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Behind the Bins
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Join me behind the bins to watch birds around the country and sometimes in other places around the globe.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'backyard'
Brushpile
Out by the road, in the worst possible place in terms of feng shui (my money corner-perhaps that explains everything) I have a brush pile. It started because, well, partly I am lazy and partly I am cheap and well, I have the land to do it. An...
Secret Admirer – gift 2
My secret admirer was back. This time I opened the front door to find 2 turkey feathers stuck in the crack between the stoop and the steps. ‘Fess up. Who is it? I live in the middle of no where. It has to be someone I know. ...
Smallville
I have been slowing down and taking photos of the tiny wold around me. I am really bad at identifying bugs, beetle, insects in general. Please, if you know that they are, let me know. Here, I’m going with Widow Skimmer. Mmmm, no idea. Brown...
I Must Have a Secret Admirer
The way to a girl’s heart is not usually through leaving her old bird nests. But being a birding girl, it works fine. I opened my front door to check if the contractor had started the work (alas, he has not) to find someone had left a Rob...
Wordless Wednesday
Whatcha doin?
I sat back on my haunches, twisting my shoulders this way and that, trying to ease the strain of pulling weeds for hours on end. I had neglected the weeding last year; with the result of not only lots of weeds but lovely Butterfly Weed seedlings; a...
Through the Eyes of a Child
The phone rang as I was on the way out the door. I dashed back up the front stairs to get it. The little girl across the street was bubbling with excitement; partly because she had been allowed to use the phone but mostly because she had seen a b...
Bears and birdfeeders
Alas, bears and birdfeeders do not go well together. At this time of year, I keep an eye peeled for the first torn garbage bag to judge when the bears have gotten up. And sure enough, I saw one on my drive to work last week, so with bitter resent...
Lean times
This is the lean time of year - and - I’m not talking about the economy or Lent, but about the last few weeks before Spring arrives, when there is very little left in the way of natural food. Without our offerings the winter residents and the...
Downy Woodpecker
Have you ever seen this before? Look at those 2, count them, 2, red patches. When I first saw him, I thought maybe he was something else, but no, look at that small bill. He is definitely a Downy; but a bird with a different sense of style. If ...
Great Backyard Bird Count 2009
I wasn’t going to participate in the GBBC this year since I am leaving for Texas on Sunday morning and won’t be able to finish the weekend. I half-heartedly noticed 2 Black-capped Chickadee, 1 White-breasted Nuthatch and 1 Downy Woodpec...
SkyWatch
I am not sure if he is the bruiser or the bruisee, but either way, I have a Red-bellied Woodpecker hanging around the yard again. It seems to me that the sky always looks bluer (when it’s not gray, cloudy, snowing) in winter. ...
♫ Found a peanut ♫
♪ Found a peanut… ♪ ♪ Found a peanut… ♪ ♪ Found a peanut, just now… ♫ ♪ I just now, found a peanut… ♫ ♪ Found a peanut, just now. ♪ Heh, heh, ♪ Me too…. ♪ Hey! No fair. They are mine...
My World - snow spot
Can you guess what this is? Not a footprint. Nothing fell from the trees. Not a squirrel butt mark. I’ll give you a hint…. Think small, really small…. Give up? It is a chickadee snow bath wallow. I looked out my window to see a Blac...
Siskin Visit during an Ice Storm
I woke up to a world turned to glass. Every paved surface was as smooth as a skating rink and icicles dripped from the trees. The rain that everyone else had down below was freezing rain on the mountain. The backyard was a flurry of activity as...
First bird of 2009
Ooooo, lookee. It’s an American Tree Sparrow. What a great first bird of 2009. It is not a rariety by any means but I only see them in the depths of winter. One showed up at the nyger feeder during the first big storm (remember that 17 ...
Woodpecker Brawl
It is snowing again on the mountain. I had just come in from picking the new metal birdfeeders up off of the ground, putting them back together (sigh, the never ending battle with the bears. Aren’t they suppose to be sleeping?) and filling ...
Birding in a Blizzard
Tufted Titmouse Black-capped Chickadee Slate-colored Junco A blizzard has struck the northeast. We are predicted to get 12 inches of snow. I did not go to work, so I sat snug and dry in my garage taking pictures of my local backyard flock hus...
Winter Chickadee accomodations
For years now, I have been feeling the loss of my Chickadees (possessive aren’t I?) from the winter temps. Up here on the mountain, it gets wicked cold and stays that way for days on end. (One year it was below zeroF for 3 solid weeks.) I...
Chickadee demise
Oooooh! I’m hopping mad. Some local marauding feline has eaten one of MY Chickadees! I found 2 bedraggled wings when I came home last night. I have seen a few sleek well-cared for suspects. All, I’m sure, are much-loved house cats...
Carolina Wren in winter
Tea-kettle, Tea-kettle, Tea-kettle…I hear the resident Carolina Wren throughout the Spring, Summer and Fall, however, until this year, I had never heard a peep in Winter. When I tidied the yard for the colder months, I neglected to bring in t...
Fox Sparrow visitor
I stood at the kitchen sink talking to my sister on the phone. The wind was howling around the house and the thermometer read 6F. The neglected rusty brown oak leaves in the backyard were swirling and dancing in the gale. I squinted; one of tho...
White-tailed Deer
I peered through the fog out my kitchen window to find I had a visitor to my feeding station. I hustled out onto the deck yelling and flapping a kitchen towel. All she did was look up as she chewed. While my neighbor is complaining about mauran...
Arborvitae Hedge
While I was out in the backyard trying to decide if I needed to rake or not, I noticed that the arborvitae hedge screening me from the back neighbor looked thin and was turning brown in places. In horror, I peeked through at the neighbor’s clutte...
Rooster Whippoorwill duet
Whippoorwill, Whippoorwill… Cock-a-doodle-do. Whippoorwill, Whippoorwill…. COCK-A-DOODLE-DO! The cats ears twitch and I stop to listen. Some minutes go by then he lets ‘er rip again. Cock-a-doodle-do. But the Whippoorwill has given ...
Young Downy Woodpecker
I sat gazing out the big colonial windows in my kitchen with my cat, Winkie perched on one knee. She saw the bird before I did. A disheveled young Downy Woodpecker landed on one of the green metal lawn chairs. She pecked at the metal repeatedly...
Wordless Wednesday
