Monday, July 14, 2008

Serenade me some more

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My parents have many birdhouses in their trees and often I get dad a new one for different holidays. So while we were visiting I had to check them out. They had at least one bluebird pair nesting.


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Mom was surprised they even used the house that the “slumlord” (mom’s word) hadn’t repaired yet. You see they also have many squirrels and the squirrels do a lot of damage to the houses each year.


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Do you recognize this curious little lady? While I had three males in my yard, I never saw a female. But here you have an Indigo Bunting.


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And her lovely mate. Don’t you wish he would leave some of his lovely blue feathers behind so you could work them into some craft project?


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Mom called a couple of weeks after we left to tell me that the pair had made a happy home in a nearby birdhouse. I wish I could go capture the babies - in photos of course.  She called yesterday just to tell me that she had been sitting on her patio watching the 2 bunting babies feed at her feeder now.  She says they are both blue like their daddy, so I guess they are boys too.  Now I really want to drive back down to snap those babies!


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Haden found a nest in an evergreen tree and we peeked (of course), mama flew out and we weren’t sure what she was. But the next day, we found her again.


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Haden and I searched and searched for the bird that kept singing crazily (which happened to be the one from the nest the evening before). As Haden described it, this one bird seemed to make all the birds’ sounds. We were pretty puzzled by it.


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She looked at me and I looked at her. I promised her a fat juicy worm if she would stay a little longer.


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She serenaded me with her sweet lilting voice while I serenaded her with my clicks and my whirs (camera noises not alien ones). I had to refer to my bird book to figure out what kind of bird we had seen. And when I read, “. . .have the largest repertoire of songs of all the North American birds and are able to vocalize 3000 distinct songs.” I knew it was the correct one. The bird that kept me so enamored, as some of you probably already know, was the Brown Thrasher.


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According to Whatbird.com, “Some brown thrashers are very good mimics and even sing songs of other species of birds as part of their own songs.” And while their range brings them into Wisconsin, I had to go to Missouri to find one.

15 comments:

  1. Sweet, Lisa! I love this. These photos show such heart for these beautiful birds.

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  2. Oh, that bluebird shot is WONDERFUL and I got a chuckle out of your mom's referring to her hubby as "slumlord". That little box just has character :-) Other shots good too. Never have seen a Brown Thrasher before. And thanks, thanks, thanks for the Whatbird.com link!

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  3. Great shots! Had the pleasure to meet my first Brown Thrasher a little while ago.
    They are beautiful! And so is the Indigo Bunting - a no show for me so far!
    Thank you for sharing and Cheers, Klaus

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  4. Wonderful shots!! I saw my first indigo bunting this year...stunning birds!
    I keep thinking I am seeing a brown thrasher, too....but I never get close enough for a good shot.

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  5. I didn't think about the damage those nasty squirrels could do.

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  6. I had a male Indigo Bunting come to my feeder for the first time this year - right after Caboose was born. It was so exciting. I think I saw the female first but didn't know what she was. I couldn't get the camera out, though - just enjoyed seeing that brilliant blue. And at one point he was eating right next to a goldfinch - it would have made such a pretty picture.

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  7. What great pics of those sweet little birds!

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  8. anglophilefootballfanatic.comJuly 15, 2008 at 3:01 PM

    I love the indigo bunting. That color is amazing.

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  9. Those are beautiful! My favorite is that stunning blue. Just so vibrant!

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  10. I'd love to see an Indigo bunting.
    beautiful!!

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  11. I love DAISIES … butterflies (but can’t capture them in snapshots) … baby birds and songbirds too! What lovely photos you always share! Thanks for bringing them to my world at home ;--)
    Hugs and blessings,

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  12. We've got a few brown thrashers down here in Atlanta. I think I learned in my birding class that it's related to the mockingbird, but you can tell their songs apart because a mockingbird will repeat a call 5-6 times before switching to a new one, and the thrasher only repeats it 2-3 times before switching. I love the indigo bunting photos. They're such a pretty color.

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