MamaStories

This hummingbird had visited us a couple of times. Flying right up to the window to take a peek into the living room. Then DH came home with a hummingbird feeder and some “nectar” and we hung it. Within ten minutes the hummingbird came to feed.

I believe it’s a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, a female one (the ruby throat is reserved for the adult males). I hope she will bring her friends along! The are a miracle to behold: the smallest bird I’ve ever seen, a little big larger than a big moth, and such a nifty flyer!

Today in the exceptionally clear air I happened to snap this:

These are House Finches. The red-headed one is the male and he’s feeding the female. This, I just read, is courting behavior. There were at least two males and two females around, possibly competing while a Hairy Woodpecker and a Nuthatch looked on. (Here’s a great page comparing the Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers - I think I’ll get it straight from now on).

We’re still unpacking boxes, and not the kind that can go down into the basement without being opened. We’re still considering bids for several major appliance changes, like the new boiler, insulation, and a good wood stove. We’ve taken our first stabs at composting and are battling swarms of small, black flies. We’ve assembled the sofa. We’ve had a dinner party in our new dining room: all of us around the table, good friends, fantastic food off the grill and several bottles of white wine and many more topics of conversation. And toasting.

Es gut.

And I’ve taken time to sit in our living room and stare out at the bird feeders, and to take pictures. I know it’s not quite what real birders do, but it’s the only way I know I will learn to recognize the most important species.

And here are some of them:

1 2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10.

As for identification, I’m going to need some help with some of them:

(1) Adult male House Finch (2) same Finch and adult male yellow variant (?)

(3) American Crow

(4) Tufted Titmouse

(5) Juvenile Common Grackle (?)

(6) Adult female Red Cardinal

(7) Adult female American Goldfinch

(8) Adult male American Goldfinch

(9) (?)

(10) Woodpecker (Downy, right?) and Titmouse

I use Sibley’s Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America. I am sorta obligated to, because Mr. David Allen Sibley lives in the town over, but I like the book a lot: beautiful illustrations, little maps indicating the ranges, some information on habits and on voice.

The 4 robins have pretty much outgrown their nest, but I haven’t seen them fly out yet.

There are two little woodpeckers like these. Neither has a red spot on the head, so I think they’re both adult females. They’re so small they are probably Downy (not Hairy) Woodpeckers. But the Hairy Woodpecker is probably around as well: I’ve heard its very rapid, almost smooth rapping sound, like a phone buzzing almost. Very unlike the slow and much louder tok-tok-tok of the big pileated woodpecker.

This now is a little bully. Can anyone tell me what kind of bird it is? A juvenile Common Grackle? It has that large tail… He chases away the cardinals and even fought the two Downy Woodpeckers to eat at his heart’s content.

And lastly this little guy I misidentified earlier. Our neighbor pointed him/her out as a Orchard Oriole, not (as I thought) Yellow-throated Vireo or possibly a Yellow Warbler.

We also spotted a Carolina Wren with a huge green caterpillar in it beak.

I started a bird list in the sidebar. Watch it grow!

Our work-weekend at the new house was cut short by the inclement weather. The humidity reached 91%, which made painting impossible. We decided not to spent another night there and to come “home” (”to our old home,” is how Amie appropriately puts it) to start packing.

While we were there we took stock of our woodpile. Our neighbor had chopped most of the wood and thrown the logs into the yard. It was such a pleasure stacking it and seeing the pile grow… such a pleasure in fact that we couldn’t stop and piled it too high. Now it feels a bit wobbly, so we’ll move some of the top layers to a second pile.

The robin’s eggs hatched. The four chicks were probably a day or two old: eyes still closed, and not a chirp, just wide-open mouths on long necks. The robins made a poor real estate choice when they built their nest under our car port roof, because each time we drive up or approach the car, the Mama Robin flees (and sits in the tree, calling out in alarm). So we parked the car further off to give them some peace. Both parents did nothing but hunt for food and feed the babies. Amie would have been at the window and watched them all day long, if it hadn’t been for the fact that we had to hold her up for her to see them.

Right next door to the Robin’s nest, wasps were busy building a nest. It’s very small (about 3 inches in diameter), as yet. We’ll have to take care of it soon: it’s too close to slamming car doors and loud toddler sounds. Any recommendations?

Birds:

1. Chickadee
2. Northern Cardinal (male and female)
3. Blue Jay
4. American Robin (male and female - one sitting on her nest in our carport)
5. Hummingbird (probably the Ruby-throated hummingbird, not because I identified it as such, but because my books tells me it’s the only one that visits Mass. in summer, and it was green)
6. Yellow-throated Vireo (in the photo), or might this be the Yellow Warbler?
7. Pileated Woodpecker (it’s big!)

… And many others I won’t even attempt to identify. I was especially thrilled to see the hummingbird. I wasn’t sure they hung out in our neighborhood.

Other animals:

1. Raccoon
2. Fox
3. Squirrels and chipmunks
4. Lots of dogs of all sorts
5. Insects of all kind

There are also supposed to be wild turkeys, deer and rabbits and - while we’re on the topic of veggie-eating varmints - woodchucks.