Lots of my backyard birds are regulars, like Norm, Cliff and Frasier – the bar patrons at Cheers. Several other of my bird friends come only periodically, and this includes one of my late summer visitors, the wood thrush. Thrushes are said to return to the same woodlands each March to nest. They usually have two clutches, then move on, in this case to my yard. They hang around the back of the … [Read more...]

Like clockwork, they come every March. My one pair of resident catbirds. They’ve been regular visitors for the past 7 or 8 years. I have read that many birds use the exact same nesting site from year to year, even different generations. I’m confident that this is true of my catbirds. Catbirds, though not colorful, are beautiful, graceful birds and they are almost as friendly as my bluebirds. I … [Read more...]

I have never seen so many butterflies as I have this summer. It helps that we have a towering butterfly bush and that Nancy has planted several long borders of colorful zinnias, but we’ve got the butterflies. Yellow ones, black ones, orange and some small white ones. Unfortunately, few are Monarchs and most are Swallowtails. Monarchs lack any kind of extended tail – just rounded tail wings. … [Read more...]

We were on hole 16 at the Spring Creek Golf Course when I stopped to admire a beautiful water garden in someone’s back yard. There was a series of pools cascading down the hill, bordered by rocks and adorned with flowers. There was a small American flag at the bottom. While I was observing, a male bluebird flew down and landed on the tip-top of the flag. What grace, I thought, and how amazing that … [Read more...]

  I saw what appeared to be a weed along the side of the road. But the flowers were beautiful, a vivid orange. I marveled at the plant as I drove past almost daily, then decided I had to stop for a closer look. It was growing wild at the edge of a parking lot. I took a picture, then wondered if I could identify this beauty. I think it is a Butterfly Weed. Not a Butterfly Bush, we … [Read more...]

One of the highlights of our three-day jaunt to Nags Head occurred every day from the balcony of our room. There was a purple martin colony not 20 feet away. There were 18 nests and the beautiful birds were all in process of feeding and tending to their young. I have seen purple martins from a distance, but never really knew much about them, other than they were quite social and formed … [Read more...]

For Father’s Day I received either what will be one of the neatest backyard birding accessories  I own, or it will be relegated to my shed full of unwanted and useless paraphernalia. I hope the former. My daughter, Angelin, knowing my love for birds and extreme fondness for hummingbirds, gave me a genuine Humm-Bug, a hummingbird feeder. Here's what the package says: “No need to buy food! … [Read more...]

  They showed up in our lily pond about two weeks ago. Hundreds of microscopic tadpoles. We saw them last year, too. And we were clueless as to what exactly they were and how they may have arrived. Annually, Nancy and I either catch or buy a few bullfrog tadpoles, which lose their tails and evolve into frogs later that summer. But the bullfrog ‘poles are much larger than these tiny … [Read more...]

Drive along most any road or street in town and you’ll see one or more. They will be perched on a mailbox, a utility pole, a tall shrub or a tree limb, and ready to swoop down and nail an unsuspecting insect. They are mockingbirds, one of the most interesting of all backyard birds and one of the best singers on the planet. This time of year, mocking birds stake out their territories, most … [Read more...]

I have a white-tailed blackbird in my yard. You don’t see many of those, and I wish I didn’t see mine. She’s a grackle, a big thieving grackle that eats my expensive sunflower hearts and she has lots of friends. We noticed this bird a few weeks ago. When she’s pecking around on the ground, it looks like she has just one or two white tail feathers, but when she flies and fans out her tail, half … [Read more...]