Post your yard and pond visitors

[addy1]

Our indigo buntings have come back, they are so blue! and bright!

 

[JRS]

First spring with my in-ground pond, had been hearing their call the last few days and noticed these toads taking advantage of the accommodations this morning:



Another uncovered female about a foot away from the pair:

 

[mrsclem]

The grosbeaks are here as well. 5 at the feeders this morning as well as an indigo bunting. Impossible to get picks with the window film up.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Tree Swallows are still here.

Hummingbirds have bee at the feeder quite often.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

Lots of hummingbird action at the feeder here too


Snowberry clearwings have shown up in the garden

And the Phoebes have mouths to feed!


Now we just have to hope our 'snake deflector system' keeps Wally (our resident rat snake) out of their nest.

 

[addy1]

Now we just have to hope our 'snake deflector system' keeps Wally (our resident rat snake) out of their nest.

what kind of snake deflector...............we have loss a few nests to our resident rat snakes.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

The nest is on our porch rafters, so regular baffles don't work on the 4 X 4 support posts. In the past I've had pretty good success keeping the snakes off by wrapping the posts in heavy black plastic & spraying it with cooking oil so they'd be too slippery to climb. It was really messy, though, so this year we tried making our own baffles out of kid's plastic snow saucers. They were pretty easy to cut & fit around the posts, then we used duct tape to seal the cut & used a couple of nails to hold them up. So far, so good. Wally's been hanging around, but so far hadn't gotten up there.

The outdoor dog beds are a different story, though.

 

[addy1]

Aww nice job! My problem is the wrens build anywhere at snake level, a hard place to protect them.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

Yeah, the wrens are a whole 'nother story! Last year they nested on the bakers rack on the porch. Couldn't keep Wally out of that one. (sigh) Then they rebuilt in the pot of my ponytail palm that I put out on the porch. Good thing it's a plant that can go a LONG time in between waterings... (sigh again) That time they successfully raised the babies, though, although we had to put up an X-pen around the area when they were ready to fledge to keep my dogs away from the little ones hopping around. They're really good about not bothering wildlife, but fluttering birdies right at ground level is a bit hard to resist.

 

[addy1]

I was watching a nest on the cam, they were just ready to fledge, we could see them doing all the fluttering, on some junk under the deck. We left for about 15 minutes, came back the babies were gone. So of course I watch the recordings, mr rat snake invaded the nest, but the little birds bailed right before it got there.
Poor mom came back with food to a empty nest. We looked for the kids but they were gone, I don't think the snake got them, they probably managed to fly and or run out into the yard to hide.
The next nest the snake got the eggs. I removed the item the birds were nesting on.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

Oh my goodness. I don't think I could have watched that video - way too close a call for my heart. I've only come across fledgling wrens one time, several years ago. They were bopping around on the ground under our raised deck - must have just taken the plunge before I happened to wander by. Of course I had to stop & take pictures (while Mama wren hung around 'yelling' at me! lol) but they did flutter off into the woods very quickly.

Fortunately the phoebes can fly pretty well right from the get-go. I've seen them fledge & the babies can make it all the way over our fence from the porch rafter, so I don't have to worry about them dropping into the dogs' area.

 

[Burd]

This guy just walks up and pushes the squirrels off their own feeder. You can almost see what he’s thinking.
My daughter showed me this, I made one of those picnick tables going around on line. Lol.

 

[addy1]

Our herd pretty dark out there

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Had my first two male Baltimore Orioles yesterday shortly after I put an orange out. Not long after, I saw a male Scarlet Tanager in my yard, which is a first! In the evening, a Great Horned Owl glided over and landed in a neighbor's tree. Didn't get any photos of any of that, but here's another Grosbeak and European Goldfinch.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

A few Baltimore Orioles this morning.