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.

Baby Ducks

 

Yesterday, we thought we saw a baby duck with its parents, but something wasn't right. The baby was too large and the male usually isn't involved in raising the ducklings. We think it was an immature ruddy duck that was following two mallards.

Today, we spotted our first real mallard duckling of the year.

Back Home: Warbler and Cardinal

Palm Warbler


Northern Cardinal

Birding in Liberty State Park

Hermit Thrush

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Red-throated loon

Brandt

We took a trip to LSP this morning for our first birding outing in NJ this migration. It is a little early, but the weather was nice. Hermit Thrushes were plentiful and we are better at identifying them now.

Our first Hermit Thrush

Chris was really excited when a bird appeared in the same part of the yard that hosted a ovenbird last year. However, upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a hermit thrush. Still exciting, but we miss "Ov."


Here's the ovenbird from last year.

Red Tailed Hawk

This hawk perched right on the branch that our nyger feeder hangs from! It wasn't his lucky day, though, because all our little darling goldfinches and others vanished quickly. The hawk swooped away down one of the narrow sides of the yard. Fun to watch it so close as it went by the dining room window and navigated that somewhat tight space. The hawks are beautiful creatures, but we're always glad when they don't actually find a meal here. Well, maybe we could spare a dove.

Easter Birds

Eastern Bluebird


Eastern Phoebe

Spring Migration

Pine Warbler


Northern Flicker

The fun days of spring bird watching have begun. We love trying to spot the little warblers in the trees amongst our regulars, i.e, the goldfinches and juncos, who still haven't left. In addition to the pine warbler, we've had yellow-rumped warblers and palm warblers visiting. Nice to have the Northern Flicker coming through too, who is much easier to identify than the warblers!

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.

More Backyard Birds

 

 

 

 

Baby Ducks on Lake Nelson

The mother duck brings her six ducklings by often. They are growing very fast and have already learned how to jump back in the lake from our dock. They are now old enough so that some are developing an independent streak and no longer follow mom in a straight line.

Tufted Titmice

Red Bellied Woodpecker Feeding

Well, no visible nests this spring, but we had a lot of woodpeckers and other birds coming and going with food. We could see them flying across the lake, and we hoped that eventually they would bring their young to us for all the good feed we offer. In this photo we have a male red bellied woodpecker feeding grape jelly to its young.

Babies

Baby Tree Swallow (we think)




This was weird. A mother duck and her 6 ducklings were resting on our floating island. A cormorant also likes sunning himself there so he jumped up to join them. The mother sheltered the babies but they shared the island for a few minues.

Baby ducks may be cuter than baby geese

 

Red Bellied Woodpecker Eating an Orange

Red Bellied Woodpecker Eating an Orange


We're still getting a few orioles coming by, but it doesn't look like we'll have an oriole nest. It could be because all the other birds have found the food we put out for the orioles. Here a red bellied woodpecker is at the orange and even the orange half filled with jelly. They also are switching back and forth from the peanut flavored suet to the jelly for a good old fashioned pb&j!

Later in the day, a male oriole returned, but we haven't seen a female yet in our yard.

We should get out more.

Northern Cardinal


Cedar Waxwing


Chipmunk

We should get out more, but we also like waiting for these critters to drop by.

Lake Nelson's Black Crowned Night Heron

Black Crowned Night Heron
The Black Crowned Night Heron has been making a daily apperance (or really a nightly appearance) on Lake Nelson.

A Cute Gosling

 

Here's a cute picture of an adorable baby goose. They waddle on to the lawn through a hole in the fence and nibble on the delicate grass. What can be cuter than a baby bird?

Baltimore Oriole eating an orange

Baltimore Oriole
Chris is ecstatic. We've put out oranges in late April for three years now. Each year, the orioles would build nests in a tree over the lake, but ignore our food. Today, we had our first oriole eat an orange.