Lots Going On These Cold Days

Thought it might be a good idea before the family revolted to add some of my backyard friends to this blog instead of the family blog.  They insist that the family blog be specific to family.  Well, sometimes it seems like these animals are family...Mark does feed them too.  LOL

 

Northern Flicker

 

Flickers are the only brown-backed woodpeckers in the state of Ohio.  Also the only woodpecker that regularly feeds on the ground.  I read that if I add sawdust to the nesting boxes they might take up residence.  Hmmmm

I must have taken hundreds of shots of the beauties feeding in the backyard and this is the first time I have seen this beautiful heart!  I showed it to Emmy and she said that she knew about it.  I said no way.  And then she looked at me and said, as serious as could be, "I learned it on the Wild Kratt's."

Goldfinch

Carolina Wren

 

We have been getting snow off and on over the last few days.  Today it was sunny but cold.  But that didn't stop this sassy little Carolina Wren.  They have the prettiest little song...well, the male actually has about 40 different songs.

Pesky European Starlings

 

These have to be my least favorite birds.  They come in large groups and decimate the feeders.  Only today they are doing Mark a favor.  The other birds don't care for the kind of suet that is in the log feeder.  They are partial to hot pepper peanut butter suet. So my little Starlings, keep eating you only have about a weeks worth of these suet logs left.  New facts I learned about the European Starling...they are great songsters and can mimic sounds.  They are bullies because they often displace woodpeckers, chickadees and other cavity-nesting birds.  Their bills change color with the seasons...yellow in the spring and gray in autumn.  They have very powerful jaws.  They are not a native bird.  They were introduced in NYC in 1890-91 from, you guessed it, Europe.

Love that perky little tail.

Shhhh, I think this Mourning Dove is sleeping.  Her eyes are shut and she sat there for the longest time.

 

Did you know that a Mourning Dove is one of the few birds to drink without lifting its head?  I will be sure to watch for this next time I have water in the birdbath.

 

Ella was going crazy.  I knew it was either a chipmunk, cat, or a deer.  This little beauty made her rounds to underneath all the bird feeders looking for seeds the birds and squirrels had missed.

We must have the biggest squirrel family on the street.  I counted ten this morning feasting.  This little one seems to have a picnic set up on the ladder.

Hopefully we will get some more snow tonight so the snowman head feeder can be repaired.

And there goes the nose!

Thought it might be a good idea before the family revolted to add some of my backyard friends to this blog instead of the family blog.  They insist that the family blog be specific to family.  Well, sometimes it seems like these animals are family...Mark does feed them too.  LOL

 

Northern Flicker

 

Flickers are the only brown-backed woodpeckers in the state of Ohio.  Also the only woodpecker that regularly feeds on the ground.  I read that if I add sawdust to the nesting boxes they might take up residence.  Hmmmm

I must have taken hundreds of shots of the beauties feeding in the backyard and this is the first time I have seen this beautiful heart!  I showed it to Emmy and she said that she knew about it.  I said no way.  And then she looked at me and said, as serious as could be, "I learned it on the Wild Kratt's."

Goldfinch

Carolina Wren

 

We have been getting snow off and on over the last few days.  Today it was sunny but cold.  But that didn't stop this sassy little Carolina Wren.  They have the prettiest little song...well, the male actually has about 40 different songs.

Pesky European Starlings

 

These have to be my least favorite birds.  They come in large groups and decimate the feeders.  Only today they are doing Mark a favor.  The other birds don't care for the kind of suet that is in the log feeder.  They are partial to hot pepper peanut butter suet. So my little Starlings, keep eating you only have about a weeks worth of these suet logs left.  New facts I learned about the European Starling...they are great songsters and can mimic sounds.  They are bullies because they often displace woodpeckers, chickadees and other cavity-nesting birds.  Their bills change color with the seasons...yellow in the spring and gray in autumn.  They have very powerful jaws.  They are not a native bird.  They were introduced in NYC in 1890-91 from, you guessed it, Europe.

Love that perky little tail.

Shhhh, I think this Mourning Dove is sleeping.  Her eyes are shut and she sat there for the longest time.

 

Did you know that a Mourning Dove is one of the few birds to drink without lifting its head?  I will be sure to watch for this next time I have water in the birdbath.

 

Ella was going crazy.  I knew it was either a chipmunk, cat, or a deer.  This little beauty made her rounds to underneath all the bird feeders looking for seeds the birds and squirrels had missed.

We must have the biggest squirrel family on the street.  I counted ten this morning feasting.  This little one seems to have a picnic set up on the ladder.

Hopefully we will get some more snow tonight so the snowman head feeder can be repaired.

And there goes the nose!