Birds, Birds and More Birds, plus a Squirrel or Two

My backyard has been so full of birds lately I find myself sitting in the chair for an hour or more in the mornings watching them. 

The biggest population of late has been Blue Jays.  They fill the oak tree off the patio and squawk at everything.  They really don't like the squirrel. 

I have two squirrel feeders on the ground. For the last few mornings the Blue Jays have taken a dislike to the squirrel feeding at one of his feeders.  Now the second feeder is full of food and totally open for the taking, but they want Mr. Squirrel out of the other feeder.  One Blue Jay will swoop down and fly at the squirrel and he will shake them off to keep eating. Then the Blue Jay will sit next to him on the ground and make a lot of noise, which he ignores.  That Blue Jay will give up and go back into the tree and send another one down. 

I like that Mr. Squirrel stands his ground.  He knows that feeder is his and he is not going to take any lip off a bird just because it is rather large and loud.  We all could take lessons from Mr. Squirrel.

Mr. Woodpecker has been visiting in the mornings too.  I like looking out and seeing him. 

If Mr. Skunk is around, he hasn't made his presence known lately. 

I love my backyard.

Bird Watering Station

I hate how yucky bird baths get here in Texas in just a day. I fill them up in the morning and before I get home from work they have dried up, are crusty, and full of yuck.

Today I ordered a Bird Watering Station that gets great reviews and I hope will solve my problem.

With the heat we have been having my backyard feathered friends need fresh water daily.

Colorful Morning

I have three bird feeders outside my living room window, and I have quite a few feathered friends that come and visit me every day. Usually it is the old "birds of a feather" adage with only cardinals, dove, or finches, etc. at the same time. This morning was special though, I had a red-headed woodpecker on one feeder, a bluejay on the one next to that one, and a cardinal looking in at me from the feeder closest to the window. It was a beautiful way to start the morning.

The woodpecker has only been coming around to the feeders for a couple of weeks. He has been on the property for a long time. He scared us one day when we were in our out building because we kept hearing this weird squeaking and as we were looking for the source he crawled up the window screen and started pecking on the window. He is quite large. He seems to like the ceramic feeder with the holes that I inherited from "Sis" the best.