Gone, Birdy, Gone!

Tree Swallows

The busy birds are mostly gone from the birdhouses now, I'm sorry to say.  Most of the baby birds have fledged and left their nests. I really miss them! It is so quiet here now.  One birdhouse still has 4 baby tree swallows in it. The parents were late in building their nest and laying their clutch of eggs so these remaining babies are about 8 or 10 days behind the rest.

A few days ago we saw an interesting sight. One of our birdhouses had a small family of tree swallows in it, only two babies. One day we saw the tree swallow parents sitting on the dead tree snag near their birdhouse and one of their young had its head peeking out of the birdhouse hole. The parent swallows were calling to it and kept flying past the baby as if they were trying to encourage it to fly!
Then we noticed a smaller duller colored swallow sitting on the tree snag too and we believe that it was the sibling that had been in the same nest. We watched for a long while as the parents and then the sibling tried to encourage the other swallow to follow them as they swooped past the birdhouse, but it stubbornly stayed in the hole. We finally gave up watching and went on to other things, but I wish I would have been more patient in my watching because when I came back a while later, the little head was gone from the hole and the birdhouse was empty. It would have been wonderful to witness that first flight!

 tiny House Wren

Most of the wren babies have fledged and left their birdhouses empty, too. I think there is still at least one nest around here, though.  I heard one wren mother scolding loudly yesterday when one of our cats walked through the yard. They usually do that to warn each other of danger, especially if they have a family in a nest nearby. The wrens will often build a second nest and lay a second family of eggs if there is a plentiful food supply and the season is long enough.

I love the wren's call. It is a cheerful, happy sound and it is usually the first bird awake around here, starting its chirping just before the sky gets light, sometimes as early as 4 AM!

Gold finch pair, male on left, female on right

 The Gold Finches are still in the vicinity. I see them coming to the bird feeders in our yard for their favorite treat, the Nyger seeds.  Gold finches like to build their nests in trees, not in bird houses because they are not cavity nesters like the tree swallow, house wrens or sparrows. (Cavity nesting birds usually look for holes in tree trunks made by squirrels or other animals, but because there are not always very many available, they choose the 'cavity' of a birdhouse.) A forked branch is the ideal location for a Goldfinch nest. The nest is cup-shaped and made of plant material, but they like to line it with thistles or milkweed down. Their nests are very strong.

Another unusual thing about Goldfinches is that they molt all their feathers in the summer and the males turn from a bright yellow in the spring to a more subdued version, looking more like the duller colored female.

This is the first summer here that I have not seen the beautiful orange plumage of the Baltimore Oriole, although one of our neighbors said they had seen one. 

I really enjoy seeing the little upside down nuthatches at the feeder and my favourite little feathered friends, the Black capped chickadees.  Both of these birds stay around all winter and provide endless enjoyment watching the bird feeder even on the coldest winter day. The little Downey Woodpecker and his mate stay around all winter, too.

Downey Woodpecker male ( note the red on the back of his head)

The beautiful Cedar Waxwings