Stella Likes Seeds

Here is the beautiful Stella, the female downy woodpecker, at the seed feeder! Usually I see her on the suet cage, but a few times more recently I caught her here. I love how she uses her tail feathers as extra support.
I welcome her to any of my feeders!

Christmas Birdies

Well, I hope nobody is tired of looking at my birdies...because I sure do love them and can look at them everyday of the year!

The top low resolution photo shows Stella, the female downy woodpecker, and a male cardinal. I just love the bright red of the male cardinal especially in the winter. I don't know why the male cardinal doesn't molt into a drab wardrobe like so many other male birds do in the winter time? He makes for a really bright target! Maybe a smart naturalist knows the answer to that question.


Here is the beautiful Ms. Cardinal. I really like her pose. I think she must become a watercolor painting soon. Now the female cardinal is drab, but she's drab all year round. Drab but still beautiful!

Spaz's Titmouse

Ooooh, I'm so jealous! My friend spaz, has a titmouse that visits her wreath peanut feeder. Isn't it beautiful?
I don't have no titmouse visit my at my house!

Spaz bought this wire wreath peanut feeder at Wild Birds Unlimited. What a cute feeder and really not expensive at $11.00, although their 5lb peanuts @ $14.00 is a little high! Folks, look for unsalted peanuts in the shell for much less at the grocery store! Make sure it's unsalted for our feathered friends, we don't need to give them high blood pressure!



Since the female and the male titmouse looks the same, we can't tell if this is a he or she, but fortunately the titmouse is an all year bird in the Illinois area, that means if Spaz keeps her wreath full, she can expect this bird in all months. I can't because the titmouse doesn't visit my house!


She did inform me that a "heifer" took the wreath down recently. That's probably a squirrel that jumped on the wreath to eat the nuts and his weight broke the hook that connected the wreath to the porch roof.
Stupid heifer squirrel!
I have terrible squirrel problems, so making peanuts available is not a great idea at my house, but don't you give up Spaz..... sprinkle your nuts with cayenne pepper or something...they mustn't win...we will out smart them yet!

Dear Titmouse:
I love you, little birdie, even if I can't provide the best food for you. Please continue to visit my friend, Spaz. She's trying to provide the best for you. If you shall see a "heifer" on your wreath, nip him in the behind and teach him a lesson. If you find the courage and strength come over to my house, bring a legion of your buddies and get all of my squirrels too! That way I can provide the best for you too!
Love,
Chicago Nature Lady


PS: Thank you Spaz for your beautiful pictures!

It's a Boy!

Nobody even knew I was expecting. Let's name him Henry. Isn't he cute!
You can tell a male downy from a female because of the red on his head, which surprisingly, my true blue, trusty Kodak Easy Share got a good picture of at a 3x zoom, through a window! By the way, this picture does not need to be rotated, Henry is striking a horizontal pose for us, what talent!
Henry is very comfortable with humans around. Earlier, I went to fill the seed feeder, which is right next to the suet feeder and with every slow step forward, I was surprised how close he was letting me get. He allowed me to be within 10 feet of him! He then flew just above my head when I filled the feeder and returned as soon as I was done. He's so sweet!

I usually see the female at the suet feeder. That must be his wife. We should give her a name! The first person to give me a name for her, gets to name her, no matter what the name is!!! What will the female downy woodpecker's name be???

The Polite American Goldfinch

This is my backyard finch feeder. Yesterday, I talked about the front yard feeders, so its just fitting that I show the backyard one too. This feeder has thistle seeds in hopes to attract the goldfinch and the house finch. I really love the American Goldfinch, he always seems so polite and happy. Perhaps it is just his sunny costume or his soft cheery melody, who doesn't crack a smile when encountering one of these?

I went through much grief to get this picture. I sat on the garden floor, I didn't mind waiting a while for the goldfinch to land as I focused on the feeder, but just as the goldfinch landed on a telephone wire scoping me out to make sure I was safe, ants started to crawl all over. I felt one on my leg, one on my left hand and one starting up my back! If I freaked out, I wouldn't get the picture and he might be too scared to return, so I bit my tongue and just let the ants have free reign. I finally took the picture and let the goldfinch witness a human freak out, jumping and spinning and brushing ants off!

Let's learn about the American Goldfinch. In Chicago we are fortunate enough to have them all year round. In the summer, the male is a bright yellow and the female is a drab yellow with some olive tones. In the winter, the goldfinch molts (new colored feathers emerge) into an olive color. When flying, the goldfinch has an up and down pattern like a roller coaster. Interestingly, they only have 1 brood (set of young) a year and they wait a real long time to lay eggs, like the end of July. The theory is, they want to establish enough food to raise their young. Smart! Sometimes animals are smarter than humans. Anyway, goldfinches are pretty timid and easily bullied by sparrows who are larger and more aggressive. I find that the male and the female goldfinch stick together and both like to show up at the feeder in the late afternoon, early evening.

My Friend Mr. Cardinal

Here is a picture of my feeders in front of my living room window. I have two shepard hooks, one holding a suet cage (I think the peanut butter flavor is in this one) and the other holds seed. I love these feeders. Many visitors stop by for a snack and I never tire from sitting in my lazy boy with a nice cup of joe watching my winged friends. Today, my friend Mr. Cardinal stopped by. Isn't he handsome? Mrs. Cardinal came first, she's a beautiful olive and yellow color, but very camera shy. Every time I tried to get a little closer for a pic, she took off in a flash. We went at it 3 times! They usually stick pretty close together and call out to each other with their distinctive "chip", "chip."

Here is a close up. Look at that crown! Just amazing. This isn't the best quality close up, I really need a zoom lens, I'm using a Kodak Easy Share and it took a good pic through the window though. I think tonight I'll try to make a painting of him.