MORE BIRDS

[karstopography]

@Growing Coastal Sago Palms. Cycas revoluta Native to southern Japan, but a very popular landscape cycad in Southeast Texas.

[Uncle_Feist]

[Nan6b]

Uncle Feist, what kind of birds are the grey ones?

[Uncle_Feist]

Uncle Feist, what kind of birds are the grey ones?

That would be a northern mockingbird.

[bower]

I see they're fond of blueberries!

[Uncle_Feist]

I see they're fond of blueberries!

WAY to fond!

Blueberry season is definitely a constant battle with birds. I would share and give the birds all they could ever eat, but they will just destroy the whole crop in a matter of days. They may actually eat 10%, the other 90% is knocked to the ground, or damaged before they are even ripe.

[SpookyShoe]

A rather handsome looking mallard from Clear Lake, Nassau Bay, Texas.

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[PNW_D]

One of these things is not like the others ...... American Widgeon and lone Mallard

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[Spike]

https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mcvmagazine ... index.html

[SpookyShoe]

White Ibis.

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[karstopography]

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I made this wood duck box today. I only had an electric chainsaw and some useless keyhole saw, plus a cordless drill and a file.

Ducks aren’t too picky I hope.

[PNW_D]

Great Blue Heron

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[SpookyShoe]

The white geese with one tiny little gosling. The gosling is bending over by the curb. I wonder why there's only one? Shouldn't there be others?

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[worth1]

A snake may have gotten them.

[SpookyShoe]

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I'm not sure what kind of geese these are. One of them seems to have a rather unique black beak.

[karstopography]

@SpookyShoe looks like Chinese Gray, one of the domesticated knob geese of Asia.

[bower]

Flicker and a robin were pecking together today, like they were old friends.

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[worth1]

I see Road Runners all the time but I'll be if I can get a picture of them.
Fast little devils.

[bower]

I see Road Runners all the time but I'll be if I can get a picture of them.
Fast little devils.

I would have a lot more pictures if I wasn't afraid to startle them. Some seem happy to pose but generally they are aware of me, even if I'm in the house, and camera attention will send a lot of them scooting. Blue jays are around but very camera shy, the robins are most bold and ruling the garden along with flicker and juncoes.
I ran into a little flock of chickadees in the woods early spring/late winter and they don't seem to have any fear of me at all - perching and hopping around very handy to my face, but I didn' t have a camera on me. Ravens are here every day but I would be loathe to spook them with camera, as they really have my back, being 'watchbirds'. No intruders human or animal come near without a warning from them.

[bower]

Ravens got my attention today, with a huge angry kerfuffle and extra flock present for the event... they flew over the house and garden before settling in over the woods to the east for some name calling.... I went out and looked but didn't see anything, I did hear jays and robins as well, so I decided it must be a predator that's bothering the birds. Then I went for a walk by the old vegetable garden and... I found the feathers of the flicker spread over the top of my compost pile. That is exactly where the robin was attacked before - but who is this predator?
I suspected a fox in the area, but you'd expect them to be more trouble for the bunnies than the birds.
And I can't figure out how a fox would manage to capture and dismember and eat the flicker leaving nothing but feathers neatly strewn on top of this pile, without even leaving a track... What do you think? Could it be some predator bird???
The compost pile is just a couple of feet tall, about 4X4 square. I couldn't even see where a fox could hide close enough to surprise a bird that was pecking on or around it. Birds would see all that when they fly in...

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