Catbirds Return

This week has seen the return of one of Chris' favorite birds: the catbird. Right now, their call sounds like a baby crying. Later on in the season, their song is more melodic. They come to jelly feeders. When feeding insects to thier young, they will occasionally stop off at the jelly feeder to dip the insect in jelly before taking it to the fledgling.

Catbirds Return

Catbird at the Jelly Feeder



We look forward to the return of the gray catbird. Sometimes, this bird sounds like a crying baby. Sometimes, the catbird sounds like a cat. Sometimes, it has an upbeat, silly song.

Catbirds eat insects and come to jelly feeders.

Baby Catbird

We never found the catbird nest, but we saw the parents carrying food. Finally, we found a baby

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.

Catbird and Titmouse

 

A pair of gray catbirds have been frequenting our yard. They are eating the jelly we put out for the orioles and one even drank the nectar. Here one has landed on an orange. The catbird has been making a wide variety of calls. It's the bird that sounds like a crying baby at times and has a wonderful song other times. Chris has two nicknames for the catbirds, jelly heads or silly singers.

 

This tufted titmouse is enjoying the peanut feeder.

Birds from the backyard feeders

We put up a jelly feeder for the orioles. They ignored it while building their nest and then disappeared entirely during the June rains. The catbirds have been sampling the jelly recently.

 

The goldfinches are returning to the nyjer feeder now but not in the same numbers that we saw last year.

 

Birds from the Celery Farm in Allendale

We took a quick trip to the Celery Farm in Allendale, NJ. The yellow warbler was best photo that we got.

We spotted some wood ducks including what appeared to be an immature male just showing some adult colors.

 

 

Egret

Swans and Ducks

Cormorant

Baby Catbird

Swallow

Wren

Closter Nature Center

Grey Catbird

 

We visited the Closter Nature Center early on Memorial Day. We saw a few birds, a few chipmunks and a few deer, but the highlight was encountering two wolves chasing a deer. We decided that another birding spot would be more relaxing and went to the Meadowlands. (Edited for correction:) We are more familiar with the coyotes in California, which are smaller than what we saw here. We have since found out that the coyotes on the East Coast are larger, so we're sure it was not wolves now. I guess we could have continued on the trail after all.

Catbird

Well, the leaves are changing and summer is almost over. The catbird will spend the winter in Costa Rica and we are left in New Jersey.

Catbird eating a berry

There were several catbirds rustling about in some bushes that were full of berries. Chris took several photos of one bird and when we looked at this one, we found she caught it in the middle of a snack.

Gray Catbird

We heard the Gray Catbird for about a week. He sounds like a baby crying, or some people say a cat meowing.