July 2020 – SEEN ALONG THE TRAIL

2020_06_16__Backyard birding_0030 — Apparently Baltimore orioles like to feast on grape jelly.

When summer rolls around, a familiar bird in our backyard is the Baltimore oriole pictured above. One glance at her beak as she zooms through the backyard is enough to tell you the oriole has recently enjoyed a taste of the grape jelly in the backyard buffet.

Hummingbirds, another common bird in Northeast Ohio during the summer months, are anatomically much better suited for sipping sugar water. Some sections of the country are visited by a much greater variety of hummers, but here, on the southern shore of Lake Erie, we only see the ruby-throat. On this male, you can see a faint hint of his ruby necklace.

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The Eastern bluebird is another summer resident, a favorite of mine, and a bird that we sometimes even see in colder months.. 2020_06_23__backyard birding_0001

Raising baby bluebirds can be a challenge for the parents. In the top left picture of the collage below, the little one is making a lot of noise, demanding his dried mealworms. They don’t look very appealing to me, but bluebirds love them, and this baby is hungry. Responding to his demands, Papa Bluebird picks up a mealworm from the ground and flies up to feed Junior. The last picture in the collage, shows Junior alone after his meal is over. It won’t be too long before they repeat the same routine. Mama Bluebird was nowhere to be seen when I took these pictures. Maybe Juniors demands wore her out, and she was taking a rest in the nesting box at our neighbor’s house when the little family lives when they are not flying around the neighborhood.

More bluebird pictures

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2020_06_27__untitled shoot_0019 — Papa checking out the nest.

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2020_06_26__untitled shoot_0002 — Baby Bluebird by himself.

2020_06_27__untitled shoot_0013 — Papa carrying food or nesting material back to the nest.

2020_06_27__untitled shoot_0004 — Young bluebird perched on top of the nesting box.

: Young male bluebird

Bluebirds enjoying the garden

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Pileated woodpecker

This large woodpecker is sometimes called the Woody Woodpecker bird because the familiar cartoon character is modeled after him. I can hear him coming because he loudly announces his arrival as he flies through the treetops and into our backyard. He is likely to arrive at any time of the day, and you would think that the cartoon Woody has jumped off the screen and come for a meal.

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Skip-38 — A pileated woodpecker staring hungrily at the bluebird’s mealworms. He may be hungry, but he’s a little large to help himself to the mealworms.

Thanks for stopping by today.

That’s it for this backyard bird post. Part two will be posted soon. If you like birds, come back to check it out!

Trailwalker (aka Skip)

Month: July 2020