Perhaps you can now see why I now call this "the bird house". Wish all of you could see these little chirping critters!
~ Miss Pickles (alias Sandra Allen)
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
THE BIRD HOUSE!
Just call this "the bird house"! Here in North Texas we are inundated with BIRDS! This is for two main reasons:
(1) The Purple Martins at our house now have fairly large fledglings. There were originally four pairs of Purple Martins = 8 birds. Each of those pairs had 3-6 eggs which hatched and grew up = 12-24 fledglings. ALL of those birds now occupy the Purple Martin house in our back yard, although they are all off eating bugs somewhere in this photo. Yikes! That is a lot of birds! They are very vocal little critters and are fairly noisy. The other day there were a bunch of them practicing their speed and agility by diving and playing when one of them landed on the ground and just sat there. I'm sure it was one of the babies who was pooped out from all that practice time. Well, all those other birds immediately started chirping and cussing (that's how it sounded to me) and dive bombing that poor tired little critter on the ground until he finally recovered and took off again. This bunch is really entertaining!
(2) I also have a resident Robin. A few weeks ago, when I turned the shower on in my bathroom, I noticed a bird pop up on the high windowsill outside the long, narrow window above my tub. It had some grass in its beak. It soon built a nest in the corner under the eaves of the house, complete with a mud base to hold it safely in place, and I assumed it had laid some eggs. I only saw one bird, and it was always sitting on the nest whenever I took a shower. When I reached for the shampoo bottle that sits on that ledge, the mama bird would stand up and look through the glass at me. She was always alone until today. This time there was a second bird up there too. They both chirped at me when I tried to climb up on the side of the tub and peer into their nest. I did see two baby birds, and both parents were making this little barking sound which I assume was a warning of sorts for the babies to stay hidden. Since Robins can lay 3-5 eggs, I think there may be more babies. I've actually heard the birds singing in the mornings. These babies should fly away within a week or so given how big they looked.
Perhaps you can now see why I now call this "the bird house". Wish all of you could see these little chirping critters!
~ Miss Pickles (alias Sandra Allen)
Perhaps you can now see why I now call this "the bird house". Wish all of you could see these little chirping critters!
~ Miss Pickles (alias Sandra Allen)
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Well Sandy, here in Central Texas it is time for some birds to have their babies too, although it seems late in the year to me. I don't have Martins, but swallows and cardinals will make a nest in my hanging baskets! I don't put them outside anymore because I can't water them and they'll die. Then the birds get pretty crazy when we come out the front door. Just can't have that! The hummingbirds are all over the place and quickly emptying the feeders. I love Texas!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great little bird romance story. I wish I could see that nest and its family. The whole scene must precious. ~ peggy
ReplyDeleteSandra A: The birds here in Washington State are stealing my blueberries! So yesterday I festooned the bushes with cascades of silver and white flash tape. It's supposed to scare them away. I hope that works. Right now it looks like I'm throwing them a party. That's okay -- so long as it's a going-away party!
ReplyDeleteOoops! The tape is actually silver and red (not white). It's supposed to make them think it's fire. I wonder if they're fooled?
DeleteHey, the Sandras :-) In my most recent blogpost, I tagged you in the Lucky Seven meme. :-) I don't know if you do these kinds of things. This one is fun--and not too much of a bother ;-)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Teresa! We've never participated in the Lucky Seven meme before, so that should be fun.
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