Wildlife On The Hill Playlist

I’ve been posting on my Facebook page allot so here’s some video’s to catch you up!

To see my photography postings check out my Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/Listen2Thea-Wildlife-Photography-More-236253616466167/

As always, enjoy your local wildlife and have a great day!   🙂

Spots, Dots and Dashes Times Three

I was out working in the yard when I looked up and saw THREE fawns at the top of the hill and momma. I very slowly and as quietly as I could, turned around and went into the house for my camera. One of the fawns retreated into the woods when it saw me moving but the other two stayed out for a short bit. I was wondering if the spot pattern is the same or different for each fawn. I would imagine its different, but they do look very similar from what I can see. I love fawns!

A quick update on the Bluebirds. Their babies all grew up and left the nest and now they are setting up a new nest I believe! They are still Tap tap tapping at my windows but we’re used to it! 😉

Blue Babes

After the wrens destroyed the eggs of the Bluebirds first nest, they moved to a new house–actually the house they used last year and built a new nest. They’ve been insistently tapping at all our windows since their first nest was attacked, no matter if I cover a window so they can’t see their reflection, they just move to a different window. Not only could I not cover all the windows in my house but it was starting to become annoying as it sets our dogs barking up a storm. I know they’re supposed to be attacking their reflection, but it was obvious that they could see right into the house and would sometimes just sit on the window sill and look into the living room! I think they may have learned their lesson though as our garage window was open and instead of tapping on the window the male flew right in—to his surprise I’m sure! Of course he couldn’t figure out how to get back out right away and was quite frightened. I opened the garage door but he didn’t fly out that way either. After a few minutes he left the way he came in and since then they’ve been much more wary about tapping on the windows! 🙂
Today I decided to check the nest and I’m happy to report 4 babies that seem to be doing well. I’ll try to get more pictures when I take them out to check for Blow Fly larva attacking them. Here’s their first picture for you enjoy.

Hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of their summer! Unfortunately we have been plagued with one form of a cold after another and passing it back and forth between family members. It has been quite miserable all in all, but as the kids last day of school approaches I’m looking forward to the summer more and more!
Have a great day and thanks for listening to Thea!

Wretched Wrens

The Bluebirds haven’t stopped their tapping on the windows, although now sometimes they just sit on the window sill looking inside. I decided to check the nest as they seem to be paying more attention to what’s going on in my house than their own.

With heavy heart I’m sad to say there are only 2 out of the 5 eggs in it now. Perhaps that’s why they were tapping at the windows because they were upset their eggs had gone missing. I decided to check the Chickadee nest too and it was empty other than the nest itself. After carefully inspecting the ground around the nest I did find one Chickadee egg and one Bluebird egg that had a holes poked in it.

Bluebird egg 😦

Today I noticed a Wren going into the Chickadee’s house. Wrens apparently are known for destroying other cavity nesting birds eggs and even throwing babies out of the nest, but it is the first time it has ever happened here. Usually the wrens arrive first and pick their houses, but for whatever reasons, they arrived after the Bluebird and Chickadee already set up residence this year. Normally, you know me, I love all the birds, but right now I could wring the Wrens neck! There are plenty of empty birdhouses left around the property that they could have chosen.
I’ve been watching and I haven’t seen the Chickadee even going to the nest box anymore and I was so excited as it’s the first time one has nested in my birdhouses. And even more so, I’m concerned that the Bluebirds aren’t tending to the two eggs that are left in the nest. They seem to be checking all the birdhouses looking for their eggs or possibly to set up a new nest. And of course still spending a large part of the day tapping or just sitting and looking in my window.

I went to a website to see if there was anything I could do and there’s a video of a wren destroying eggs and another actually removing newborn Bluebirds from their nest. Luckily the home owner had a live camera in the bird house and happened to be watching it at the time it happened and they were able to go outside, find the baby bluebirds and place them back into the nest.

There were some suggestions I guess I’m going to have to try. The wrens already have two nest boxes occupied and after reading from the Sialis.org site I’m thinking part of the problem may be that we had to re-secure the post the wrens current bird house is attached to this year and when my husband did it he changed the direction slightly that the bird house faces-so that now the other birdhouses are in a direct line of sight. So I’m headed outside to see if I can rotate the post so the wrens birdhouse doesn’t face any other birdhouse.

Check it out the Sialis website for some interesting reading
http://www.sialis.org/wrens.htm

I’m hopeful that the Bluebirds will take care of their eggs or at least build another nest and that everything will work out. Right now I’m feeling pretty down though.

My Wild Life

This week it seems like the wild life has been trying to get my attention. For two days straight the Blue birds have been tapping at my windows. They can see me standing right on the other side and they don’t care. If I close the curtains, because my three Dachshunds and cat are in high alert with all the tapping, they just move to a different window.

I finally got a couple of pictures of the sneaky fox! It had come out on the hillside to play, pouncing on something, picked it up in his mouth and then set it down to pounce on again!

Having a good scratch!

This frog was on our pool cover singing up a storm, I wanted to get picture and video of his amazing throat while he sang which he had no problem doing with me shining the flash light on him but as soon as brought the camera out he got stage fright and swam away.

Thanks for listening to Thea and have a Great Weekend!

Bluebird Nest 2012

The Bluebirds picked a different bird house this year but they have finished building their nest and as of yesterday there are 5 eggs filling it!
I tried to get a picture of the Chickadee’s nest but momma wouldn’t not leave the birdhouse when I tapped on the side—she’d only fly up to the hole and look out at me and then go back to the nest so I didn’t disturb her any further…

Creative Flow Here I Go!

Feeling restless and creative, I decided to paint a new bird house and repaint an old bird house. All of the birdhouses that I buy are sold specifically as bluebird houses which open on the front. The hole is up quite high on the front which usually makes it a challenge when deciding what to paint on it. I already have several bird houses with cats or squirrels with their mouths open awaiting birdies to fly in… I decided to try my luck at painting a fairy type theme. I’ve never drawn or painted a fairy, elf or gnome before but I think all in all they turned out pretty good! I still have to do a final clear coat which will protect it and will give it a nice gloss look to it as the paints I’m using are matte. I’ve used latex gloss paints before which I prefer, but these art paints were so much cheaper and came in so many more colors that I couldn’t resist trying them out.

Here’s my fairy themed one–what do you think?

Here’s my other birdhouse -This is the first birdhouse I’ve painted white flowers on the front for a little variety.

This is my first ducky

Red Fox under the moon

Several people have encouraged me to sell my birdhouses, but my downfall is never knowing how much I would charge for my creations. Just as a survey, would this be something you’d be interested in buying for yourself or a bird lover you know and how much would you feel would be a reasonable amount to pay for one?

Thanks for stopping by and listening to Thea! 🙂

Empty Nest Blues

Well, I’m very sad to say that my little family of Bluebirds has left the nest. They left before the 4th of July and I missed the entire thing. Momma & Poppa seem to still be around but so far the babies haven’t flown to the meal worm feeder at all. I don’t know how quickly they leave the care of their parents once they’ve left the nest. Usually with other birds I notice the babies are there with their parents as the parents will still feed them food except now it’s on the tree rather than in the birdhouse. You can always tell a youngster because they are extra chirpy and flutter their wings allot. I’m keeping my eye out for them!
I’ve cleaned out the nest box and hoping momma & poppa will set up their 2nd nest there–fingers crossed! 😉

Here’s a picture of Momma and Poppa–Poppa has the brighter colors.

Here’s the Baby Bluebirds first ever picture taken.

Here is the last picture taken of the baby Bluebirds approximately 4 days before they left the nest.
Fly free my friends!

My Baby Bluebirds Are Growing Fast!

Wow, it seems like they have doubled in size since the last time I checked on them! Their blue colors are really standing out now and they looked pretty crammed in there!

Even their skin looks blue under their feathers like right in front of their beaks. And I love the white outline around their eyes and the long lashes. Such little beauties!
I bet it wont be too much longer before the flying lessons begin!

Look at their pretty blue feathers coming in!

A quick picture of the baby Eastern Bluebirds progress. They seem to be so different from the Robins nest that I’ve monitored. For instance they have their little heads tucked right under, where the baby Robins always have their heads up waiting for the next meal.