Cooling down a little!

This morning it cooled down enough for the electric furnace to kick in briefly! We will probably have some rain later on today. We can use a bit more moisture since strong winds have dried the land out quite well. Earlier we had too much rain for a while.

My wife saw a humming bird yesterday but I haven't seen any. For some reason they have disappeared for a while. A neighbour says they will be back in August with a vengeance when they and the young feed voraciously to prepare for the long flight south. They go early before frosts set in usually.

The bird feeder is busy but there have been no new birds. A crow has finally returned to pick up the scraps I leave out.

At the feeder there are goldfinches, chipping sparrows, and house sparrows. The odd chickadee still visits from time to time. The two cowbirds must have gone to visit the cows.

Feeder running on empty

I had to buy another large sack of sunflower seeds today. There is a lot of traffic all day at the feeder. There are now quite a few young house sparrows but also plenty of pine siskins, goldfinches, and even chipping sparrows. I saw one starling and also what I believe is a young cowbirds as well. Cowbirds lay their eggs in the nest of other birds so the young cowbird probably grew up with young of a different species.

The photo is of one of the local crows finishing up our chicken scraps!

There is a baby crow that fell out of its nest and was being tended by the parents. So far no cat or dog has found it. Today the parents were nowhere around so I tried to feed it myself and this evening put it in a cage so it could not be gobbled up by a local cat or whatever. However, the parents appeared later so I set the crow out where they could tend to it if they will. I will check in the morning to see if it is still around. I left the cage door open.

There seem to be less hummingbirds visiting at present but there are still some especially near dusk.

More Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds are now regularly visiting the feeder. Half the liquid is gone within a few days. It is good that it is not get too stale or ferment in any event. The hummingbirds are rather pugnacious. If one is feeding it is often driven off by another hummingbird.

I saw another pine grosbeak today and for the first time I had a brief sighting of a cowbird on the ground near the feeder. The are the usual chickadees, chipping sparrows, and goldfinches as visitor and a couple of house sparrows. A goofy crow visits too engaging in acrobatics to try and reach the seed while balancing on the feeder.