Under the Bird Feeder

I poured out the seed left in the bird feeder before I refilled it – and we had more visitors than usual come to the area to get the food. I was surprised that a squirrel did not come. I took some pictures through the French door of our breakfast area of a mourning dove, a chipmunk and a juvenile cardinal that were the first to come and cleaned up most of the bounty.

Mourning doves are on our deck regularly. One came almost immediately after I went back inside from refilling the feeder. They are too big for the feeder itself but always part of the cleanup crew underneath. I got a blink sequence of the bird!

Zooming even more, look at the feather structure on the back of the Mourning Dove! The different shades of off-white….and then very black spots.

The Eastern Chipmunk has tunnels all around our house (or maybe there is a whole family). Only one came to the deck. They are fun to watch with their oreo striped sides…the way they stuff the seeds into their cheek pouches to maximize what they can take back to their nest…the occasional pause to eat something (I assume those are particularly tasty sees) under the sheltering parts of the deck structure. I hadn’t previously noticed the way the inside part of the ear is somewhat folded….the zoomed images provide a lot of opportunity to observe details. Use the arrows at the side of the image to move through the slideshow at your own pace.

I took a picture of the juvenile Northern Cardinal with an adult male a few days before the extra seed. The juvenile is almost adult size, but its beak is still black rather than orange. It is a clumsy flyer and the female was bringing seed down to the feeder for the young bird (and it was begging with fluttering wings and vocalizations under the watchful eyes of the male).

It managed to get to the deck where the seed was located a few days later and found seeds on its own. The dark beak is beginning to change color. The zoomed pictures show that the feathers are still more down-like on the breast and the way the bird holds itself is different. It isn’t standing up on its feet like adult birds do…and maybe that is why it can’t handle the roosts on the feeder yet.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Another sunny day with haze in the sky. This morning (Wednesday, 9/16) the haze from the western fires is not as dense over Maryland. The sky is slightly blue (not yet the normal blue-sky color) and we can distinguish some puffy clouds under the smoke layer during some parts of the morning. The light has a different quality with the haze overhead. Air quality at ground level is not impacted.

Gas grill. Our propane tank on the gas grill ran out a few months ago and we’ve be talking about how we could safely do the exchange for a new tank…and then an email from our neighborhood group included a blurb about Propane Taxi becoming available in our area. So – we have a low risk way to get a replacement tank (arrangements via website, paid for in advance…contactless). The service is associated with Home Depot and becoming available in metropolitan areas. We’ll put our empty tank on our porch and a full one will be left in its place. And we’ll be grilling again soon!