The last few days have brought some surprise visitors to our backyard buffet. Saturday of the second week in May is International Migratory Bird Day...a big occasion here on the south shore of Lake Erie. Birds migrating northward to their summer homes have to cross Lake Erie if the route they take goes through Ohio. Their journey …
Rainy days, bluebirds, and those amazing birds from Baltimore!
If I were as hardy (or crazy) as my friend, Lisa, I would be in the park taking a trail walk with my dog, getting soaking wet like she did this morning. Instead I am sharing more backyard birds because it has drizzled all day, and the high temperature is only about 48 degrees. Did someone mention …
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Return of the bluebirds
Way back in mid-winter, a little flock of Eastern Bluebirds vacationed for a week in our backyard buffet. I was totally surprised because, although bluebirds do winter over in northeast Ohio, none had ever done so in our neighborhood. Sadly, after delighting us for a week, they were suddenly gone, and we haven't seen them for …
Orioles!
Lots of activity in our backyard today. Rose breasted grosbeaks, Baltimore orioles, and a little Eastern bluebird. Here are the orioles, but I'm saving the others for tomorrow when I have more time. It has been a cool, cloudy, and overcast day, but these visitors made the sun come out for me and put a smile on my …
He’s still here, and guess what…
...He's not alone! He brought a friend. Yesterday morning I heard the distinctive call the pileated woodpecker makes when he swoops in for a landing at the backyard buffet. So of course I picked up my camera and headed for my post at the kitchen window (It actually makes a good bird shooting blind, although I do …
Big birds in the backyard
To my delight the sky cleared this afternoon, and I was even more delighted when I heard a familiar sound in the neighborhood. I hurried to the window and, sure enough, the pileated woodpecker was in our backyard. It didn't hang around for long, but before it swooped through the air to land on a …
A sure sign of spring!
Spring has been wearing its fickle face recently, bringing lots of rain, wind, and even a few rumbles of thunder. Thankfully we haven't had any severe storms, although at times the rain was heavy enough to create a large pond in our neighbor's backyard. This happens every spring, of course, and, without fail, when the …
Rain-streaked and wind-swept
After several day's absence, the Eastern bluebirds reappeared at the Backyard Buffet this morning. Unfortunately, our recent weather has not been kind to the little birds. Instead of sunshine and blue skies, they have been welcomed by rain, wind, and cold temperatures. This morning the weather was especially unpleasant and has gone from unpleasant to …
Especially for bird lovers…
My "Pics" for the Week...January 1-7, 2017 All the "Pics" for this week are birds (except for two squirrels that sneaked in when I wasn't looking) 😃. All pics were taken in my "Backyard Bird Buffet." The first week in January has been very cold (currently 12 degrees) and more cloudy and wet than sunny, …
Bright spots on a wintry day
Overnight the temperature dropped to single digits and several inches of snow fell. The Backyard Buffet looks much more appealing when the ground is covered with a blanket of white, and because that same blanket had covered over much of their natural food, the birds were looking for food at ALL the feeders. That includes …
SEEN ALONG THE TRAIL 