Backyard Birds

We've been spending a lot of time feeding birds this summer in our backyard. We now have two feeders for the finches, one for hummingbirds, and yesterday we added one for the scrub jay that has been enjoying our peanuts. So far our scrub jay hasn't yet dared to use the new platform feeder, but I hope in time it will! By the way, our twenty-one year old son told my husband and me that he's a bit tired of hearing about our birds. Here's the new feeder, waiting for "Scrubby" to come enjoy its treats:


At the risk of also boring you completely, I wanted to share a bird story and some pictures with you. Here's the first picture from yesterday's backyard time:


If you look carefully, you can see the little finch at the feeder.

Here's a close-up of the finch:

Yesterday as we took these photos we didn't notice the odd growth on his bill, but it's quite apparent in the photo. This poor little bird sat all alone on the feeder, oblivious to the cats and to any impending danger.

Here are the next photos, in order of how they happened. I think they speak for themselves.




The bird made it just fine, and flew away after happily eating all by itself. Finally, here's what we saw the orange cat's daughter doing:



She's the lazier cat of the two of them, and her mom is more of the huntress. Thankfully none of the cats got this sweet little bird.

Oddly enough, I saw the same bird this morning. I was watering outside for quite awhile and during the watering time most of the birds flew away. That is, they all flew away except for the baby finch, who again sat feeding on the feeder oblivious to me and my hose.

I don't know what his difficulty/ailment is, but I sure hope he can survive with his laid back ways. Today he again had crumbs all over his bill as he ate, as we've often seen happen with little children as they enjoy a treat. I got quite close to the little creature and when I was about two feet away from it, the bird flew off to our nearby bottle brush hedge. Phew!

I sure hope I see more of this little bird. This little feathered guy really touches my heart!