Backyard birding has become a time consuming pastime this summer; in part because we haven't traveled very far from our backyard, but also because many avian visitors have come to call. I have accumulated so many bird blips right outside our back door that they are beginning to overwhelm me; it's definitely time to kick …
Covid-19 Morning Entertainment
At home, during the covid-19 lockdown here in northeast Ohio, I can't gather with my (human) friends for a cup of coffee (or a mug of cocoa, my preferred beverage). So this morning I turned to my backyard friends for entertainment, and the pileated woodpeckers didn't let me down. They flew in, and hung around …
Backyard birds online again
Since early June I've been off the trail more than on it! Two months have passed in what has been a very busy summer, and I have chronicled very little of it. Shame on me! So to get started again, I am posting a few pictures from my backyard birding collection, starting with a few …
Darn spring cleaning!
Sometime things around the house require my attention. I try not to let that happen too often, but when it does, and I begin to trip over the dust bunnies, something has to be done about them. That has happened to me recently. Consequently, I haven't been out on the trail with my camera very …
Birds before breakfast
I was excited when I glanced through the kitchen window at the backyard buffet and discovered an Eastern bluebird posing for multiple photo opps. The sky was overcast, as it usually is in February. A sunny blue sky would have been appreciated, but it wasn't essential because this colorful visitor arrived with his own special …
Return of the pileated woodpeckers
The light was dull this morning, and I couldn't get a great picture, but look who reappeared in our backyard this morning. We haven't been visited by the pileateds for months, and this morning I heard the distinctive "I'm here!" call, ran to my window, and there he was high up on the tall oak …
Ongoing saga of the backyard buffet
It's clear to the eye that this is another rainy morning, but nevertheless, the birds arrived for breakfast as usual. The redbellied woodpecker, shown in the picture above, wasn't happy to discover that the hopper feeder had been totally emptied overnight. She is not sure how this happens and neither are we, although we are …
A guest for lunch
One of our neighborhood big birds, the pileated woodpecker, came for lunch today. He swooped in for a landing on top of the hopper feeder, and Bob spotted him feasting on the suet cake that is right below his "landing pad." Leaning over the end of the feeder, he would grab a bite of suet, take …
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 …
Cardinals, woodpeckers, and food fights!
The second of two posts on my freezing cold trail walk. Read part one here. Cold, snowy weather brought out the birds, and like this cheerful red cardinal, they were all hungry to the point of squabbling over the food! The female cardinals in yesterday's post were the worst. They flew at the fence post …
SEEN ALONG THE TRAIL 