Tuesday, May 31, 2011

birds in my backyard

cardinal nest 006
cardinal egg 008 wren house 011

I have a cardinal nesting in my backyard in a climbing hydrangea vine. I noticed the nest because there was a pale blue egg with lots of brown speckles on the ground. It had a small hole in it (the size of a wren's beak) and was empty. I looked above and found the female cardinal sitting on her nest. Since I found the nest (last week), she has been faithfully sitting - so I think she has laid more eggs.

There is also a pair of wrens are in a bird house by the garden in my side yard. The female wren is spending a lot of time in the house, so I assume she has eggs or chicks even by now. The male sings to her often.

The sparrows in the back bird house had peeping chicks that I heard last week, but I think something may have happened to them (wren?). The parents are still tending house though, so either the kids are just quiet or they have a new brood on the way.

I have seen a catbird and robin in the yard often and I keep watching to see where their nests are. How many bird nests can fit in one tiny yard? I think they have nests up in the neighboring trees though and just come to my yard for water.

I did see a bluish warbler the other day in my waterfall and got a photo (below). Maybe someone can tell me what type of bird this was.

blue warbler 015

10 comments:

Lisa said...

How lucky you are!!!

Hrach_Garden said...

I think it might be a cerulean warbler. Looked similar to the picture in my audubon guide. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerulean_Warbler

Green Tamarind said...

Looks to me more like a black-throated blue warbler. There's only one white wing bar down low, and the cerulean has 2 bars.

kathy said...

The robins fledged this morning. There were two awkward chicks with spotted reddish bellies. The parents kept close tabs.

Vanessa said...

How exciting! This year I have really been noticing the birds. We have a blue jay and cardinal that live on our street, I enjoy watching both of them often!

Heidi said...

Def a black headed blue warbler. Nice picture of the birdhouse. Gardens and birds work well together! The only time I heard otherwise was regarding some finches who ate pea plants.

Matron said...

How wonderful! The types of birds you get in the US are very different to ours. I look forward to following their progress.

Karen Anne said...

I have lots of catbirds this year. You can never have too many elegant catbirds.

Anonymous said...

black-throated blue warbler

Anonymous said...

I third the btb warbler!