Sunday, April 05, 2009

More Real Estate

We put up several bird houses, some fancy and silly and some practical last winter in the hopes that we would get new bird neighbors in the spring. Not a single house was used last spring and summer. The people who completed the deer fence ran over one of the houses and turned it to kindling last month!

Then this afternoon while I was out washing some flower pots on the lawn I looked up and saw this lovely fellow outside the bluebird box. In the second photo he appears to have some insect in his mouth. I think it is too early for him to be feeding young hatchlings. Must be the dinner hour. These are his true colors...no photoshopping!




I purchased several wooden houses from a craft store and painted them silly colors to decorate the garden never thinking they might actually be used. They are not great bird houses because they are mostly for looks sort of like the MacMansions you see in some suburbs. But, this little house is now the home of the chickadee and if my chickadee likes it, I will certainly extend the lease for free.

The chickadee house is right over my flower beds and the bluebird is near the garden, so I am hoping we will enjoy the depletion of insects this summer.

12 comments:

  1. Oh! so lovely... awfully cute !!

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  2. Love the pictures. You are an artist also. I have nests in my bluebird houses but have not been on site to capture a picture of them. This was a welcome sign to me.

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  3. Very lovely. I'm having a heck of a time keeping raccoons out of my bird feeders. They're such determined little bandits and I've yet to find a coon-proof feeder.

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  4. wow - these images are gorgeous, girl! wish we had some lovelies like these nesting at our house!

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  5. Beautiful birds. I love the colors on that first one! Awesome!!

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  6. Hilary, raccoons are the worst. Ours has given us a break, but I think it is only temporary.
    Thanks for the kudos and birds are special when you can really take the time to look at them.

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  7. Hi there!

    I love the first bird, I've never seen birds with that color - like dark blue or violet blue or something. I don't know, I think I'm color blind LOL.

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  8. You need to build you some owl boxes too. My brother in law lives in town Austin and built one for the back yard. He had a pair of Screech Owls in it the first year. They so enjoy watching them raise their brood. I think you can find the dimensions on line.

    How lucky you are to get Blue Birds. I have Eastern Phoebes and consider myself lucky, as they eat so many bugs.

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  9. Owl boxes...that is a thought. We have also been talking about a bat house as we see the bats above the drive.

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  10. Tabor, I wish I had time to comment on each individual post...I'd love to chat with you about all of them. But let me just say this - your bird pictures are wonderful! You certainly have a great assortment of feathered friends around your place.
    I'm so envious of your bluebirds. We've put boxes up for them but so far only chickadees and tree swallows have nested in them (in 2 years), and neither one has laid eggs and raised a family yet. The swallows chase the chickadees away, build on top of their nests, and then eventually leave without so much as a 'thank you ma'am'. We'll try again this year.

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  11. Beautiful photo's. And our first bluebirds of the year were on our bluebird house, going in and out of it, checking it out the other morning. It was thrilling! Not as bright as yours, though.

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  12. I love bluebirds...but, i never see them here in memphis

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Glad to hear from you once again. I really like these visits. Come sit on this log and tell me what you are thinking.