Tag Archives: pileatedwoodpeckers

woodpeckers

Frogs?? Spring??

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Good morning,

I am beginning to think that Sneaky Pete (our Cooper’s hawk) is making a game out of eating all of my buddies. I caught him sneaking beside the shed just waiting for Tippy the Douglas squirrel to come in and get one of his peanuts, in a flash he almost tagged him off the log ahhh then the little guys looks at me like Do something ! HaHa He doesn’t care if I’m even standing there anymore and he is succeeding in cleaning out my forest. But the other animals are still working together to come up with ways of notifying each other and me when he sneaking around. I have stopped feeding only to find them sitting in the trees waiting and realizing they have nowhere else to go so I become very creative in getting them food and cover.

I still have a large group of Bushtit and they are so small and cute so I am putting out the suet in hard to reach locations. I have Red wing blackbird’s now, which have figured a way to land on the suet log for Woody and like to eat it along with the stellar jays, black-capped chickadee’s and many more. Our temperatures are staying above normal so the buds on the trees are blooming and believe it or not Freddy the frog is starting to croak goodness it’s only January!

Woody and Momma are close but they can not come in right now until this Hawk is gone. Once the leaves return they will have a much better ability to come in. My need to keep a barrier along the fence line has caused some easy access during the winter, along with the deer which I can see come in at night and sit by the back shed and that have helped clear the overgrowth .

More of the forest is gone and I have a view of the mountain now, it is pretty but if you could see the amount of forest that’s now gone in just 6 months it’s heartbreaking. They just looked 70 acres behind us in the middle of homes and it’s a gigantic wrecking yard 😳 yep tore down a forest and filled it with wrecked cars full of oil gas and all things non environmental. I’m pretty sure there were other areas where so much wasn’t lost for the greed of just a few but that would have required a conscience and the ability to think beyond ones self and that is not happening anymore. So I will stay here and do my best to save this small corner of nature and hope that others around the world will too.

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Mt Rainer

 

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woodpeckers

Everyone is hungry 😳

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What a month it has been. Sneaky Pete alias Coopers Hawk along with Big Red the Red Tail Hawk my little buddies are getting picked off left and right. What a bad time to stop feeding, it as frozen or flooding! But that darn Cooper has my number, he even landed right at my door grrrrrr I swear that bird knows haha. I have interrupted several of his attempts and kills in the hopes he will just eat elsewhere but I’m beginning to think he loves a challenge!

This increase in raptors is making it hard for Momma and Woody Pileated to come in. Now they come down and call from our porch so I can stand out there while they eat, that’s when I noticed I had 3 visitors and one is a juvenile female. Wow, this means because of hot summer and late fall arrival a lot of my birds had second batches of babies. I first noticed last week when my Downy and Hairy woodpeckers each had babies they were feeding, then yesterday I had a flock of Evening Grosbeak well that was a huge surprise, then looking closely I see they too have juveniles. That’s the picture from above, they are beautiful but the young have no color, they are grey and black super cool but odd that they are even here.

Also I’ve added a raw video of a visit with Momma Pileated ☺️ you will see Chester the chestnut backed chickadee, my Grey squirrel that’s addicted to suet 😂 and you will hear how Woody talked to Momma while she’s here. In the tree you’ll see a Flicker woodpecker and where Woody lands. And busters visit to the peanut hutch.

Animals, nature, woodpeckers

SNEAKY PETE

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Hey Woody !

Wow, it’s getting very tough for Woody and Momma to come down. That Coopers Hawk aka Sneaky Pete is really really sneaky !!!!! I have caught him sneaking low in the tree right at the break of dawn,  I limit feeding and have moved times but he is very patient hunter, grrrrr.   This weekend was again so wet that good pictures were hard to come by, Buster and family seem to be a target of Cooper also so I am getting frustrated, I know its part of the circle of life but he can eat elsewhere.

Lets not forget yesterday, while I was snooping on Cooper we got a visit again from Wiley coyote, ugh   He is so pretty but I scared him good this time haha, he didn’t see me so it felt great .   Still it happens in mid day so I still have to always be outside with the dogs for potty breaks.

Rocky Racoon and company also came in for apparently a nice dip in the pond, not just one but both ponds were tested,  Rocky even climbed up onto the waterfall and proceeded to just roll with it.  I can’t believe the whole thing didn’t fall.

Hummer……just wont share! I have 3 feeders out and hummer is my resident Anna’s hummingbird,  H2 showed up last year, one stays on the left tree and one on the right. They each have a mate but spend the whole day chasing each other off the feeders,  quite a site and when you go outside you get what we call “buzzed”  as they fly by,  thank goodness we wear glasses because its gonna hurt if they hit us.

Cold and Fog weather now so keeping the suet and hummingbird food out is important. Remember, if you had fires, floods, etc.  in your area this past summer the food supplies for nature animals was also destroyed, so any help we can give will make a difference.

woodpeckers

Pileated Visits

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Hello Woody
And then there was two.
Loves her suet
Momma at the feeder

Hello,  I got some great shots of Woody and Momma coming in this weekend,  you will also see some pictures of the band tailed pigeons.  The backyard Diner has been busy with all kinds of new company including more pigeons.  ( remember, when you see one band tailed there are truly more to follow )  but they are cool.  They look like a dove on steroids lol  especially when they are down with the doves.   I am adding some raw video today just to show a bit of what the backyard is like and you will kinda see Momma come in to eat,  woody is already on the log when the video starts.  You can hear the Stellar Jay and then you will hear Momma make an entrance ,  Woody then leaves.  They do this routine everyday,  I am fairly sure babies are getting some good food.  I sure hope they bring them again this year.  🙂

 

woodpeckers

Mealworms and Suet

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It’s that time again,  the animals are building nest and having babies 🙂  I keep a small amount of mealworms (dried) and suet available to the parents.  If you have ever watched a feeding parent you know,  that poor bird looks all ruffled and the kids keep exploring away from her so she finds food and then has to find them ugh…It is truly amazing to me all the things an animal does in a day.  My chipmunks and douglas squirrels go back and forth everyday stashing their food.

Its hot out here so putting suet (beef rendered) will melt fast if not in the shade.  I have tried a couple of tricks especially in really hot weather.  You can keep them in the freezer. I take mine out in the morning and put the frozen one out, plus the fact that you need to try to find a shady spot.

Suet dough is different,  also known as  No melt.   the biggest difference is they add a lot of cornmeal to make the dough really thick and dry. Personally I don’t like it and neither to my visitors so I recommend the freezer method.

Same goes for water, especially in the high heat.  I take the square Tupperware and freeze a big cube of water and add that to my bird bath.   Just a couple of ideas for now.

Woody and Momma are continuing to come in but for quick visits.  I am having a lot of trouble right now with the circle of life 🙂  I have a new large addition of a bald eagle that must be living fairly close,  it’s just a really odd place for him to come hunt .

My deer are back too 🙂  My guess is they are close often because I didn’t see him right in front of me,  I was looking up the tree at Momma when I seen a movement and there he was . But they don’t take off,  just  hang out and eat the trees lol. My guess is that since I talk to animals all the time that they are used to my voice ,  I’m just so amazed how well they can blend in.

Lots to see and do today,  more pictures to come  Enjoy your morning.

woodpeckers

Happy Monday

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Good Morning ,  yuk what a stormy day 😦  and after such a beautiful weekend.

Today I am introducing you to Freddy the frog.( could be Fredrika but I like calling him that )   He arrived at my pond 2 years ago and since I love frogs my excitement just grew.  I wanted to do anything I could to make him stay, so I cleaned the pond for him …….note   don’t do that.  I did not realize until to late that he just sat there and watched me remove all the eggs.  So last year much to my surprise the eggs were back at we had polliwogs  🙂  I will warn you that the voice on these frogs is very loud and they stutter lol its like and old car thats enging just won’t turn over…anyway it is very fun and it seems that most of them stayed which is wonderful and noisy at the same time.  I love it.

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Freddys babies

A lot needs to be done in the early Spring,  time to clean the feeders (1 part bleach to 10 parts water ) is a great way to clean your stuff,  just remember to rinse it really well and fully dry before you fill it up. This helps with mold and bacteria that buildup,  and always wear gloves when handling your feeders, we can give stuff to them as much as they can back to us.

Woody and Momma are coming in often,  I have been testing areas with my GoPro to bring in some great video to share. But right now they are showing signs of nesting very close and it would seem to me the babies must have already hatched as they are feeding up a storm