More Spring Sightings

The Baltimore Oriole showed up today wearing his bright orange and black suit, just beautiful, and is uncommon for this area at this time.  The Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks have been here for a few days, seen 4 males at once.  In this photo there are 3 sharing grub with the resident Red Bellied Woodpecker.  I neglected to mention in the previous blog that the Pileated Woodpecker is the only woodpecker that makes rectangular holes, as opposed to the round ones that all the others make.  I never knew that before I saw the homes that the Piliated makes on this land.  Whispering Pines is home to many woodpeckers.

Baltimore Oriole

Male Rose-Breasted Grosbeak

Male Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks and Red-bellied Woodpecker

Spring at Whispering Pines (my home)

Spring at the Pines - just a few shots of sights around the land. The flowering trees and early spring wildflowers and fern are just beautiful. Also, the Pileated Woodpecker has made a "condo" in a tree here, he/she is very elusive, I hear it a lot, rarely see. There has been an invasion of the purple finches, along w/goldfinches and a few house finches, in numbers of 20 to 30 at once. And The pines was graced w/the appearance of 4 male Rose Breasted Grosbeaks, they are gorgeous, and an uncommon sight for this area at this time. The kitten that lives outside here now is always up for a trek around the land, follows along wherever we go.

Kitten buddy



Redbud and Dogwood grove




Front Yard Feeders and Flowering trees




Cherry Blossoms



Cherry Blossom Petals in the clover and grass



Dogwoods




Pileated Woodpecker "condo"



Red Bud Blossom

Cherry Blossom

Zick Dough

On this bright, sunny but really cold weekend resulted in a new "food" for the birds I feed here, called "Zick Dough" - a combination of peanut butter, lard and chick starter - the birds LOVE it! It's very nutritious for them in the winter, but can cause problems if fed them in warmer temperatures - please read Julie Zickafoose blog, for important information before feeding the birds in your area - http://juliezickefoose.blogspot.com/2010/03/zick-dough-improved.html

Winter in Hocking Hills

Winter in Hocking Hills is beautiful but makes life difficult on the wildlife here. Tending to the wildlife is essential at this time of year. In addition to birds, the deer herds must be fed. More than 1,500 pounds of corn and many bails of oats are used to feed the deer herds throughout the winter. A few of the herds bed down in the pine grove just feet from our back windows and within feet of one of the feeding sites. It's common to go through many hundreds of pounds of bird seed during the winter.
Keeping the snow out of the bird feeders is an added chore during the winter months as is providing a water supply. For water a commercial heater system on an elevate platform is used to keep the water from freezing. Providing water during the winter is one of the most important things to do here at the Pines. Energy levels are difficult for the birds to maintain and vital energy is expended to travel to water supplies and back. At the Pines there is also running water from the run off trenches which run most of the winter.

Nest boxes are used as roosts during the winter.

The Pines Bluebirds

Here at Whispering Pines I manage about 10-12 Bluebird nest boxes which, in a good year, produce 25-30 new born. Not all boxes are used by the Bluebirds. These nest boxes are used by the Chickadee, Tuft Titmouse, House Wren, Tree Swallow and White Breasted Nuthatch. The Bluebirds get about 2 or 3 of the boxes.

Each of the Bluebird pairs nest at least twice, sometimes thrice. They will nest in the same box (cleaned) yet other times they choose a different box. The average brood is four yet often we get five.
Keeping up with these nest boxes is a chore. At the beginning of the season I clean and sterilize the boxes with a 1 part bleach 10 parts water solution. Once the boxes are clean and well rinsed then boxes are left (in the sun) to air dry before the are re-mount. During the season they are cleaned between nestings using the same process. I dispose of the old nest in plastic bags so they do not attract predators. At seasons end I clean them again and then prepare them for winter roosting. Cedar shavings are added for insulation. Most of the Pines small winter residents use the boxes as a winter roost. They are mostly occupied by either downy or hairy woodpeckers and the same species that use them to nest.

Mom and dad with recent fledglings feeding mealworms

Mom on eggs [5] catching a breather

Pines Inhabitants

Along with the many species of birds observed here, there are many "critters" that share the land. Along with a family of raccoons, (eight we have counted at one time) also three different black skunks, opossum, countless cottontail rabbits, turkeys, whitetail deer with their young, red fox and coyote among the usual suspect squirrels and chipmunks. In February someone dumped a kitten here, a very sweet tabby kitten with white footies on her front feet and white knee socks on her back feet. She has become part of the Pines family of furry and feathered friends in spite of efforts to find her a good home.

Coopers Hawk

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The Pines  has a couple of resident Coopers Hawks that frequently strafe the bird feeders for an easy meal. Their success rate is less than you would expect. In fact rarely do they get a free meal at our feeders. When the Cooper is successful it is mostly a Mourning Dove.
Nature has provided an alarm system when Coopers are in the area. It’s the Blue Jay who alerts all the other birds with its alarm call. They incessantly scream their loud alarm sound until the hawk leaves the area. Often times the Blue Jays will gang up on the Coopers and drive it from the immediate area.

Coopers Hawk watching feeders