We’ve been in this house two years now, and for about the past year and a half, I’ve been tossing pictures in a random file with the intention to share them at some point. (If you’ve been reading for a while, I used to do regular “Sights from around Crooked Acres” posts when we lived on 4 1/2 acres and had chickens, turkeys and birds.) I kept putting it off and putting it off, and now I’m just going to go ahead and share them all this week. If non-kitten pictures bore you, feel free to scroll on down – there are kitten pics in the next section.
Sights from around Crooked Acre: Birds.
For about a year, we put a food dish out for random passing cats. (We no longer do that for reasons that will become clear in Thursday’s post.) Naturally, the birds found the cat food and made short work of it – we used to have to fill the dish twice a day because they emptied it so quickly. I think these are Grackles (but am not sure.)
Hummingbird atop the hummingbird feeder.
Last summer, a Carolina Wren made a nest in our shed. Then she laid eggs. Then the eggs hatched, and she had 4 babies.
BUT THEN. One day she flew out of the shed and Fred saw a neighborhood cat go after her, and he didn’t SEE the cat get the bird, but he also noticed that she didn’t come back to her nest. We set up a game camera to see if perhaps she was coming back and we just weren’t noticing, but after most of a day, it was clear that she was gone.
So Fred became a bird Daddy.
We called around to wildlife rescues to see if we could find someone to take them, but wildlife rescues are pretty inundated from spring onward, and Carolina Wrens aren’t the kind of birds they’re interested in saving. So Fred brought them inside, kept them in a carrier, and fed them.
Three of the four ended up dying, but one hung in there.
He was very cute (might’ve been a female, I have no idea. We started calling him/her “Jethro.”)
He was ready to learn the ways of the world, so we got a bird cage, hung it on the front porch, and put him out there during the day. Eventually, we started leaving the door open, and he’d fly out, fly around, explore, and then return to his cage. Fred continued to feed him, so whenever Fred walked onto the front porch, Jethro would fly over and land on him.
“You guys? I’m hungry!”
He hung around longer than we expected him to, and then one day he flew off and never returned. Any time we see a Carolina Wren, we declare that it’s Jethro, coming back to say hi.
(Side note: Some of this bird-raising was going on at the exact same time we were having the ceiling inside the house scraped, and the walls painted. We were staying at a hotel for the better part of a week with Clover (Mimosa’s kitten) AND this tiny bird, and Clover was surprisingly uninterested in the bird, thankfully.)
Hummingbird in flight (on the left.)
Hummingbirds at the feeder.
This juvenile Green Heron (I think?) showed up on our fence a few weeks ago, walked along the top, and then flew off when I went out to take a picture of him. He showed up again a few days later to sit in the bird bath, and Fred saw him again a few days after that. I’m not sure where he came from, but I hope he comes back to visit!
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Video! First: a Carolina Wren (possibly even the one who made her nest in the shed) visits the Ring camera. Second: Jethro being fed (and showing off his poopin’ skills). Third: a swarm of hummingbirds at the feeder last fall. There was another feeder about 3 feet away that they completely ignored.
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It was laundry day, and fortunately I had the very best of helpers! Thank you for your service, Wren.
Once the laundry basket is empty, they like to fight through the holes. Here’s Tater on top, Wren inside, and Rufous all “?”
Starling comes climbing up the side and Tater’s face is cracking me up. “Who invited YOU?!”
Tater feets and belly.
Tater and Starling fighting through the holes of the basket, and Rufous biting Starling’s tail.
All four kittens, winding down.
And Tater is… out!
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Uncle Newt gives Tater a glare.
And Uncle Newt gains a follower in the form of Wren, who is verrrrrry interested in his tail.
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Posted on social media (Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Tumblr) this weekend.
Line ’em UP! Left to right: Starling, Rufous, Plover (aka Tater) and Wren.
Starling (left) and Tater/Plover are now adoption pending! (Yay!)
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That darn tail. Get it, Wren!
It’s a rough life for a Tater.*
*Official name: Plover.
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The Nestlings are having a good time playing downstairs. You’ll note there are hardly any toys (especially when compared to the foster room), but they make do!
Weeks ago, someone asked how I can tell the difference between Starling (left) and Wren. It took me longer than it should have to get a few pictures of them side by side, but I finally did.
Starling’s much darker (she’s a brown tabby), and Wren is a torbie – you can see splashes of orange on her face (especially in the “M” on her forehead). Wren’s got white feet and has a white bib, and her stripes stand out quite a bit more.
I think the differences are more obvious in person, though.
Good night innernets. (Wren)
Line ’em up (yes, again! Why not?) From left: Wren, Starling, Rufous & Tater/Plover.
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Wren is da BAYbee-est BAYbee who ever BAYbee’d.
Napping with kittens. Wren, using Tater as a pillow, and Starling back there behind her. (Rufous is curled up next to my ear, purring up a storm, and thus did not fit in this picture.)
Good night innernets. (Rufous)
There was a vacuum cleaner vacuuming, and the Nestlings felt the sudden – completely unconnected – need to be at the highest point possible. But they ain’t skeered of no vaccum cleaner.
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Rufous, Tater and Starling are having a lot of fun playing with Uncle Khal’s track toys (don’t tell Uncle Khal!)
I love Starling’s serious little face. “MY track toy. You no touch.”
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Tater refusing to meow for me (but being adorable all the same), and then Tater showing off her funny, creaky meow.
Good night innernets. (Wren)
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Previously
2022: No entry.
2021: No entry.
2020: Twinsies!
2019: I took one of the scratchers into the kitten room, and I think it’s fair to say that it’s a hit.
2018: He is such a Muppety little Moop.
2017: “She’s little, but she’s sassy!”
2016: No entry.
2015: Roundup: Gilda
2014: Throw Back Thursday: Everett Peppers.
2013: “There’s something right behind me, isn’t there?”
2012: Guest Post, by Stompers.
2011: No entry.
2010: No entry.
2009: No entry.
2008: Kaylee will not be deterred.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
Love the pics of the birds at your place. It’s quite an accomplishment that Fred was able to keep at least one baby alive to fledge. Carolina Wrens are becoming more common by me (in Central NY); I never remember seeing or hearing them until a couple of years ago.
The kittens are growing so big. Wren really looks long and lanky in the laundry basket. Must be that optical contusion!
Wren is really hitting her long & lanky stage!
Birds are nice. If the black birds have tiny spots on them then they are starlings. If they are a shiny purplish black they are grackles and of course there are crows that I’m assuming you know what they look like. From a distance though many birds look the same.
Congrats on raising Jethro. He was cute! And my oh my that is a SWARM of hummingbirds. That is the most I have ever seen in one place.
That photo of Tater on the laundry basket from below, floof poking through and paws dangling! I love it.
Aww, the story of Jethro is really sweet.
I was worried when you used the word ‘was’ about Jethro!
Hopefully he is having a lovely bird life out there somewhere.
So you were both taking care of tiny little nestlings this spring? Love the Bird Daddy story, and always enjoy tales and pix of life around the Love & Hisses homestead.
Love the “Crooked Acres” posts!
I actually laughed out loud when you said you took this tiny bird (and a kitten!) to a hotel. I love it!
Awwwwww squee! Fred And3rson, acknowledged friend of songbirds. 😀
I’m still charmed by Clover being utterly chill with tiny Jethro. Chase a bird? … Nah, there’s a jingly ball over here with my name on it.
Did anybody else click back and squee at the guest post by Stompers? That fabulous orange boy! I hope he’s still the alternately playful and snuggly sweetheart he’s always been.