Birds

Flock Friday for September 27

It’s Flock Friday time.

Here are a couple of ducks heading up the ramp into their house:

Ducks heading into their house

Duck butts, looking through the pop door into the duck house:

Duck butts

Some pictures of the ducks in the pond, scooping up treats, and going between sunlight and shadow:

Ducks in pond

Ducks in pond

Ducks in pond

Ducks in pond

Ducks in pond

Another day, I went over to the west side of the pond, and the ducks followed me:

Ducks in pond

The chickens have been roosting above the window in the coop, which isn’t entirely approved, since jumping down from that height could injure them, or cause other chaos:

Chickens roosting above window

Like this: a chicken using another as a step on the way down:

Chickens roosting above window

So I trimmed the hardware cloth above the window to be less roost-like. One still managed to perch above the window, but the others took the hint:

Chickens roosting above window

A couple of pictures of the new chickens outdoors:

Chickens

Chickens

A chicken pecking at zucchini:

Chicken pecking at zucchini

A steller’s jay bird flying off with a peanut from the tray:

Steller's jay with a peanut

Cat update for week ending September 21

Time once again to take a peek in the cat house.

One of the twins playing inside:

Cat playing inside

About to jump onto the camera housing:

About to jump

Startled:

Startled

Two for breakfast:

Two for breakfast

A raccoon visited soon after breakfast was dispensed:

Raccoon

So I decided that since it was getting light later, I should change the feeder schedule to dispense half an hour later.

Three cats:

Three cats

One arrives while another is eating:

Two cats

Playing:

Playing

Poppy is sleeping, and another cat arrives:

Sleeping and arrival

Another unwelcome guest, a possum; fortunately with no food left:

Possum

Porcini waiting for breakfast; she didn’t get the memo of the later breakfast time:

Waiting for breakfast

Pepper in the shop:

Pepper in the shop

Spud on the front steps:

Spud on the front steps

A couple of days later, Spud hanging around again, on the kitchen lawn:

Spud on the kitchen lawn

A Steller’s Jay making poor life choices:

Steller's Jay making poor life choices

Went back for several more bits of food:

Steller's Jay making poor life choices

Looking out the window:

Looking out the window

Three cats on the deck:

Three cats on the deck

Flock Friday for September 20

Hi there. It’s me again. Doing the Friday thing.

Ducks in their house:

Ducks in their house

Paladout (what we call the alien gray cat, if you missed that in the cat updates) visited the ducks one night; they were both startled to see each other, but he wandered off without any drama:

Cat by ducks

I doubt cats would go after ducks, being similar size. And the ducks were safe behind the fencing around the duck house ramp. I’ve seen them resting there overnight several times.

Ducks exploring the back of the pond:

Ducks at the back of the pond

I went back there, and they looked at me quizzically:

Ducks at the back of the pond

A view of almost the entire pond; you may be able to make out the ducks still at the back:

Ducks at the back of the pond

The heron visited again, and knocked the mobile camera out of alignment (it isn’t permanently mounted, but just resting on top of a boulder, with some bricks loosely anchoring it; one day I’ll buy a permanent one for there). Here it’s just jumped down from the rock:

Heron knocked camera

The culprit:

Heron

The heron taking off:

Heron taking off

The ducks exploring the grass between the duck house and waterfall. One more place for me to check for eggs when they start laying:

Ducks exploring grass

The ducks and fish scooping up treats:

Ducks and fish

Three ducks, three big koi:

Ducks and fish

(Yes, the fish are bigger than the ducks.)

Ducks circling:

Ducks

The new chickens pecking at some tomato treats:

Chickens with tomatoes

Chickens through weeds:

Chickens through weeds

Again with tomatoes:

Chickens with tomatoes

Hey there:

Chickens

The older chickens with tomatoes:

Chickens

We have a lot of tomatoes from the veggie garden right now; Jenn is canning 20 pounds or so of them, but the chickens get the split ones, and the ones the bugs got to first… if they’re really lucky, with tasty insect bonuses.

Hanging out with Merida, giving her pats:

Chickens

Fuzzy butt:

Chicken

Domino and Buffy:

Chickens

Lastly, a shot of some hummingbirds:

Hummingbirds

Did you see today’s YouTube video of hummingbirds and a wasp on that feeder?

Flock Friday for September 13

Welcome to a wet Flock Friday!

As hinted on my personal blog, we had a heron visit our pond this week. Twice.

Here’s the heron sliding off the edge of the pond (which slopes steeply) and taking a header in the pond:

Heron in pond

After it got out, it fluffed up most impressively:

Heron in pond

Heron next to the pond:

Heron next to pond

It flew over to below the pond deck, and one of the large koi swam up and startled it, causing it to jump back:

Heron startled by koi

Heron eat fish (and frogs and such), but I think the big koi are way too big for it to tackle. I didn’t see it catch anything; the smaller fish were wise enough to stay hidden.

Here it is flying above the pond:

Heron flying

The following night, a rat or similar rodent was spotted near the duck house, with the ducks warily eyeing it:

Rat

Here’s a shot of the ducks that kinda shows the delightful green iridescence of the cayuga duck:

Ducks

Ducks on the ramp:

Ducks on ramp

A few days later, hey look, the heron is back:

Heron again

In the pond:

Heron in pond

Heron startled by a koi again:

Heron startled by a koi again

Heron flying to the duck house:

Heron flying

Like an ornament on the duck house roof:

Heron on duck house

Those big koi are bullies; here’s one chasing the ducks, while another eats their mealworm treats:

Koi chasing ducks

Ducks from inside house:

Ducks from inside house

Ducks

On to the chickens. Here’s Buffy, one of the older girls:

Buffy chicken

Camilla:

Camilla chicken

Kiwi:

Kiwi chicken

Mo, starting to molt:

Mo chicken

And some pics of the young chickens:

Young chickens

Chickens

Chicken

Chickens

Did you see the YouTube video of our young chickens curiously clucking?

Cat update for week ending July 20

It’s Saturday, Caturday.

Warning: sensitive readers may want to skip this post; a couple of GIFs that some might find troubling.

Let’s start with some innocuous pictures. A staring cat, and a second one in the feeder, probably startled by some noise:

Staring cat

Pansy in the shop:

Pansy in the shop

Pansy in the shop

Pepper in the shop:

Pepper in the shop

The alien orange cat, Pumpkin, caught a bird below the bird feeders. Rather than include a sequence of photos, here’s an animated GIF:

GIF of orange cat catching bird

One of our feral cats was interested:

Orange & feral cats

Raccoon vs possum at the feeder:

Raccoon vs possum

Another animated GIF, of a rather nasty encounter between Pumpkin and a raccoon inside the shelter. Pumpkin was inside the shelter, and saw the raccoon. The raccoon came running up, and after Pumpkin hissed at it a couple of times, the raccoon dove inside and attacked Pumpkin:

Pumpkin vs raccoon

I suspect that was a female raccoon feeling like she was protecting a youngster:

Big and little raccoons

One of our ferals checking out the shelter after that:

Sniffing cat

Let’s finish off with some more usual scenes. A couple of cats having dinner:

Cats

Three cats:

Three cats

I hope those GIFs weren’t too disturbing. Let me know if you think I should avoid such content in the future. It’s all part of nature, as uncomfortable as it may be sometimes.

Cat update for week ending July 6

It’s cat update time!

Here are Porcini and Poppy:

Cats

A nose-sniff greeting:

Cats

Pansy in the back of the shop, arriving for lunch:

Pansy in the shop

Pumpkin, the alien orange cat, is getting more bold. This past week he went into the shelter when Portabella was already there… and amazingly Bella didn’t object:

Pumpkin and Portabella in the shelter

Bella even went back to sleep, with him on the lower level:

Pumpkin and Bella in the shelter

Meanwhile, a deer came by to eat some berries off the tree, while another cat (Porcini, I think) watched:

Deer and cat

Back inside:

Pumpkin and Bella in the shelter

Pumpkin got a bit too close, which Bella wasn’t keen on, but she didn’t run away, perhaps feeling like he’d chase if she jumped down:

Pumpkin and Bella in the shelter

At one point Pumpkin left, ate some food, then returned, again without objection. After both being in there for over an hour, Pumpkin left peacefully.

Then about an hour later, when Bella was by the bird feeders (look closely to the right of the leftmost feeders), Pumpkin again approached:

Pumpkin and Bella by the bird feeders

He got within a couple of feet of her, then she retreated a short distance, till he wandered off:

Pumpkin and Bella by the bird feeders

At least those two seem to be getting used to each other.

Here’s Porcini in the swimming pool area, after I flushed her out of the bird feeder grasses, while refilling the feeders. She was happy to watch me from a safe distance:

Porcini in the pool area

Bella by the cat house:

Bella

That evening, though, there was a less friendly encounter between Pumpkin and one of the twins (probably Spud), where Pumpkin chased him to under the cherry tree by the front steps:

Pumpkin chasing Spud

Pumpkin chasing Spud

Pumpkin chasing Spud

They separated when I came out, having heard the ruckus:

Pumpkin chasing Spud

The alien gray cat:

Alien gray cat

Another nose-sniffing greeting:

Greeting

One of the twins watching birds by the feeders:

Cat watching birds

Flock Friday for June 28

Welcome to the third Flock Friday!  (Did you see the bonus ducklings on Monday?)

Firstly, a bird flying to the pole the camera is on. Not sure what kind… I want to say woodpecker, since I often see them on poles, but may not be (if you know, please tell me):

Bird

The bird flying away. Notice also a pigeon on the red feeder, with the roost folded down under its weight, which closes access:

Birds

On to the chicks; roosting together on the upper bar:

Chicks roosting

An assortment of chick pics; look at those feathers coming in!

Chicks

Chicks

Chicks

Chicks

Chicks

The chicks discovered the roosting bars above the (blocked off) nesting boxes. Their first view outside, too:

Chicks

Moving to the older chickens, a three-headed chicken dust bath:

Chickens dust bath

A bunch of chickens in their run, watching me as I approached:

Chickens in the run

Some closer pictures of the chickens:

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Merida on my lap:

Merida on my lap

Finally to the ducklings:

Duckling peeking

Ducklings

Ducklings

Ducklings

Ducklings

Ducklings

Ducklings

They’re getting so big!

I’m now leaving the paint tray pool in the duck house during the day, only removing it at night, so they can swim throughout the day. Next week, I’ll leave it there all the time, where it’ll remain until they can go outside (in about 3-4 weeks time).

Cat update for week ending June 22

Unlike the flock pics, I didn’t have a huge collection of cat pictures this week, as the cats haven’t been hanging around as much, as is typical in warmer weather. But I did choose some interesting ones. Interesting to me, anyway.

Firstly, the twin cats:

Twin cats

The cats haven’t been spending much time in the shelter, since it isn’t all that cold at night, but occasionally they rest for a bit, especially while waiting for breakfast to be dispensed:

Two cats inside

Hey, is this photo mis-filed?! Sure, it contains birds… but also a cat.  Can you see it?

Cat under bird feeders

Here’s another one, that includes two cats. One should be easy to see:

Cats under bird feeders

A cat less stealthily watching a bird on a feeder hook:

Cat watching bird on feeder

Spud in front of the cat house:

Cat in front of shelter

Three cats:

Three cats

About to leap on top of the camera housing:

Up close cat

Four cats:

Four cats

Two story cats:

Two story cats

Another encounter between the alien orange cat & Poppy, in night vision and color:

Orange cat & Poppy

Orange cat & Poppy

(It ended peacefully enough, when Poppy ran off.)

One more pic of a cat watching birds, from a few minutes ago:

Cat watching birds

That’s it for this week!

Flock Friday for June 21

Welcome to the second Flock Friday!

Okay, sure, I cheated with the bonus Flock Monday… but a good thing too, as I have 147 photos since then. I have managed to cull them down to just 30 for this post.

Let’s start with the Ducklings. They have definitely learned that I provide treats when I visit them in each morning:

Duckling treats

They love swim time:

Ducklings

Water flowing off the duckling’s head after dunking:

Ducklings

The buff ones like to keep an eye on me, hoping for more treats:

Ducklings

Water everywhere:

Ducklings

Ducklings

Ducklings

The brown-billed buff duckling still hasn’t been swimming, so I decided to show it (and wash it) by grabbing it and dunking it in the water… which of course it wasn’t too thrilled about, but I think worthwhile:

Dunking duckling

No hard feelings:

Ducklings

A quick look at the wild birds. I temporarily mounted my mobile cam on a post by the bird feeders, so I could watch them with the new feeders. I’m pleased to say that they are effective against the pigeons, that swarm in and clear out the feeders, leaving little for other birds. The pigeons can still eat the dropped seed on the ground:

Pigeons

Pigeons

Birds on feeders

On to the chicks:

Chicks

Chicks

Chicks

Chicks

Chicks

Me in the coop, with a chick on my hand:

David with a chick on the hand

Chick on the hand

Back to the ducklings:

Ducklings

Duckling

Little duckling wings:

Ducklings

Ducklings

Finally, a look at the older chickens. Here they are hanging out in the run:

Chickens

There was some excitement yesterday; it appears a chicken broke an egg, hopefully accidentally (it happens sometimes), then ran away with the shell (which is unusual). Others chased her, and there was some fun for a while. I hope they don’t get in the habit of that, though:

Chickens

Here I’m turning over some logs in the chicken run, to expose the tasty bugs hiding underneath:

David in chicken run

And me in the chicken coop, collecting eggs. The girls are hunting for dried mealworms that I scattered on the floor, their evening treat:

David in chicken coop

Sunset by the chicken run:

Sunset by chicken run

Chickens settling down for the night on the roosting bars, as the pop door automatically closes when it gets dark:

Chickens

In the morning, chickens squeezing out the pop door as it opens:

Chickens

I hope you enjoyed this flock update!