Decorative Birdhouses

It turned a little cool today and there is talk about another snow. Do you know the old saying about there will be three snows after the forsythia blooms? Well we have only had two snows, so if the saying is true we're in for another snow. Then we'll have warmer temperatures that will stick around through spring, summer and fall. But until them the little birds that come our way will have a place to stay. They will be out of the weather in a dry home of their own. They won't be bothered by the wind, rain, or snow. Do you have birdhouses for you feathered friends?

Spring has Sprung

Spring has sprung and what a glorious day it is. Seems like we have been waiting for a very, very long time. Each day I see and more and more birds. They are coming back! So if you have not been feeding the birds through the winter months, now is the time to get those bird houses cleaned out and the feeders filled. The birds that are migrating home will be on the look out for a place to stay. Their are some really unique birdhouses on the market today.

Christmas Birdhouse

When it's time for the little birdies to come home for the holidays, what better destination than this snow-capped refuge-where Santa awaits them!

Birdhouses and Birdfeeders

Whether you hang birdhouses or birdfeeders or both really is just your preferences. Birdhouses will offer shelter from the heat, cold, wind and rain, while the birdfeeders will feed them. If your goal is to learn more about the birds that frequent your premises I would advise that you hang both. You also might consider planting trees, bushes and a variety of plants that will specifically lure the birds in.

Swallows

Swallows are really very pretty. In fact, most birds are.
Swallows are excellent fliers, and use these skills to attract a mate and to feed. Some species, like the mangrove swallow, are territorial, whereas others are not and simply defend their nesting site. In general, the males select a nest site, and then attract a female using song and flight, and (dependent on the species) guard their territory. The size of the territory varies depending on the species of swallow; in colonial-nesting species it tends to be small, but it may be much larger for solitary nesters. Outside of the breeding season some species may form large flocks, and species may also roost communally. This is thought to provide protection from predators. For the most part swallows are insectivorous, but some will feed on fruits and other plants. Do you have swallow bird houses?

Birds

As a young child, I was fascinated with birds. They were small, many were really pretty, they sang beautifully, but most of all they could fly!! How? I couldn't understand how they were able to stay up in the air. (I guess for that matter, it will always be a mystery to me).
I was given a gift of an Audobon membership. Each month I received a book relating to birds and a workbook that I could paste stamps that came with the book in the appropriate place. I learned so much. Another way to learn is to add a blue bird house or a birdfeeder to your garden decor. Your children and grandchilden will absolutely love it!

Hummingbird Feeders

I'm starting to get excited! When the weather turns colder we lose alot of our featured friends, so now that it is getting warmer and things are growing again we'll start seeing our feathered friends again. Namely the Hummingbirds.
Did you know that you can attract hummingbirds to your backyard? Plant brightly colored flowers and blooming bushes, and be sure to put your hummingbird feeders out. Hummingbirds are attracted to bright colors.

Adorable Decorative Birdhouse

This adorable little decorative birdhouse is the perfect addition to your decor. It is a replica of a little cottage that you might find in a wooded area or at the lake. Complete with a screened porch to keep the bugs at bay.
There are so many decorative birdhouses on the market. It is so easy to complete a theme at a reasonable price.

You Can Lure Specific Birds

Did you know that you can lure specific birds to your backyard, like Cardinals, Bluebirds, Thrushes, Sparrows etc. You'll be the envy of neighbors having a chorus of songs like no other. It all has to do with the habitat, and the food.
For example, Sparrows like a meadow garden, a weedy field or a patch of prairie flowers. They really don't care for a "woody" area. You will be providing an area to nest as well as food they like.
After checking sources for the types of birds you like you will be better able to provide for them. What are you favorite birds?

New Life Begins

What a glorious morning!! It is so nice to wake up with the sun shining, the birds singing and a cool breeze blowing. Spring is one of my favorite times of the year. Everything is greening up, flowers are beginning to bloom, robins and other birds are beginning to show up as they return from their winter retreat. These are sure signs of life being renewed. It won't be long before we can witness new life as the eggs in the nest hatch. Do you feel as blessed as I?

Its a Great Day

Good Morning. The sun is shining and a great day is predicted....in the 70's. Boy have we been waiting for that!! And judging by the birds singing so have they. Do you have your bird houses and bird feeders ready and waiting for them. The birds will be searching for a nice place to nest so they can prepare for their new families.
It is so much fun watching the progress of the birds, building their nests (whether they are in a house, bush or tree) then watching the eggs, waiting in anticipation for them to hatch, then watching the hatchlings to an adult bird. And what an education for your young children or grandchildren.

Great Crested Flycatcher

The Great Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus) lives in all states east of the Rockies and is common in open deciduous forests and orchards. It is a dark olive gray on the back, with a yellow underside and light gray throat. Its distinctive crest gives it its name, and it has a large bill. It is nearly 9" long and is the only eastern flycatcher to nest in cavities. In fact, it will nest in nearly any kind of cavity. It is a fiercely territorial bird.
In spite of its long bill, the flycatcher does not make its own cavity, depending on rotting trees or posts, or on holes made by woodpeckers or those provided by bird-loving humans. Flycatchers feed in the tops of trees, primarily on insects, and emit a loud "wheeeeep." They frustrate bird watchers, as they are more often heard than seen.
They are aptly named, as they may sit on a perch watching for insects, and then dart out and catch even a dragonfly in mid-air. They also eat beetles, bees and wasps, but do not eat many mosquitoes or gnats.
Flycatchers are known for using the skins shed by snakes in making their nests.

Finally It's Spring!!

Well it is finally Spring, and you will see more and more birds. Wouldn't it be nice if they were in your backyard? It is possibe. All you need to do is put up a few birdfeeders and birdhouses to attract them. It also helps if your backyard is bird friendly. Trees and bushes will help them to feel safe as they move about. Water features such as ponds, streams and /or birdbaths will also help.

Have a Happy Easter

It's Easter and it is soooo tempting to purchase live chicks and bunnies for your children and grandchildren. But, please reconsider. They really are not good pets for young children! Children want to play and handling these young animals so much is not good. In fact too much handling can cause stress for them and they could die, and this in turn causes stress for the child and you. It's a vicious circle.

Did You Ever Wonder....

Did you ever wonder how baby birds seem to stay in their nests without falling? Baby birds spend about 14 days in their nest, so what is it that keeps them from falling? Well they are born naked, featherless and are very squirmy. Fledglings will have stubby wing feathers and their tail feathers will be about half grown. As they change from a hatchling to a fledgling they have a very heavy bottom. This serves a purpose to keep them securely weighted in their nest.

Prothonotary Warbler

The Prothonotary Warbler (Prothonotaria citrea) is one of only two warbler species in North America that nests in cavities. The other is Lucy's Warbler of the Southwest, and it is not known to live in artificial habitats. The Prothonotary Warbler is a user of birdhouses, and a pair will even use one to raise more than one brood in a year. Different pairs will also use the same house to raise their broods in a given season.
This bright yellow beauty with blue-gray wings and tail is about 5-1/2" long. Its song is a ringing "sweet-weet-weet-weet-weet". It lives in wooded swamplands, flooded bottomland forests, and along streams with dead trees near them. Sometimes they live in trees actually in the water. The borders of creeks and rivers seem to be their favorite nesting places, but nesting over still water is not uncommon. Their nests are close to the ground.
The Prothonotary Warbler's range covers most of the southeastern states, north to Minnesota, Michigan and New York. It appears occasionally in New England in the spring and during migration periods may appear anyplace coast to coast.

Chickadee's

The Mountain Chickadee or Poecile gambeli has a white eyebrow through its black cap and lives in and west of the Rocky Mountains, where he calls chick-adee-adee-adee. The Chestnut-backed Chickadee has a chestnut-brown back and a brown cap and lives in the northwest and along the California coast. His call is more of a tseek-a-dee-dee.
The Black-capped and Carolina Chickadees like mixed forests, open woodlands and suburban areas, while their western cousins prefer coniferous forests.
Chickadee belong to the titmouse family. They are largely an insect eaters, but in winter they may depend greatly on seeds and berries. They are adept at foraging for insect eggs and larvae from twigs and bark, and this accounts for their active hopping and climbing around on trees to spot their food from all angles! Their favorite foods at feeders are sunflower seeds, peanut kernels, other nutmeats, peanut butter, and suet.
In the non-breeding season chickadees tend to flock together, and sometimes the flock may even include titmice, kinglets, nuthatches, and other birds. During breeding season, the males will drive others out of their territories, so you may have only one pair of chickadees in your yard, where you may have had a flock all winter.
From the beginning of courtship through the period of egg incubation, the male chickadee feeds the female. They typically raise one or two broods a year of 6 to 8 young and are year-round residents.
Since chickadees' natural means of nesting is to excavate a hole in a rotting tree, you may make your nest box more attractive to them by putting a little sawdust or wood chips inside it for them. They will not use it for nesting, but since they usually work in pairs to carry a little sawdust away from the hole they are making in a tree, they will perceive that this hole in a tree is appropriate for them, and they will carry the sawdust away before nesting there.
Chickadees move to denser woods for breeding and nesting, but the rest of the year they like open areas and forest edges.

Wren Feeder

Are you a true bird lover? What do you think about this feeder? I think this is a wonderful idea! It is fun to be outdoors and watch the birds, but this is the ultimate. You can be sitting in your living room and the birds will come in to your room. Well almost. This way you can see them up close.

Chickadees

The little bird that speaks his name and does acrobatic stunts on tree branches delights all bird watchers. This plump little fellow with the black cap is friendly, and chances are he's been at your feeder in the winter.
Chickadees look for tree holes, either natural or made by woodpeckers, for their nests. But if a tree is sufficiently soft or rotten, they may make their own holes. A dead birch tree, which is rotten in the center, is an ideal place for a chickadee nest.
Four species of chickadee may be found in nesting boxes. The Black-capped Chickadee or Poecile atricapilla lives in all northern and most middle states as well as in most of Canada. Its black cap and bib, and white cheeks identify it, as does its chick-a-dee-dee-dee call. The Carolina Chickadee or Poecile carolinensis, which looks almost the same, lives in the southeast quarter of the US and has a slightly higher, faster version of the call

Penguin

copyied in part From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Penguins are a group of aquatic, flightless birds living almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershaded dark and white plumage, and their wings have become flippers. Most penguins feed on krill, fish, squid, and other forms of sealife caught while swimming underwater. They spend about half of their life on land and half in the oceans.
Although all penguin species are native to the southern hemisphere, they are not found only in cold climates, such as Antarctica. In fact, only a few species of penguin live so far south. Several species are found in the temperate zone, and one species, the Galápagos Penguin, lives near the equator.
The largest living species is the Emperor Penguin adults average about 3 ft 7 in tall and weigh 75 lb or more. The smallest penguin species is the Little Blue Penguin (also known as the Fairy Penguin), which stands around 16 in tall and weighs 2.2 lb.