Archive for the ‘Flap the Wings’ Category

Gila the Zebra Back Woodpecker


2010
03.01

A loud “churrr” can be heard as the Gila woodpecker approaches our veranda and declares the hummingbird feeder is his territory. It had somewhat learn to hang and lick the sugary water from the feeder. With its size, it just knows how to scare off the small hummingbird.

Gila Woodpeckers are dwellers of the Sonoran Desert. They nest in a saguaro cactus. It creates a hole with its very strong head, neck, and a long pointy beak. When it vacated the hole other birds like the owls use it to nest. Their main diet is insects but it also eats seasonal fruits.

It was actually hard taking good photos of this zebra back feathered friend. If it notices small movements it flies away with haste. It took a couple of shot before finally having this one.

Dude, take the photo quickly will you? Posing, drinking and hanging like this is tough you know!

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United We Are Warm


2010
02.27

It was a chilly Saturday morning when I got up and heard the rain drops outside. I peek outside the window without my glasses and saw an odd blurry object which I know wasn’t a fixture in our patio. Hurriedly, I put my glasses on and saw this

Attention! Line up please!

United we are warm

These are Mourning Doves or Rain Dove or also known as the Western Turtle Doves. The plumage is generally light gray-brown and the wings have black spotting. The eye is a distinctive crescent-shaped, with light skin surrounding them.

This is how it looks like. This photo was taken last October.

coo-OO-oo

The rain stopped, gloomy clouds almost clearing up and the sun shining through. The mourning doves started to stretch their wings and shake their heads. Probably they’ve decided that the warming session is over and so they moved on to the next activity: Quest for breakfast ^_^

Ok, warming session dismissed!

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Wind Dancer


2009
12.05

Apache legends tell of a young warrior named Wind Dancer. He was born deaf but could sing wordless but magical songs that heal and deliver good weather. He once saved a beautiful young woman named Bright Rain from a wolf. He then soon married her. When Wind Dancer died, winter came and engulfs the earth but mysteriously ended when Bright Rain started solitary walks. Soon enough the tribe learned that Wind Dancer came back for Bright Rain in the form of a hummingbird to whisper his magical secrets in her ear.

A hummingbird holds a unique charm and ability. They can fly forward, backward, shift sideways and then hover in midair, beating their wings 60 times per second. Such great deal of energy from the smallest bird in the world! Did you know that hummingbirds cannot walk or hop? They are able to perch but because they fly so much they have poorly developed feet.

Minutes after setting up the feeder, the hummingbirds knew that a nectar solution was inside the bottle. I used four cups of water to one cup of sugar for the solution. Heat the water (almost to a boil) then mix the sugar to dissolve it easily. Let it cool and fill the clean feeder.

Have fun setting up a special hummingbird feeder or if you already have, I would love to see your pictures. Just listening to their delicate humming wings as they fly so fast they almost look like blur is extremely interesting. Happy bird watching!

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Hop, Feed and Peck


2009
11.21

The old feeder usually feed at least two to four birds at a time so we decided to buy a bigger one which will accommodate at least six. Two birds tried it and minutes after that it was a frenzy party!

They just don’t like it, they love it!

A yellow little tweety heard the commotion and silently observes. As if waiting for the chance to be able to share that feast. Those finches and sparrows were insanely gulping the seeds and occupying all the tube holes! haha

No luck. It flew off after few minutes.  Ah! It was a pretty yellow bird, hope it comes back. We should probably put more feeders? Probably when we get a big back yard or our own back yard for that matter lol I think this will do for now *smiles*

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Visiting Birds


2009
10.31

Variety of birds started visiting our feeder. I have yet to identify the species of these two beautiful winged animals.

edit: Found out that the bird in the second picture is a Mourning Dove! ^_^

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Hello Sparrow


2009
10.28

A new gang of birds were circling the feeder. Small, plump brown-gray and striped feather with buff, black, and brown. I’m familiar with these type of birds. They are abundant in my hometown – the house sparrows.

MaleHouseSparrow

Male house sparrow. Grayish underparts, black throat and with no streaking. The larger the black patch on the throat the more dominant the male is. In mating season, it changes it plumage. The back and wings turns reddish with black streaks in order to attract a mate. FemaleHouseSparrow

Female house sparrow. The underbelly and chest are normally grayish/brownish and with no streaking. Brown face with eye-stripe. Yellowish and thick bill.

The house finches and house sparrows doesn’t get along well at times. But there are days when they just tolerate and eat together. They are just fun to watch. They love that I put water beside the feeder also. It’s so accessible when they want to drink. We’ve already bought a hummingbird feeder also. Now they are not just bystander as they are able to join the feeding frenzy in our veranda. I’ll put pictures of the hummingbird next time. Happy bird watching!

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House Finches – She chases, He backs off


2009
10.05

Ever since the seeds were discovered by the house finches, the feeder is always in business. They particularly love the black oil sunflower and millet seeds then happily shove off the other seed mixes. I’ve read that they love the thistle seeds also but we would need to buy a particular feeder if we decided to add that in future.

Nowadays, we found not two but eight (probably more) alternately feeding. They fly, bounce and sit still when they crush the shell seeds. They love chasing each other and make different noises. A male house finch has a visible trace of red on the forehead, throat and breast. It has streaks on the flanks and grayish bill. The female house finch is plain in color, grayish brown and streaked overall.

I noticed that the female is more dominant than the male. Sometimes when the female is on the feeder  it chases and intimidate the male to back off, as if telling the male that she wants the feeder all by herself. It’s weird because the feeder can accommodate minimum of two to three birds. I call her the bossy one haha. So the sadly disappointed male chooses to take the fallen seeds on the ground than have another encounter with the female. They look so funny.

I think the news had spread out and the finches cannot keep the feeder for themselves anymore, for we have other visitors – the house sparrows! I would love this feathered friend to visit us all the time too. The arrival of the sparrows caused more yelling and chasing. The finch gang chases the sparrows and at times the male sparrow pecks back but most of the time they just let the finches win. Also, several curios hummingbirds gracefully passed by to check what’s going on and leave disappointed not seeing any nectar syrup bottles hanging. Seeing them roaming our veranda gave us the idea of adding up a feeder for these fast flying friends. This will be noted on our next feeder to-get list.

Morning and right before sunset feeding, they will all chirp in chorus a cheery warble and mixed with all these indescribable sounds that are just so fun to listen and watch. I wonder if bigger birds will notice all this commotion and starts joining the feeding frenzy. Well, hopefully we’ll get visited by bigger types that have appetite for the seeds we offer and not appetite for finches and sparrows!

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Birds outside the Window


2009
09.19

When I was still living at mom and dad’s place, the room I shared with my sister has a window view to our neighbor’s garden. Planted there were different trees and plants that draw different type of birds and especially attracting sparrows. At dusk you can’t help not to notice the fluttering and chirping as if they are singing good morning to everyone who could hear. As we are busy preparing to do our daily chores so are they, busy looking for food and feeding their youngs. Late afternoon right after school, I would sit in my favorite chair right beside that window to study, day dream, and wonder on the things I have and haven’t done. The sun is setting and the birds sing in chorus as they settle on their nest. It was such a lovely noise. A noise that I miss when I move out for work, move in the city then got married and moved onto places. I would always tell my husband how I miss seeing sparrows just right outside the window.

When we moved in the suburb, we noticed few birds resting on a tree near our window. My husband suggested we buy a bird feeder and hang it in the veranda to see if it will attract the birds and if it does then certainly they would visit every once in a while or probably even stay. And so we bought the hopper bird feeder and a general seed bird food. We put the feeder where it was visible on our windows and close to the tree.

One month passed by and the birds haven’t even noticed the seeds. Perhaps they were suspicious or probably didn’t even care that free food was just lying there. We’ve decided to leave the feeder where it was and hoping one day, one little bird will appreciate it.

It was late afternoon while making coffee that I noticed movement and chirping outside the window. And indeed one little fellow suddenly hops and starts eating the seeds. Finally, a bird discovers the feeder. It looks like a sparrow but it had a reddish color on its head breast and neck. I did searched the net and found that it’s a male house finch.

Male House Finch

It only needs one bird to find out the feeder because the very next day it brought along some friends. Perhaps it tweet the news of his latest discovery.

I sat there, observing their fanciful nature. It reminds me of my old room, my hometown, and old memories. I sure hope these fantastic birds stick around. Just seeing them flutter is a sheer joy.

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