23 July 2012 -- male Painted Bunting (Daddy)

Looks like I forgot that Nicholas had already posted a picture of a male painted bunting last month.  But here's my post anyway...

After months of trying, I finally got a picture of the male painted bunting at our backyard feeder.  The first time we saw this bird (a few years ago), we weren't really into birding, and we thought that maybe this was someone's in-house bird that happened to get out from its cage or something.  Since then, it is one of our favorite guests at our feeder because of its great colors.  The female, while not having as many colors, is just as nice to look at.

Get Off The Bird feeder!

7/10/12-Nicholas


             At my house I saw a Squirrel upside down on the bird feeder!

 

Painted Buntings

6/20/12-Nicholas

                 We finally got a picture of a Painted Bunting at our bird feeder!  Here are some pictures of them.  

   

A Hummingbird Nest!

6/8/12-Nicholas

    With a new hummingbird feeder, we have spotted a hummingbird nest with two eggs in the nest in a side field

of ours!  We have also seen numerous hummingbirds at the new feeder that we got.

Rattlesnake at our house!!

5/29/12/-Nicholas

  We saw a diamond-back rattlesnake 2 feet from our driveway dead with blood on its stomach on 5/27/12.  There were flies and gnats eating the snake!

A New Bird!

 5/22/12-Nicholas

I just saw this bird at the bird feeder that I haven't seen before.  If you think you know what type of bird this could be, please share it with us.  

Roadrunner! And Finch!

5/18/2012 - Wabbaloo

We have frequently seen roadrunners traipse through the yard with no respect for human presence, flaunting their latest catch of lizards.  Today was no exception.  Right there on the little walkway between the hummingbird/butterfly garden and the sitting area/container garden.  I couldn't get the camera in time to get a good pic, so I went out the front door and anticipated he'd be on the side or back of the house.  Saw him fly up into a cedar tree, make his way to the other side, and hop down into the neighbor's back yard.  I was able to get a pic of it against a fence, but it's just a pic of him from behind.  I was surprised that he didn't just walk through the high grass into the next yard.  Maybe he knew I was following him.  First pic is looking at him (in the neighbor's yard) from my yard:

Next is a crop from the above.  Unfortch, we only have a "beautiful" rear view of him, so you mostly make out the tail and that's it.  The camera will be placed near the window from now on.

As for the finch, no picture, unfortch.  Saw him fly out from a shrub in the front up to a Crepe Myrtle as I was walking by with the Pookaloo.  We do have a feeder out in front, but don't see a lot of traffic.  We've just planted two new Monterey Oaks in the back, though, and may put some feeders there.

As always, comments/suggestions welcome.

Sorry

5/3/12-Nicholas

    Sorry we don't post all our bird sightings, we do have to admit that there are a lot of bird that we should be posting, but we aren't. 

A Titmouse

4/27/12-Nicholas

   We have always seen titmice at our house and this is a picture of a so-called titmouse.  I think titmice are funny, small, and cute.  The picture is not all that great, but the bird is on the right side of the bird feeder.  

White-Winged Doves, Finches, and Butterflies!

4/25/2012 - Nicholas

        Yesterday I saw a white-winged dove in our bird feeder area.  Last year we saw a lot of white-winged doves in our backyard.  This time, the white-winged dove was on the sidewalk in front of our bird feeder just walking and picking on some bits of mulch.  It was the first white-winged dove we saw this year.

                 We also have been seeing several finches at our new finch bird feeder for the first time.  We've had that bird feeder for a couple months but only now have the finches started to come. We'll try to get some pics of the finches and doves.

                This past couple of weeks we have been sighting monarch butterflies at our house.  We have lantanas and butterfly weeds planted to attract the beautiful butterflies to our home.  

This pic is from a website on monarch butterflies.

Barn Swallow in Ozona, TX

4/15/2012 - Nicholas and Wabbaloo

While traveling to Carlsbad, NM, we observed quite a few barn swallows at a rest stop just outside of Ozona, TX.  They were perched under a shade above a back door of the store there.

Been on a Trip!

4/15/12-Nicholas

   Sorry we haven't been posting, we've been in New Mexico!!!

Cardinals at the birdfeeder

4/6/12-Nicholas

   Just now I saw a male and female cardinal at our bird feeder feeding at the same time. Sadly I only got pictures of the female cardinal though, but that is still good.

                                                 

Attractive Bluebonnets

4/2/12-Nicholas

      These bluebonnets help attract birds and butterflies to our backyard.  These aren't the only flowers we use to attract birds and butterflies, but one of the prettiest!

                             

These bluebonnets were planted last year by me, Nicholas, right by our bird feeder.  Cardinals are often coming to our red-tips to the left of these bluebonnets.

Chipping Sparrow

3/25/2012 -- Wabbaloo


This one is a Chipping Sparrow -- finally was able to ID it once I could get online and do some research.  I thought at first this one was the "baby" with the possible "parent" Oriole from the last post, but it appears not to be.  I think.  

Oriole (?) ==> Black-Headed Grosbeak (!) sighting at the feeder

3/24/2012 -- Nicholas (edited 3/26/2012)

Looks like this is a Black-Headed Grosbeak.  Time to do some reading up on them, maybe we can keep them around for awhile.  Thanks to all for your help.

Just this morning, I discovered what we think is an Oriole at our bird feeder along with a male cardinal.  It looked like they were competing for the feeder.  When the cardinal flew away, the Oriole fed for a few minutes then flew away.  Then, a baby Oriole flew up to the feeder and the parent Oriole watched from a tree.  We think that the baby Oriole was either an Orchard Oriole or a male Baltimore Oriole, but it's hard to tell.  Please take a look at the pictures below and let us know what you think.

Debut of the Birdside Viewers

The idea for this blog sprung from my wish to document and share what I'm doing to spruce up my backyard. Luckily, my two oldest kids are very scientifically inclined and love to document their birdwatching activities. So, this blog will include backyard-sprucing-up and birdwatching.  My oldest son, known as "The Handsome One," will be "in charge" of the birdwatching posts.  My oldest daughter, known as "The Precious One" will also contribute.  They both love to watch and discover birds.  Please stay tuned as we report our activities, findings, and discoveries.