The robins like our yard. Usually, I don’t see them in force until spring but they’ve decided to hang out with us early this year. There’s only a couple out there but they’ve been coming close up on the deck.
I caught this fellow perched on top the patio umbrella as if he owned the place.
He turned at looked right at me through the back door as I took my photos.
Bow down, inferior human! Sorry, Mr. Robin, the little gray cat handles all affairs regarding superiority around here. She might need an assistant, however, as it’s quite exhausting. She does require frequent naps.
By the way, have you ever seen a robin on a bird feeder? While I’ve not captured it on camera, twice now I’ve seen one sitting on one of the bird feeders!
Friendly House Finches
Thankfully, the house finches seem more interested in eating than world domination. They’re just happy to be fed. The new squirrel proof feeder is holding although it contains fewer perches than the previous feeder the squirrels trashed. So, sometimes the house finches come up on the deck railing for the seed I throw out there.
A Surprise Sighting!
The following two photos were taken by my son with my cell phone camera. We were on our way home from his baritone lesson when he looked out the window and asked,
Why is there an owl statue on that sign over there?
Since, we were at stop sign with no traffic around for a minute, we could take a couple photos.
That’s not a statue! That’s a real owl.
I edited a bit but these photos were taken after dark, with a cell phone, outside a car window so all things considered, not too bad.
Once we arrived home, I grabbed the bird books and we set about determining which owl we saw out there. Since it was on the passenger side of the car, he had a much better look. First, we thought it a northern saw-whet owl (it wasn’t very big). However, once I zoomed in closer on the picture and could see the ears, we re-evaluated.
Ironically, the conservation department for the state posted a photo on Instagram the next day of what we now are almost sure was a short-eared owl. (He had said it had a round, kind of flattened face)
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Think I’m making at least one of my two sons into an avid birder!
Other Birds Spotted This Week
Speaking of owls, I did think I heard one calling early on Wednesday morning as I cleared the snow off my car to go to work.
We didn’t see our Cooper’s hawk this week. Of course, we had a snow storm on Wednesday morning and I spent more days working this week so they could’ve easily been out there. Mostly, I’ve seen the usual birds around the feeders: sparrow, nuthatches, house finches, chickadees, the tufted titmice, still a fairly large number of cardinals. A few doves. And this morning, I watched the red-bellied woodpecker chase off the downy woodpecker from the suet feeder. My blue jays like to visit mid-morning to see if I’ve any seed scattered on the deck. And l saw lots of snow birds (dark-eyed juncos) prior to Wednesday morning’s snowfall.
The snow is gone now, it warmed up Thursday and yesterday. Friday, we had a fair amount of sunshine that melted away the snow. Today, it started raining. They say all day for it. We need it still, so no complaints. However, if you need me, I’ll be doing like this dove and taking a nap, I think.
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Joining in with The Bird Depot hosted by Anni over at I’d Rather B Birdin’.
In my experience American Robins are rare at feeders but last year they were consistently at our feeders. The type of feeder does not really permit them to perch, but they cling on for several seconds flapping vigorously, grabbing a little seed but knocking a whole lot more to the ground. They then go down and eat what they knocked out of the feeder and repeat the whole process.
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Our squirrels knock quite a bit to the ground for them. I have one type of feeder where they can perch though they tend to take up almost the whole thing. Such a strange sight! I’d purchased some fruit and nut blend seed and I think they’re fans (along with my blue jays).
An owl sighting is always a special treat!! Glad your son spotted it. And your other bird sighting are super too. Loved the robin’s comment to you while perched on the umbrella.
Thanks so much for sharing with us at IRBB this weekend. Stay safe.
~Anni at I’d Rather B Birdin’
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Yes, it was very exciting to see it. I wish we could’ve just stayed there and watched it but we were lucky for the amount of time with no traffic we did get. Hope you stay safe as well.
Hello,
Great sighting of the owl, I love all the owls. The Robin is cute, I have seen them watching my feeders!
The dove is cute, it looks cold. Take care, have a great new week!
Thank you. It’s always exciting to me to see owls. I think the dove probably was cold, I took that on a day we had a decent snow that started out as ice/rain. Hope you have a great new week as well!
That was rare sight Jean. A Robin is a fairly large bird to be hanging off a bird feeder. I think he must have been a little hungry. Shame you couldn’t get a clearer shot of the owl but it’s always special to see one.
Yes, the robin and the blue jay both look funny when they try and sit on the bird feeder. We travel the route where we saw the owl usually once a week so maybe we’ll get lucky again and maybe a clearer shot, depends on the traffic though.
your robin seem to like being “on top” of things. 🙂
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Yes, it sure does!