Caught In Action

The other day, I was sitting in the livingroom working on the computer and happened to see a large bird out of the corner of my eye. I was able to grab the camera very quickly and catch these two shots of our friendly neighborhood Cooper's Hawk hanging out in the front of the Hobbit House (which I have never seen him do before).

He perched there for a few mins and then took flight towards the backyard. I quickly went towards the back but he wasn't there, perhaps I scared him off as I was coming out the back door.

Guess It Is Lunch Time At The Hobbit House

So it seems that this guy has put the Hobbit House birdfeeder on the route for his weekly if not daily forays. The other day, I was washing dishes and I heard the distinct sound of a bird hitting the glass in the french doors on the back porch. I cringed a bit, but hoped it wasn't a hard hit and that there would be no casualties. I finished up what I was doing and then peeked around the corner, so if there was a stunned bird there, I wouldn't scare it. What I found was this hawk sitting on my welcome mat, not 14 inches from the door with a small "victim" in his clutches. As soon as he saw me, he flew off...with the "victim" for lunch.

Yesterday, I was coming around the corner of the house from running errands, and I saw him fleeing the scene (fortunately with no "victims"). I have noticed over the last couple of days that the birdfeeder is not being depleted as fast as usual and I have to wonder if my unwelcome guest is scarying off the little guys. Boo!

New Bird At The Hobbit House

I don't usually get the opportunity to see a completely new bird, but this weekend, I did. I have never seen a Varied Thrush before and when I saw him on the ground below the feeder, I had to do a double take...then I grabbed the camcorder and tried to get some snap shots of him...this one is not perfect but it was good enough for me to identify him. Click on the link to his name to see images that other internet sources have of him.

Apparently the Varied Thrush is related to the American Robin...similar in size for sure...but I loved the colors that were completely new to me. I have seen a few Robins out and about as well but they aren't in full color yet and this guy was so vibrant. I don't know if this means that the Varied Thrush has an earlier breeding season than the Robin or not.

Regardless, I thought it was pretty cool to see a new bird out there...hopefully he'll come back some more and I can get some better shots.

Snow At The Hobbit House

Don't know if it will be the last for the year...I watched it snow off and on all day yesterday but it really started to stick once the sun went down. I wondered if it would continue through the night, and it did. This was the biggest dump we have had yet, and it was so pretty. The birds were fighting over the birdfeeder. The majority of it melted off as soon as the temp started to come up. I was going to get out and get some pics in, but it started to melt so quickly that it wasn't much of an option. I ended up limited to shots from the house...

Hobbit House Wildlife

Today, I needed to go out and fill the feeder up since it was almost completely empty and this beauty of a towhee was out there and he was not even phased by me so I was able to get a lot closer than normal with the camera and get a shot of him. He is really pretty....however I didn't see any of the white breast that all the towhees in my book have so I don't know if that is because he is colored up for spring or what.

Then of course, the fat little squirrel that lives close by came by for a snack under the feeder. He seems to have given up on trying to get any seeds from the feeder itself, and is just as happy to just look around on the ground for cast offs from the birds.

"The Birds" At The Hobbit House

Oh my gosh, the other day, I had a million birds in the yard. I am not sure what caused it but it was a little freaky. I was watching television and kept seeing all these birds fly past the window. I looked out the window and saw all these birds on the ground picking around.

Earlier in the day, the house owner was here cleaning the gutters, so perhaps he was throwing the gutter leaves onto the lawn and there were bugs in them. The first time I checked the window, the birds saw me and flew away in a huge flock...but they quickly came back.

I grabbed the camera and snuck back up to the window. This was the best shot I got. I think they are Starlings, but I am not sure.

Hobbit Mouse

Doing laundry last night and almost stepped on a dead mouse on the floor of the basement. I have no idea where it came from...there are no open spaces in the basement for it to get in and there is nothing in the basement for a mouse to eat. I also have no idea what killed it...it looked pretty normal to me, just dead. I found some yard gloves close by and picked it up by the tail and tossed it outside.

I kept thinking it was going to wake up while it was in my hand and freak me out but it didn't. I don't have a fear of rodents but if one woke up when I thought it was dead and in my hand, that would definitely freak me out.

Guess I need to keep my eyes open in the future, just in case there are any live ones down there...

Bird Brunch

So as you know, I posted about a hawk that I saw on my back fence the other day. Well, I think it has been confirmed that my birdfeeder has turned into Hawk Bird Brunch...

I was on the computer in my office just after having opened the shades on the office window. Because my office windows face the covered back patio and the patio is bordered by evergreen bushes, the windows can (when the office is dark) reflect that vegetation and make it look like the vegetation is on that side as well. I have heard a couple of birds in the past run into the windows, but nothing very hard. So when I heard the knock on the window yesterday, I knew that a bird had hit it pretty hard. When I looked at the window, I could see a small female finch out there, just sitting on the sill, and I knew she was the one to hit and it was sitting there stunned. My experience with stunned birds is to let them be and after a while, they will usually fly away after recovery from the contact with the window.

So I checked on it every once in a while, but it was still sitting out there. I moved over to the french doors to get a better look (without it seeing me and frightening it), and I could see the hawk sitting on the ground near the edge of the patio. Just as I realized it was the hawk, it starts to fly towards the little bird and the window sill. The little bird flies up out of the way, and the hawk retreats away from the patio (I think the small covered space makes the hawk nervous). So the little bird continues to sit on the sill. I start to move out the french doors right as the hawk comes back in and the little bird flees to a bush on the side of the patio that is much too dense for the hawk to follow it. The hawk retreats again to a neighboring tree. I walk out to the end of my patio and he sits up in that tree squawking at me for ruining his brunch. Eventually, he flys away. I never did see the little bird again on the patio but hopefully she recovered and is back to eating at the feeder with her friends.

Now each morning when there are about 20-25 little song birds eating at my feeder, I wonder if the hawk is sitting somewhere nearby waiting for one of them to make a mistake...

Hobbit Backyard Birds

I realized that I hadn't done a post about the birds in the backyard other than to say there was a feeder and mice, squirrels, a hawk, and a raccoon.

So here is a post about the birds I have seen so far in the backyard...

Blue Jay
Stellar's Jay
Western Scrub Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
American Robin
Western Tanager
Spotted Towhee
Song Sparrow
Oregon Junco
Cooper's Hawk
American Goldfinch
House Finch

It is hard to get pics of the birds while they are at the feeder because they are so quick and it isn't close enough to the door to get close up shots, but today, there was an entire herd of Oregon Juncos (about 15 of them) at the feeder for about 15 mins, so word must be getting out.

Predator At The Hobbit House

As you know from this post...the birdfeeder seems to attact more than just birds. It seems that those new residents must have now attracted even more visitors.

I was walking through my office (the room with a view of the backyard) to the kitchen and I saw something big on the fence out of the corner of my eye...I backed up to take a better look and much to my surprise (because I was expecting the large thing to be a squirrel), I found this guy hanging out.

I am pretty sure he is a juvenile Cooper's Hawk because he is bigger than the juvenile Sharp-Skinned Hawk. According to my two reference books, Nat Geo's Field Guide to the Birds of North America (5th Ed) and Peterson's Field Guide to Birds of North America (2008) the Cooper's Hawk is bigger than the Sharp-Skinned Hawk. As juveniles, both of these birds are very similar in coloring so it mostly the size that is helping me to figure out which one my visitor is.

Note that my thoughts about the field mice being the attaction might also be wrong because according to both of these books, these two predators eat small song birds as well and since I have many small birds that visit my feeder, it could be a two for one deal...

New Birdfeeder Residents

I was working on the computer the other day and heard a bit of a ruckus outside...birds squawking and tapping around on the patio cover. I looked outside, and there were a ton of birds flying in and out of the birdfeeder. Then I saw something on the ground. I looked closer and I saw these little guys.

They, of course, disappeared as soon as I went outside. I went back in and grabbed the camera and then found a spot near the wall and stood still for a while...and it took a bit for the birds to come back and even longer for the little guys to be brave enough to come out for some photos. But my patience paid off and I was able to grab a few shots of new wildlife at the Hobbit House...aren't they cute???

Visitor at the Hobbit House

I saw this big guy walking very slowly past my back door last night...it wasn't even dark out yet and I was very surprised to see him there. He was walking so cautiously like he was uncomfortable with the fact that it wasn't completely dark yet. My camera doesn't take great low light shots so he is a bit blurry but this one was the best of the 4 or 5 I took. He crossed the yard and then made his way to the corner, jumped the fence into the next yard over. A bird in the tree nearby was very irritated with the raccoon and didn't stop squawking until he had made his way to another yard.

Hobbit Feeder Visitor

So since I have put out the feeder, I have gotten quite a few birds on it, but just no images as of right now. I have managed though to catch my local squirrel...the WC Rufus. He was hanging out on the fence and underneath the feeder trying to figure out what his options are.

I am in the process of getting some video footage of his attempts to eat from the feeder but for now this image is a cute one of his little fat belly.

Birds In, Squirrels Out

I got this birdfeeder and shepherds hook today because I miss being able to feed and watch the birds like I did when we lived on the East Coast.

The birdfeeder boasts that it can keep the squirrels out...we'll see if it lives up to its claims. The idea is that if the squirrel gets on it, it slides shut from their weight. I will be interested to see if the squirrel doesn't either figure something else out, or get pissed enough to try to tear it apart. I don't know if I will have another Rufus on my hands or not...could be funny.

I filled this one up with black sunflower seeds because if any of them go to seed, I won't mind having sunflowers to look at...haha. I put it in a spot so I can see it from my desk if I want and if I do get some cool birds, I can get some photographs too!!

Hobbit Sized Fishtank

When I lived in Japan, I had a clear glass vase in my kitchen with plants, rocks and fish in it...little fish. Didn't need filtration because of the plants, just cleaned the tank out when it would start to get cloudy or too algea'd up. This was in addition to my 20 gallon standard tank with fish, heater, and pump that I had in the livingroom.

Since I don't currently have my 20 gallon tank here with me, I decided to do another small kitchen tank.

This is the new hobbit tank for my counter top in the kitchen. The tetras seem to be happy and I am enjoying having them and the extra plant life around. This tank is only about 6 inches tall and 5 inches square.