Curious Woodpeckers

A female Hairy Woodpecker inspects the seed feeder.

I happened to take a look at the Birdcam this morning and was surprised to see a silly Hairy Woodpecker feeding at the window feeder, rather than the suet cage. I haven't seen woodpeckers show too much interest in seed before!

I don't think she was necessarily eating anything, but she stayed and checked out the feeder for some time before flying over to the suet cage.

As mentioned above, the woodpecker is female. This means that I have more than one coming to the feeders now, which is even more exciting. Up until this point, I had only seen a male visiting the suet cage. The new woodpecker however, did not have a red patch on the back of her head, which told me that she is indeed a she!

The next goal is to attract a Piliated or Red-bellied woodpecker! Wouldn't that be something?!

First Snowfall 2012!

Goldfinches grab an easy snack the morning after
our first snowfall.

Anyone who was visiting the Birdcam this morning (hopefully) noticed a difference in the landscape!

Not only did I do a little Christmas decorating, but over night we received our first dumping of snow! Typically we'll have a few days of light flurries when snow first arrives for the winter...but this year we got a heavy coating over night! What a sight to wake up to!

Chickadee (front) and
Hairy Woodpecker (right, suet cage)

The birds were very active today. I figure that food is harder to find under the snow, so the feeders were even more appealing!

Even the hairy woodpecker came by again for a snack, and I snapped a decent photo of him on the cam (if you look closely, you can see the red patch on the back of his head)!

I've seen the woodpecker a few times since then. I think he's going to be a frequent visitor like I had hoped!

Hairy woodpecker.

Make sure you keep checking in frequently! With the snow, there may be even more birds stopping by in search of food and shelter!

...maybe even Scram will stop by again! It's been some time since I've seen that little monster around!

Woodpeckers have arrived on NovaBirds!

About a week or so ago, I undertook a small project for the NovaBirds cam! I always love seeing a variety of birds at the other feeders around my yard, and woodpeckers are no exception.

I had a bit of a dilemma however. I couldn't figure out how to add a suet basket to my current set-up that would be wood-pecker friendly and also not take away from the natural view of the cam.

After a little research, I had a plan: find an old log around the property, dig a hole, put log in hole, add rocks, soil, and voila! A post for woodpeckers! I zip-tied the suet basket mid-way down the log.

The best thing about the new feeder addition is that it not only is another food source, but it provides a perch for the birds to hang out on as well!

A Hairy woodpecker samples the new suet basket

As with any feeder, it took a while for the woodpeckers to find it. The bluejays and chickadees had been snacking on it all to themselves until today, when a large, plump hairy woodpecker finally discovered it and helped himself to a snack! I snapped a quick photo...not the best, but you can see him there off to the side of the suet basket. I'm sure this is just the beginning of the woodpeckers who will continue to visit our new feeder!

Keep checking back to the cam, you may be lucky enough to see him yourself!

Changing seasons...

Not only are the leaves changing, but somone thought
they were clever and started to build a nest in the feeder!

The leaves are beginning to change here, as you can see on the cam. The air is getting much cooler and lots of critters are stocking up on extra calories to prepare for the snow and colder weather.

I've noticed that Scramble and the chipmunks have really been cleaning out the feeders. I've been replacing seed daily now.

Bluejays are also showing up more frequently and even perching on the main cam feeder.

Hopefully these critters will stay through the winter, with the exception of the chipmunks of course, who will be beginning to hibernate soon!

Stay tuned to the cam. As we approach Halloween, some peculiar things may begin to show up!

Mulching

What the...?

Hubby picked up a truckload of mulch from a friend today... so guess what that means? I'll be mulching the gardens all weekend long!

 

So if you see a crazy looking lady with a baby strapped to her front, also pushing a wheel barrow...that's me.

 

Apologies in advance for scaring the birds away periodically!

Now Blogging...

Scram, getting into trouble!

I thought I'd set up a blog to keep everyone informed, and also for me to personally have a record of all the things I've managed to capture on the cam!

When I set up the Hummingbird Cam in August, I didn't realize how popular it would become. I'm glad that so many adore the hummingbirds as much as I do. Sadly, it's been 3 days since I've seen any hummingbirds at my feeders. They've all packed up and started the long journey back to the south!

Thankfully I began setting up a bird feeder elsewhere in preparation! Now streaming is the Winteringbirds cam! So far I've seen chipmunks, bluejays, chickadees, goldfinches, mourning doves and one pesky little squirrel that I've named "Scramble!"

I hope you all enjoy the cam and keep me updated as to what you see!