The baby wrens in the apple tree house have hatched and are becoming quite vocal. The apple tree is probably about 30 yards from the house, but they're so noisy that I can hear them chirping from their house inside our house if the windows are open.
Here's how they look after about 1 week. I could see 6 for sure (there were 7 eggs). As soon as I took down the house to take this picture, they never made another peep. However, the mom was quite upset when she caught me over there messin' with her house and babies. I'm not sure if wrens swear or not, but it sure sounded like she was swearin' at me!
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Here's my clean-up crew:
Eastern Chipmunk
Cleaning up all the seeds that fall from the birdfeeders on the upper level deck. I think he lives in the hosta & fern garden under the deck
Here it looks like he's licking this rock....is it salty? I'm not sure what goes on in a chipmunk brain to cause this type of behavior.
13-Lined Ground Squirrel (we call them streaked gophers).
Here's what she looks like sitting up and eating birdseed.
There are lots of these gophers all around the yard and our township offers a bounty of $1 per gopher. Our dogs have become quite expert at catching these little critters.
Both of these guys spend a lot of time outside the basement patio door and they drive our poor dogs nuts!
13 comments:
My wrens hatched this week too. I wish my nest box would open so I could peek in too. I grew up calling those gophers "stars and stripes" or "flag" gophers. Our pet rabbit licks our metal bed frame- maybe it is a mineral thing!
Ruth,
Thanks for the pics of all your little critters, chipmunks and streaked gophers don't have a chance here with 3 mom cats living outside. The birds are better off, they don't come around when the cats are out, so when the cats are sleeping they use the bird bath freely and all the feeders.
Mom
That momma wren was probably calling you a sh***ing b*****d!!!
All the creatures sure are cute, even if some have bounties on their heads.
I agree with Lynne. Maybe it's a mineral deficiency. You really have a lot of nature going on there, Ruthie! I enjoyed seeing the variety. My dogs take care of cats, rabbits, chipmunks, and squirrels but all of the above still dine at our restaurant :o)
Watch those wrens! I'd love to see them here.
And, oh, by the way, I hear the same thing... "on the computer again?" Whatever.
Those wrens have the same bluish feather shafts the robins had. The gophers are so cute! Too much time blogging??!! Hubby just spent 3 hours channel flicking. I have no guilt.
Oh, I thought maybe the chipmunk thought he found the Blarney Stone and decided to kiss it! hee-hee :)
Oh, love the beeebies! I've never seen a streaked gopher!
We have clean up crew's of all sizes at my feeders! Love the baby wrens, aww!
I've heard that I spend too much time blogging and birding.-Oh well.
I've gone to take a peak at wrens in my yard but momma wren goes wild-I kind of enjoy hearing the parents more than seeing baby wrens.
Lynne,
I've never heard that name for gophers before. I bet you're right about licking the rock for minerals.
Mom,
These pictures were just so you remember what a chipmunk and gopher look like!
Sissy,
Now that you mention it, that's pretty much what it sounded like
Donna,
We rarely catch many of the little gophers--especially this summer 'cuz it's too hot to let the dogs run wild in the yard.
Mary,
I'm glad Bella and Chloe don't catch all of your little critters either.
Mr. Johnson just doesn't understand how much fun I have in the blogosphere and "chatting" with all my friends, plus learning new things about nature.
Ruth,
I thought the same thing about those feathers on the wrens.
He comments on how much time I spend knitting too. Whatever (like Mary says)
Mary C,
Kissing the Blarney stone...that's much cuter than boring old minerals.
Jayne & Tom,
Those babies were cute. I know I shouldn't bother the nest boxes too much, but I was so curious about how many little birds could make so much noise.
Larry,
I tried to get a picture of the mom wren, but she was quite distraught and I figured after about 2 minutes I'd better just leave her alone.
Many thanks to all of you for stopping by my blog. It's really the only outlet I have for talking about nature and I enjoy sharing my stories and pictures and hearing all of your stories and seeing your pictures too.
We have a wren that perches on our railing outside the bedroom in the morning--his voice comes right through the wall--so clear and LOUD for such a small fellow!
hey i have a little birds nest that is a wrens but it is danger close to the edge of the pole should i relocate it and also 2 have fallen out 1 dead 1 alive i have not heard the one that was put back in i only hear two distinctive chirps and the mother or father has not thrown out a dead body what should i do bring the nest down to see the little one and if hes dead should i take his body out as to not get the other ones killed
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