Spring is here: The Night Heron has returned early

Black Crowned Night Heron 

Titmouse 

Robin 

The night heron has returned from his winter vacation. He's early this year. The earliest we've seen him in prior years was April 1.

Robin having a bath

American Robin waiting for spring

 

We think this robin must feel about like we do - hey, the calendar says it's spring!  At least this was a light dusting of snow which has already mostly melted so the robins won't get too discouraged.  It will be a true celebration of spring when the catbirds get here - we can hardly wait.

Early Spring Birds in New Jersey: Robin and Red-winged Blackbird

 

 

When we returned from Trinidad and Tobao, it was nice to see the spring birds. Robins had returned in numbers to our yard and Red-winged blackbirds were back too.

Robin and Chickadee keeping cool

One evening, it was almost 100 degrees when we saw this robin just plopped in the waterfall. A chickadee came by and joined in.

Summer Backyard Birds in New Jersey

Robin

Nuthatch

Chickadee

One very hot day, we caught this robin taking a bath in our waterfall.

The nuthatches have been very active on the tree trunks but rarely are found on the ground.

We've had quite a few chickadees. They also enjoy the waterfall, but they have also been coming to the tree closest to our deck.

Baby Robin - being even more cute

A little while had gone by and Chris decided that even in this heat she better go out and fill the feeders. Well, what a surprise when she stepped out and was greeted by the baby robin who was still close by and now perched right upon her watering can. It turns out that when you're watching something so adorable, you barely even notice how uncomfortably hot and humid it is.

Summer Backyard Birds in New Jersey: Chickadee, Robin, Catbird

Black-capped Chickadee

American Robin

Gray Catbird

Although the spring migration has ended, there still are quite a few birds in our backyard. This year, the antics of the catbirds are particularly amusing. They eat the jelly that we had set out for the orioles and they eat the insects that Chris stirs up while planting. The most amusing part is that they'll dip insects in the jelly and take them back to the nest to feed their babies.

Robin Nest at Garret Mountain

 

Robins were the most common bird we saw as Garret Mountain. Here's a photo of a robin's nest we came upon. (At least we think it is a robin. Mike saw a female robin fly to this nest.) Last year, we were lucky to have a robin's nest in our yard. No such luck this year yet.

We're ready for Spring

 

 

 

Here are some photos from last spring. We are tired of the winter weather, the snow and the rain. We are looking forward to spring when the orioles return, the goldfinches are brighter, and there are baby birds around.

More Winter Robins

We had a large flock of robins come by this afternoon. They only stayed for a few minutes. Last week, Chris put out cranberries for the visiting winter robins, but none were eaten. Today, several of the robins found cranberries and ate them. Finally!!!

Winter Robins

 

 

When Mike was getting ready for work this morning, Chris noticed we had some Robins in the yard. She ran outside to throw some cranberries around for them. Then when he was leaving, Mike suggested that Chris try to get some photos for the blog. By that time, the flock of robins had increased to about 30, which made it all the more fun for Chris. They were everywhere! They didn't seem the least bit interested in the cranberries, preferring to hunt on the ground instead. Chris even put out some dried mealworms which they took no interest in. What they really do seem to appreciate, though, is the water. We use a heated bird bath during winter to keep the water from freezing, and it is popular with all the birds, especially the goldfinches. One picture shows three at a time at the water, but at times there were up to five (which Chris found too difficult to capture in pictures but had fun watching.) We really wish we could figure out what birds are supposed to eat the popcorn and cranberries, because we popped a lot of popcorn and only the Blue Jays have taken a few pieces.

Backyard Birds

House Wren

Robin

Baltimore Oriole

Groundhog

We got almost 30 minutes of sunshine today. Here's are photos of the birds (and a groundhog) that were out.

A partly sunny bird day

Cardinal

Wild Turkey

Tufted Titmouse

Robin feeding

We went for a walk this morning and when we got to a clearing, Chris paused to soak up some sun, a rarity of late. We walked a little further and came across a like-minded turkey. Later in the day, we got a nice picture of a cardinal at the platform feeder, saw a tufted titmouse also eating a seed taken from the platform feeder, and saw our robin fledglings demanding to be fed from their parents.

Fledgling Robin

 

 

 

 

Our robins have flown the nest, but we think they are still in the area. Of course, it's hard to tell becuase they look like all the other robins.

Baby robins getting bigger

May 11

May 14

The baby robins are growing quickly. Mother is busy bring insects back to the nest.

Baby Robins

 

Here's a photo of the newly hatched robins in our yard. The mother is always nearby, but she let us take one photo before scolding us.

Robin's nest

 

While Mike has his gosling friend, Chris is expecting the robin eggs to hatch any day now. She's particularly thrilled that the mother robin choose our Christmas tree for its home. Chris put it outside because it was too pretty and fresh to discard and she thought the birds might use it for winter shelter.

The Robin's Nest

 

There's a robin's nest in our yard. We are very excited, but we'll fill in the details another day.

More Birds

 

We read that the Robin turns its head not to listen for worms but to look for them.

 

The male goldfinches are a bright yellow this time of year. The females aren't nearly as colorful.

 

A Canada Goose sitting on her nest. We've seen some goslings the past few days, but they aren't plentiful yet.

 

We usually post profiles of the Red Bellied Woodpecker, but here he's showing off his red belly. They are very awkward on flat surfaces

Eastern Kingbird