Favorite Backyard Garden Birds?

[Taiji]

I wish I had my camera when they were falling flat on their backs.

That made me LOL.

Next thing you know they'll be trying to fly or something.

[A Happy Seedling]

Never seen these ones fly...
They're too fat.
Sumo doves?
O.O

[Gary350]

Birds are my best friends they eat all the bugs in my garden. I never spray for bugs. I have 25 bird houses. I like wrens best they sing none stop all day and eat 2 times their body weight in bugs every day. I build special bird houses for my wrens.

[A Happy Seedling]

Birds are my best friends they eat all the bugs in my garden. I never spray for bugs. I have 25 bird houses. I like wrens best they sing none stop all day and eat 2 times their body weight in bugs every day. I build special bird houses for my wrens.

Adorable!

[HoneyBerry]

A male house wren builds a dozen nests in the Spring and then shows off his handy work to the female. The female chooses the nest. Often the female tears apart the nest and then builds a new nest. Persnickity, those little female wrens.

[j3707]

Right now my favorite are the Robins - they just came back for spring! I can hear them all over in the early morning.

[imafan26]

I saw a cattle egret poking around my front yard looking for bugs or maybe a lizard.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cattle_Egret/id

[catgrass]

I counted about 23 cardinals at my feeders yesterday evening. A few blackbirds and some "tweety birds". The cat was mesmerized!

[A Happy Seedling]

23?! Our cardinals come in pairs. Right now we have 2 pairs of mates living on our property somewhere in the bushes behind our house, and 1 pair that visits sometimes and lives in the woods.

[applestar]

Yep, same here, until they have their babies. -- then it's usually the babies, the male, and the female, too... Though I think it's the male that is more diligent and continue to feed them until fledging. Sometimes, after that, I see the siblings staying together for a while.

They usually have at least two broods, maybe three? during the season and are CONSTANTLY looking for baby food (worms and bugs) in the garden.

[A Happy Seedling]

Yep, same here, until they have their babies. -- then it's usually the babies, the male, and the female, too... Though I think it's the male that is more diligent and continue to feed them until fledging. Sometimes, after that, I see the siblings staying together for a while.

They usually have at least two broods, maybe three? during the season and are CONSTANTLY looking for baby food (worms and bugs) in the garden.

Sounds great! After and during breeding season we tend to still have pairs, male/female or otherwise; the siblings pair up and stick with each other after leaving their parents. I saw a joyful family reunion of 2 female juveniles and their parents ~2 weeks after the females left their nests.
After the siblings grow up and get mates, they STILL stick around each other (in-laws of the animal world ) to form groups of four; the original two siblings and the mates they took. Sometimes the chicks from an earlier brood, after leaving the nest "for good," come back to their old nest and help out their parents when they are raising a new brood. Usually the females do this, only a few males ever return to their parents' nest for whatever reason.
Good to have that older sister around...
After the juveniles from the early brood, which helped out the parents with the next brood, become adults, sometimes the younger ones that the early birds (lol) raised will seek them out and group with them too. They seem to recognize each other; maybe the little ones imprinted on the juveniles helping out as well as on the parents.
When there are clutches of eggs with more than two siblings in one brood, all siblings will stay around each other. Yes, even when they get mates. This probably has something to do with safety in numbers (and maybe love for their siblings, not to mention trying to steal Sis's boyfriend!)

This is just what happens with my cardinals. Yours are probably different.

~AHS

[ButterflyLady29]

I had a Pileated woodpecker in the tree in my back yard a couple days ago. It hung around and pecked at the tree a little bit, paused long enough for just one shot with the good camera, then took off. Although this is a pretty wooded area it's not a common feeder bird here.

Another interesting thing I saw over the weekend were the bees. They were thick in the sunflower seeds in the feeder. I had to take the top off to release a bee that had apparently burrowed from the feeding port up through the seed to the open area inside. She couldn't find her way out and kept trying and trying to fly out the mesh. Once she realized the top was open she took off.

[Taiji]

Marlin, your bluebirds are such a bright blue compared to mine! Mine are western bluebirds, would yours be eastern? Your photo makes me want to put up some birdhouses!

[LIcenter]

The Bluebird is our state bird. Sixty two years living in NY, I Have never seen one as yet.

[imafan26]

You have interesting birds. Thanks for the pictures. I will probably only see most of these birds in pictures. Sadly, even our native birds are so rare and dependent on specific native plants for food that most of them won't be seen in home gardens. All I see are sparrows (not as many now), bulbuls (too many), cattle egret (imported by the plantation), finches (pets people deliberately let go), parrots (also escaped or released pets), Sharma (rare, and has a beautiful song), cardinals, great northern cardinals, golden plover (they migrate from the Aleutions every winter), occasionally a pheasant, native white owl (very rare I have only seen it twice on the Big Island's Parker ranch, mynah, spotted neck doves, small grey dove, mejiro (Japanese white eye), pigeons, and feral chickens.

[Taiji]

Our state bird is the cactus wren. They live in holes in the saguaro cactus. I don't think I have ever seen one since I don't live in that type of landscape. Around here we do have the canyon wren which I've never seen either, but their song is unmistakable, I've heard them many times. They start out with a high pitched whistle then more whistles descending in pitch til they get really low and it slows down. (all in one breath!) They live in canyon walls, (of course), but hereabouts they live in among granite boulders.

[A Happy Seedling]

You have interesting birds. Thanks for the pictures. I will probably only see most of these birds in pictures. Sadly, even our native birds are so rare and dependent on specific native plants for food that most of them won't be seen in home gardens. All I see are sparrows (not as many now), bulbuls (too many), cattle egret (imported by the plantation), finches (pets people deliberately let go), parrots (also escaped or released pets), Sharma (rare, and has a beautiful song), cardinals, great northern cardinals, golden plover (they migrate from the Aleutians every winter), occasionally a pheasant, native white owl (very rare I have only seen it twice on the Big Island's Parker ranch, mynah, spotted neck doves, small grey dove, mejiro (Japanese white eye), pigeons, and feral chickens.

I feel for you. Cattle egrets are nice though. Their white plumage is beautiful!

[tomf]

Took the photos from a ways off through a window of this Flicker.

[tomf]

I have a field guid book but would like a better bird book, anyone have any recommendations?

[rainbowgardener]

I think I just saw an eastern bluebird in our backyard! It didn't stay around long, so I didn't get a good look at it, but I have seen them before.


https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Bluebird/id

this is not my picture, just something I found on line

[ButterflyLady29]

Which one (field guide) do you have? I've got Peterson's, Audubon, and National Geographic. Of the 3 I prefer the Peterson's

[digitS']

I like my Peterson's guide but I don't have the chance now to compare.

It replaced my Audubon guide.

Have you ever wondered what sort of book might be most commonly dropped from a jacket pocket and lost? I bet bird guides are near the top of the list.

Steve

[LIcenter]

If you have a smartphone, ipad or the like. This site lists 19 apps that might interest a few here.

https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animal ... ess-expert

[Susan W]

Who needs many different birds when one has a mockingbird?! They are hanging out in my yard all year, and never cease to amaze with their run-on songs. The Carolina wren makes way bigger song than its little body. (also yr 'round). The brown thrashers are checking out the available real estate, usually lower part of privet hedge (a good use for privet!).

Last week with the never ending rains, many of the birds feasted on worms coming up to surface of yard and even on roadways.

[Susan W]

On those bird field guides. My mother was an avid birder. We grew up with bird guides, binocs, looking and listening. Also sketch books. When she passed on near 20 yrs ago, I was able to get her bird guides, binocs and some of the sketch pads. Her last fave guide was Nat'l Geographic. When I open it and see her notes, let's just say there's a tear in my eye.

[rainbowgardener]

The bluebird was back today and I got a better look at it; definitely what it was and very pretty. We want to get a bluebird house to put on our fence line.

[ButterflyLady29]

My grandpa put up a bunch of bluebird houses around his farm. It was great seeing the bluebirds raising their families there. There were always barn swallows in the barn too.
Grandpa loved all his birds except starlings, house sparrows, and one strawberry stealing robin.

[imafan26]

We don't have the kinds of birds that you do. The finches have been singing and calling in the plumeria tree almost every day and I saw a grey dove feeding its chick in a nest under the eaves of the shed. I have an old nest of some bird in my lemon tree.

[applestar]

I was hoping to attract bluebirds when this area was dotted with horse farms and they were plentiful, they never quite considered my garden good enough, although they did come visit once in a while. Now, most of the farms are gone and I don't see them any more.

Today's loudly singing visitors were Carolina wrens.

[catgrass]

Feeding time

[A Happy Seedling]

What are these? Cardinals? Tanagers?

[AnnaIkona]

I love the tiny type of birds such as chickadees and what are those other teeny ones called...titmice?

[catgrass]

The redbirds are cardinals. I have counted as many as 24 some afternoons. I have 3 feeders set out. I get cardinals, chickadees, fox sparrows, blue jays, doves (lots of doves), cowbirds, goldfinches and some I can't identify.

[ButterflyLady29]

I like the little titmice. Swoop in, grab, and gone. The chickadees come in and grab a seed then fly to a branch and crack the shell, eat the seed, then back to the feeder.

I haven't seen my goldfinches yet this year. Usually they come in the early spring, stay the summer, then take off for the winter. I know they turn brown and I know what winter goldfinch plumage looks like. But they disappear for the winter here. They love zinnia and cone flower seeds.

[A Happy Seedling]

The redbirds are cardinals. I have counted as many as 24 some afternoons. I have 3 feeders set out. I get cardinals, chickadees, fox sparrows, blue jays, doves (lots of doves), cowbirds, goldfinches and some I can't identify.

Cool! For cardinals, I only have a few pairs of mates, a few sibling pairs/groups, and one single male cardinal who, since all the females have been taken up, sings incessantly outside my window all day and night
I get a lot of Tree Sparrows, House Sparrows, Song Sparrows (don't judge, but I like them!), doves (on the ground eating seeds discarded by picky feeder birds, since we have a squirrel-proof feeder that works by weight, not allowing doves either), one cowbird (which never came to the feeder), chickadees (always chickadees), nuthatches (white-breasted), and God knows how many other bird types, I only listed the ones we seem to both have. The evil blue jays migrated away last year, abandoning one with us (it had to teach itself to fly, so we got to watch it faceplant in the dirt for a couple of weeks ), but they came back now. They stay away from the feeder though.
I saw a grackle near the feeder once but it never got on. I never saw another grackle. We have crows but they stay away from the feeder too.