Urban Wildlife

We have a bluebird who made a nest in the nest bottle on our canning shed. I think she's already hatched the kids, and they might have fledged. The bluebirds seem to be out and about more than they were.

I haven't seen any bluebirds here yet. Do they migrate?
Keep us posted on those nests! Pics too if you have 'em!

I think bluebirds migrate. I don't see them in the winter. No pix of the nests yet. I'll try to get one. The bottle is way above my head.

I'm curious to see what a nest bottle looks like too. I really have to borrow a ladder so I can hang up my birdhouse.

Piggy squirrel was oinking away at the bird feeders. I yelled at him, and he jumped from one to the other. We have some hot pepper sauce that I'm going to mix in with the next seed. Birds can't taste it, and don't react. Squirrels do too. Maybe it will keep Bingo from snoodling the dropped seed too. He loves to snack under the feeders at night. (At least he leaves the birds alone during the day.)

I buy a suet that contains chili's in it.

We had a squirrel stuck in our drainpipe!  My Dad unscrewed it from the wall and I shook it and tapped it until it got out. The poor thing was in shock at first and then it went up the nearby tree.

We got a video of the moment and it is on Facebook!

Glad he got out without too much trouble. Silly thing. I've never heard of squirrels getting stuck in a drain pipe. When my husband worked for Colonial Williamsburg, one went down the chimney of one of the employee residences. It had babies on the table! Fortunately, wildlife rehab knew what to do.

Fire Flower wrote:We had a squirrel stuck in our drainpipe!  My Dad unscrewed it from the wall and I shook it and tapped it until it got out. The poor thing was in shock at first and then it went up the nearby tree.

We got a video of the moment and it is on Facebook!

Link to the video please!  

The goldfinches are here. Saw one oinking away at my feeder for all he was worth!

Ours are very bright right now. They are ALWAYS at the feeders.

That reminds me I've got to fill my feeder.

https://www.facebook.com/AbsoluteAndrea/videos/10155406342733028/

Here is a link to the squirrel video.

OhMy....looks pretty healthy to me, just a bit dazed. Glad your dad was able to shake him out of that pipe. Bet that squirrel doesn't repeat that mistake anytime soon!

More bright goldfinches oinking away at my feeder. I have to refill it again already. And baby robins in the tree somewhere, I could hear them peeping this morning and there's eggshell pieces on the sidewalk.

Same here, fat, sassy and a tad dazed.

Yup. Looks fine to me. How did your dad know it was in there? Was it making a ton of noise?

Yes. The squirrel was banging around and yelling in there.

I bet that was a little disconcerting at first.

Our latest neighborhood wildlife is a group of young ducks who live in the deep ditch in front of a neighbor's house. They are always in there swimming, and recently have started coming onto the road to visit. I had to flap my arms and tell them to get out of the way of cars. I hope they develop a healthy respect for cars and people. They're a little too tame for comfort right now. (The neighbors fed them when they were hatchlings.)

OhBoy, a duck blockade! We get the same thing here only with big Canadian geese.

I was putting some seeds in my large (very large) flower pots on the porch today. First job was working up the soil. As I stirred one, a little mouse LEAPED out of the pot and ran under the porch, squeaking the whole way. I yelped, and then laughed. He shocked me, but didn't scare me. I didn't know mice liked to dig around in potting soil. I stirred extra well to be sure there weren't any babies, and when I was sure, I went ahead and put in seeds. I just hope the little stinker doesn't come back and eat the seeds.

LOL!! I think you just served up dinner for the mouse that is.

If that mouse is anything like the ones here it will come back and eat your seeds......unless you have some metal mesh to put over the soil until the seeds sprout.

I spotted my first hummingbird yesterday! Brad reported he'd been seeing them for a few days before that at his feeder. And I have birds nesting in my birdhouse! Not sure as to the species, I haven't seen them coming and going yet but there is grass and tiny twigs hanging out of the hole and the house is hanging a bit differently, like there's weight in it. And people were telling me I hung it in the tree too late......ha!

No signs of rodent invasion yet. I moved the pots, so hopefully the seeds will be able to sprout before the critter finds the pots again. We hung up a gourd bird house last week. I thought it might be a little late too, but we have a wren building a nest in there now. She's so cute. She sits on the porch ceiling fan blades, and thinks a while before she goes to the house. She has a great observation spot, and the next clutch of babies will be able to practice flying without too much danger of falling.

Cool, I put out a bowl of water with a big rock in the middle as a bird bath for my lil tenant. Saw a hummer at my feeder too while I was watering my spindly not growing good flowers.