The sun finally made an appearance today and lasted all day long. The air was perfect for this first week of July, with a cool fresh breeze from the northwest. I spent the day taking apart and cleaning bird feeders. With the stretch of wet and dreary weather over the past month, the feeders had me worried about rotting food and mold. The dishwasher put a sparkle on the bird feeders and what did not fit was scrubbed with brushes and rinsed with fresh water.
It seems like there are fledglings everywhere these days. I was worried over a young male Hairy Woodpecker last evening after it was chased by a Red-tailed Hawk. The Hawk was hot on its heals, but after a last minute maneuver by the woodpecker into the apple tree the Hawk called off the chase and sat in a spruce tree until it was mobbed by several Crows and a Blue Jay.
Suet and grape jelly have been a favorite meal for the many birds that visited our feeders during the long cool and rainy stretch. One cake a day of suet and two jars of grape jelly a week were devoured. Gray Catbirds and Orioles seemed to not get enough of the jelly. Gray Catbirds, many Woodpeckers, Titmice, Nuthatches, Pine Warblers and Chickadees relished the cakes of suet.
Sharon and I are leaving for vacation this Friday. We will be visiting the Rangeley Lakes and the Umbagog Lake region for boreal birds and hopefully moose. If we get cell coverage, we will Tweet daily of our finds.Here is a map of the region. The map is interactive.
Enjoy these photos of fledgling birds visiting our feeders. As always, clicking a thumbnail will enlarge the picture to full size.
Gray Catbird fledgling
Adult Hairy Woodpecker feeding fledgling
Male Hairy Woodpecker fledgling with a mouthful of suet
White-breasted Nuthatch fledgling
Happy birding!
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nice shots, I especially love the shot of the nuthatch – cute; hope your trip goes well. we lucked out and saw a moose and calf on last day of our trip to moosehead lake (pic on blog).
Those fledgligs are too darn cute. I’m a little partial to the nuthatch! Have an enjoyable and productive vacation. I’m looking forward to seeing your shots from Rangeley and Lake Umbagog.
Nice photos. Its always good to see young birds around.
The White-breasted Nuthatch fledgling looks so sweet hanging on that iron rod. Love the little Hairy Woodpecker fledgling with a bill full of suet!
We have a Green Catbird here in Australia I wonder if your Grey makes a call like a cat.
Cute babies.
I’m loving the fledglings here too! They sure are eating the suet right up. I think they needed it through all the rain to keep them warm. As for the jelly, well ours wasn’t covered so it kept filling up with water. I ended up bringing it in and haven’t seen or heard any Orioles since. This morning I put some more out but lately all that’s eating it is ants : (
Enjoy your trip! That is such a beautiful area. My husband and I went to Lake Mooselookmeguntic years ago. It was so peaceful listening to the loons and watching the sunset. As long as the weather holds you and Sharon should have a wonderful time!
Sharon
These are cute Fledglings!
Great photos as always! Looking forward to seeing what you come back with from your trip. We had some good luck on Boy Scout Road in Rangeley – especially Grey Jays with fledglings. (Hope to have more pics and movies posted soon) Sapsuckers are fledging as we speak. We had very few Boreal Chickadees, and Spruce Grouse should be leading around young, though we didn’t get any ourselves. I wish you the best of luck (and better weather) on the trip. We’ll miss you on Saturday in CT.
Excellent photos! I love the Hairy Woodpecker with mouthful of suet. Have fun on your vacation!
Ah, it’s that time of year, isn’t it? All are great shots, but I especially love the little Hairy Woodpecker with his mouth crammed full of suet. Wonderful shots, John!
I fell in love with the Rangley district from reading about it in the Louise Dickenson Rich books. When I lived in Livermore Falls I made sure we visited that area. I hope you have a great time and bring back tons of photos. I was just in Presque Isle and Falmouth last week. It rained every day and made poor conditions for photgraphy and bird watching, but I did get a few shots off. Have fun! Love the fledglings!
Aren’t fledglings fun? I love watching them master all the basic bird skills: flying, landing, perching, eating …
Love that cute White-breasted Nuthatch fledgling!
Thanks everyone! The rain cometh again, although they are claiming the weekend will be nice. We will see!
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