up the two new trees I purchased from Seminole Farm and Nursery in Casselberry for the backyard habitat. A Dahoon Holly which bears berries that the birds can eat and a Strawberry Guava which will also provide edible seeds that can be enjoyed by birds and humans. If I can grow natural food sources then I will not have to provide as much supplemental bird seed which can get expensive when you have wildlife that voraciousiously eats the offerings at the feeders. In addition, the Dahoon holly will eventually provide a bit of coverage so that when viewing the live feed of the pvc feeders there will be some coverage to block the retirement community trailers, residents and visitors and of course, shirtless Bob. The guava will also give a bit of coverage and provide a slightly more aesthetic background for pictures near the squirrel feeder.
I started this backyard project to help supplement the food sources that are being lost as East Orlando along Colonial becomes more built up. Seems like it is pretty successful as we have lots of birds flying through every day. That being said, we seemed to have caught the attention of a raccoon who came through our pet cat door and was trying to get into the seed bags, and a possum who we saw on the arlo cam trying to climb feeder #1. I think it smelled the suet. So I had to spend more money to the tune of $90 to get a storage closet for the patio to keep all of the bird supplies in. So far so good. We called a trapper but the hubs said the cost was a bit much. I am still hoping eventually that the rabbits will return.
Stay tuned for the hilarious, unexpected, fun and interesting adventures of the birds in the backyard Orlando.
#bitbo
Happy New Year!
All pictures in the blog were taken by me SL Thomson and are copyright protected. Please do not reproduce, copy, edit or claim as your own. If you are interested in purchasing signed prints please follow me on Twitter and send me a message.
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