First Purple Martin Eggs

Yesterday I checked Steve and Windy's nest and found one egg. This morning I checked again to find another. See how the Martins make their nest first out of twigs, then line the twigs with leaves. Each day they bring a fresh leaf in--some say it is to keep the air fresh in the nest.

Baby Bluebird 2009 Update: Readying To Fly

These three photos were taken today, April 25th. From studying the monitoring book, it looks like the chicks are 13-14 days old. They will fledge sometime this week. There are five chicks and it looks like at least three of them are males.

Baby Bluebird 2009 Update: Just Born

These first two photos were taken on April 14th when the brood was about two days old.

More Oriole Pictures

Baltimore Oriole Stops In For An Hour

As Uncle Grumpy headed to Baltimore to cover the Rangers, a female Baltimore Oriole decided it would be a good idea to challenge Hillary at the mealworm feeder. With five young chicks in the nesting box a few feet away, I don't have to tell you who won this battle. Hillary managed to squish all of the worms in her beak and fly off. Luckily Mrs. B, the oriole, stuck around long enough for me to snap more pictures.

Indigo Bunting Makes Rare Appearance

What a treat. On April 13th we were visited by one Indigo Bunting Girl. I checked the bird diary and found that last year we had Indigo Buntings (4) on April 19th. Guess we know when to expect their migration next year.

Egrets? We've Seen A Few

We've had quite a weekend of birds: Egrets, cormorants, coots, Hank and Helen Heron, kingfishers, phoebes, goldfinches, indigo buntings, siskins, ruby-throated hummingbirds, yellow-rumped warblers, and a special appearance by two fabulous gray-blue gnatcatchers.

Windy And Steve Build Nest, Welcome Visitors

Windy has been hard at work building a nest in one of the gourds. Steve sits on top of the house while she totes muddy twigs to and fro. They seem to build in the morning and then take off with another group of Martins for afternoon feeding. They come back promptly at 8:00PM and settle in for the night.

Goldfinches Return

Several bright yellow American Goldfinches flew back in after a cold front. They spent the day on the thistle feeders with a flock of 30 Pine Siskins. One neon blue Indigo Bunting showed up at one point, but we haven't seen him twice.

Easter Weekend: Celebrity Guests

Lulu welcomes Granny Nick and Uncle Eddie to the dock at the Noodlin' Inn. Eddie flew in from Los Angeles for the Easter weekend.

Butterflies Are Coming

I found this female Black Swallowtail dead on the road. Several other butterfly species are making their way into the lake.

Hot Chicks Hit Noodlin' Inn

Taylor and her friends Brenna and Megan were down for the weekend. They cooked, ate, slept, watched movies, and did a little sun bathing.

What A Weekend For Birds!

As you can see, Steve (left) is busy building a nest in the gourd on the dock. Last night he was joined by not only Windy, but another female. Scandalous behavior for East Texas. The Starlings were around on Friday night but yesterday morning I plugged the openings AGAIN and only one showed up last night. I lowered the house and found green leaves inside the gourd—a sure sign they are building a nest and getting ready to lay eggs. Martins only hatch one brood a year and they take their time building the nest.

In other news, the Bluebirds are still sitting on all five eggs. Hillary spends most of her time in the nesting box. First hummer showed up yesterday. Not one of our usual residents, I think it was a single migrating through. She stayed on the trumpet vine for about five minutes before taking off. Needless to say, the feeders are out.
Yesterday Lulu and I were lucky enough to watch a White-Tailed Kite hunting in the grasses on Buxom Island. At first I thought it was an Osprey but after checking the books, I believe, from its hovering behavior, it was a WTK.