Downy Woodpecker Visits the Backyard

Video of Female Downy Woodpecker Working a Chinese Tallow Tree

We remain on alert for the beginning of Screech Owl season, but in the meantime birding has been fairly active in the backyard. Had a chance to shoot some extended video of the smallest of woodpeckers, the Downy Woodpecker. The female is little bigger than sparrow size, moves quickly and is difficult to spot in the trees. She is all black and white and often overlooked. It is rare to get a good shot of them in their wild habitat away from feeders as they will visit suet feeders. This is a long range video at 800 mm. They have a unique and cute call that rarely last more than seconds. I managed to get two calls on the video. The male Downy has a very small amount of red on the back of its head. 

Spider Web Dancing in the Morning Sun

Spider's web Dancing in the morning sun......

To find adventure in your backyard sometimes you have to slow down and look for the little things going on. This is just such a minor morning miracle from summer 2012. What are the odds that a massive storm system in April 2011 would knock down trees in the forest to let morning sun into the canopy and that over a year later the rays of the sun from 93 million miles away would intersect a spiders web built overnight and the wind would blow just enough to make the sunlight dance on the web and that I'd be there to see it with a little point-n-shoot camera in my pocket?  Probably trillions to one! Adventure and wonder is right there within your reach.....


To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

William Blake - Auguries of Innocence

Screech Owl Nest Box Placement - Try and Keep it Cool!

Video of Screech Owlets Keeping Cool in a Hot Nest Box by Panting with their mouths open like dogs.

Our owl nest boxes are ready for the 2013 season and I have a very important reminder about placement. You want to make sure your box will not be exposed to the blazing late spring sun especially during the afternoon and especially if you put it on a structure's gable end as one of our is (See earlier posts). Even though the nest box has venting at the top it gets hot and with the mother and 3 to 5 owlets inside getting bigger every day they have to pant to keep cool. In this video it shows the owls at about 10am when they get a shot of morning sun, but then they get no direct sun the rest of the day. It would be pretty stressful to deal with that all afternoon - its painful to watch. You would want to take care not to have your owl box baking in the afternoon sun - especially in the south-land.

Florida's "Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival" January 23-29, 2013

Florida's "Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival" starts this Wednesday in Titusville, Florida. Its one of the largest such shows in the U.S. With some luck attendees will spot the most colorful songbird in all of North America, the Painted Bunting, wintering in the Space Coast of Florida. Generally holding in dense thickets of oaks and scrub they are very hard to spot in the wild away from backyard feeders.

Painted Bunting couple wintering in Florida

Squirrel Appreciation Day - Celebrate Monday January 21st!

January 21st is Squirrel Appreciation Day!

Squirrel Appreciation Day

For nature lovers,  backyard birders and owl box enthusiast such as myself, Monday is a special day -  Squirrel Appreciation Day! I am aware there are other things going on Monday on the national stage, but if you have ever tried to stop squirrels from eating your bird seed or occupying your owl box, and finally made peace with these ubiquitous little rodents you will come to appreciate their antics and their rightful place in your backyard.  They have a number of admirable qualities, not the least of which is obvious intelligence (have you ever tried to outsmart one, it's a humbling experience), dedication to family and raising their young, strength and agility, perseverance, a natural instinct to show off and entertain, plant trees, and a certain irresistible cuteness, especially young Red Squirrels. Squirrels are a great species to introduce children to wildlife and to learn to interact with and appreciate the natural world right in your yard.

Celebrate Monday by buying a bag of unsalted roasted peanuts in the shell - take a break from the daily grind and feed the squirrels.  To help you celebrate and get in touch with your “ inner squirrel” - I have linked below some recent squirrel videos from YT.  You do not need to worry about clicking on them  – all the links below are safe and verified not to harm – they have been tested by squirrels on squirrels. Any money (i.e. pennies) made from these videos will be donated to the squirrel peanut fund! Enjoy the day!

Watch this Little Red Squirrel Deal With a Huge Nut!

Who Can resist the antics of the typical Squirrel?

Squirrel Movies Playlist

This video will give you an idea of how to come to terms with squirrels after your bird seed - for a small amount of money you get a win-win!

Here are some fun facts about squirrels from All About Squirrels!

Red Bellied Woodpecker Goes House Hunting!

Red Bellied Woodpecker Inspects New Nest Box

We've had such good luck with Stovall Screech Owl Nest Boxes we though we'd try one of their Woodpecker "Houses" or nest boxes as we have seen woodpeckers occasionally visit the bird feeders.  We put up a Woodpecker Nest Box back in early December and lately a very large and attractive male Red Bellied Woodpecker has been checking it out - literally inspecting it. Its interesting to observe how careful he is to check out the inside the box before going to far in as his self-preservation instinct says - make sure its safe before committing. He seems to have a very critical eye for construction quality and quite the personality. We are hopeful he will call it his own and find a mate and start a family in the box this spring. The woodpecker nest box is smaller than a Screech Owl nest box with the most notable difference being a much smaller entrance hole. There is nothing more gratifying in birding than to put up a shelter for a specific bird species and then have success at getting them to nest. We'll see how things progress this winter and hope they decide to move in to the new house.

Large Flock of Robins Lands in Backyard - Real Snowbirds

Video of Hundreds of Robins Descending on our Backyard Birdbath

We're ready for Screech Owl season, but in the meantime we have other feathered friends to entertain us. The second Large flock of Robins arrived on January 11th - very thirsty and hot they hit the birdbaths in waves - literally drinking and splashing the water down a few inches. Hundreds of Robins were in the trees, but I couldn't get a good video shot of that spectacle. Got a lot of video action at the birdbath. It is quite unusual for that many birds to share the water, however I think these flocks just hit town and needed hydration! We've had many days with temperatures in the low 80s lately - very warm in Florida so far this winter. This is the first time hundreds of Robins have descended on our backyard in winter. In fact, we rarely ever see Robins at all!  A flock of Brown-headed cowbirds and common Grackles arrived about the same time as the Robins and take over the birdbath toward the end of the video.

I'm not sure what the impact of the unusual warm weather will have on the Screech Owl breeding timing if any. Anecdotal experience is that they nested about 3 to 4 weeks earlier in early February during the cold winter of 2010-11 than last years warm winter in which they nested the second week of March. We'll see.

Squirrels Have Kittens!!

Mother Squirrel is Quite Upset

Mother Squirrel Taking a Break from nursing - she's full of milk

Did you know squirrel babies are called kittens? They are as cute. Our Florida squirrels have delivered their second litter of kittens this past two weeks and mother squirrel has obviously been nursing a large number of kits or "kittens" - sometimes up to 8. In Florida mature squirrels usually breed twice a year. They tend to finish up with the nest about the time the Screech Owls start to nest. Mother squirrel has a habit of making a lot of noise these days with the little kits or kittens in the nest in the trees. Doesn't take much to set them off and they tend to be more cautious and keep more to the woods than around the house - no doubt so that they can take care of the little ones.

Screech Owl Nest Box and Squirrels

Screech Owl and Squirrel  (link to original pictures)

Here is an interesting story out of Texas (link to original story).  First off, that's a very unusual looking Screech Owl Nest Box, seems a bit deep. This is why we can't keep our nest boxes on trees or within reach of squirrels in trees. They will relentlessly attempt to take over the nest box. When its time to lay eggs and guard the owlets this Screech Owl is going to have a tough time defending this nest from many potential intruders.  I wish the owls all the best!

Listen for Screech Owl Calls In the Evening

Screech Owls generally keep a pretty low profile and don't make much noise unless they are defending or announcing their territory and getting ready for mating season. Here is a playlist of some of the best calls from the 2012 season:   

Playlist of best Screech Owl Calls of 2012 Season . 

But for the next month or two calls are likely to be subtle - a low "trilling" that travels far. You'll know it when you hear it The owls are reconnecting, courting and looking for nesting sites - if they had a healthy, good year their first choice will likely be where they nested the year before. 

Screech Owl Calls are loudest when its really time to mate and nest such 

as this example from early March 2012.

Squirrel Nests in Screech Owl Nest Box

Squirrel nest completely filling up a Screech Owl Nest Box

The same Screech Owl Nest Box Ready for Breeding Season 2013

Squirrels have now delivered their litters and are nursing in nests in the oak trees around our area. This year we kept them out of the Screech Owl nest box which is now sitting ready for, hopefully, the same couple as last year to claim it in the next few months. Squirrels basically cram a large amount of small twigs and branches with leaves into the owl box and then keep their babies at the bottom - this makes it very difficult for any predators to snatch their little ones. The parents just dig down and out of the bottom of the nest box when they come and go. 

Obviously the squirrel nest precludes use by the Screech Owls - if one were inclined you could leave a nest box out for the squirrels to enjoy year-after-year - however it would be impossible to watch the little ones be delivered, grow and develop as the nest material blocks the camera view. Screech Owl season is nearing!

Screech Owl Nest Box Time is Here - Location

Cute Little rat resting in the Screech Owl Box

This video is from the 2012 season in early January - about one year ago. The cute and extra-fastidious little rat has no idea he's resting in the wrong lair. It would make a tasty morsel for an owl. Screech owls will be checking out nest boxes soon.  I moved the nest box after this and issues with squirrels and put it on the gable end of an outbuilding.  See this post for the setup:

Transformer Screech Owls - Taking Camouflage to a Higher Level

If you don't have a real great spot to put one and you live in a suburban or somewhat urban area with heavy tree cover nearby you might try putting the box on the gable end of your house about 8 to 10 feet or so off the ground near the middle of the gable end - the owls will likely accept it if they are around as long as there is immediate heavy cover nearby for them to stage to. One advantage of putting it on a building wall  is that it limits access by squirrels and rats etc.  See:

It's a Jungle Out There! Nest Box Experiences and Advice Part #2 

for background information.

The other consideration is sunshine - you don't want to put the box where it will get blasted by sunshine most of the day and overheat the owls. In our case, they get several hours of direct but low morning sun and then its OK  Screech Owls will look for any cavity to make a nest as natural sites can be scarce and dangerous. The number one concern is nearby heavy cover such as an oak tree or other dense foliage so they don't have to travel to far in the open from the nest to the first staging/perching area. They have adapted to living in neighborhoods in this way.