Yellow-billed Cuckoo (YC-1)

While waiting for some software I was working on to be updated I glanced out the window. "That looks different," I thought. So I grabbed the binoculars I keep on a shelf under my desk that I installed just for that, and took a look. 

And then I grabbed a camera.

A Yellow-billed Cuckoo sitting right out in the open in our Crabapple tree. These birds are usually well hidden in the woods about the place. We know they are here as we hear them, much more often than we see them.

In fact, this is the first image of this species I've added to my image catalog. A surprise to me I must say.

As it is that the Back-billed Cuckoo was a Yard Critter over a year before its Yellow-billed cousin was.

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You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

Swainson's Thrush (YC-2)

Another bird sitting in the Crabapple tree, although this time spotted by Patty.

A Swainson's Thrush, the first we've seen in the yard.

From the linked site:

If you live within the Swainson’s Thrush’s range, you can make your yard more enticing to this bird by providing tree and shrub cover and ground-level bird baths, avoiding chemical pesticides, and letting leaf litter accumulate undisturbed.

And that pretty much describes our yard.

This is another bird more often heard than seen, although unlike the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, these do not breed here, preferring the forests further north.

Another bird we would have missed but for Covid-19. 

Although it's not even close to a fair trade.

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You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

Black-throated Green Warbler (YC-3)

The third of the Yard Critters of the Week added on Friday, although, unlike the other two (YC-1 and YC-2) this one wasn't seen on Friday.

I didn't see it, or rather them, at all.

I have a robot. A rather simple robot, one that does one thing, and one thing well. Take pictures. 

Otherwise known as a trail cam, it is on the job 24/7. At least until the batteries die. Or I remember to turn it on when I put the memory card back in.

There are not one but two Black-throated Green Warblers in these images my robot took for me.

Patty had spotted this species in the yard, perhaps even these individuals, but I had not seen them. 

I still haven't.

So while it is nice to have a robot to stand watch when you can't, it is more fun to see them one's self methinks.

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You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

Another Deck Warbler

In the How Many People ... post, I mused about a "Deck Bird List". 

Birders are ardent listers, life list, state lists, county lists (I've been on boat trips where it was very important to know when the "state" line was crossed, so the same bird could be counted four times, once for each state, and once for each county, even though we were miles off shore!), country lists, work lists, commute lists, movie lists, yard lists ... (I admit to keeping the first and last, life and. yard lists*). So the "Deck Bird List" as a joke on that. Anyways, if you have to explain it ...

Here's another warbler to add to that list, a Black and White Warbler.

Just outside the door, as you might surmise from the door mat in the lower right.

I was alerted to its presence by a thud on the window screen. Birds often lightly hit our screens as they pick off insects. But this bird seems to have miscalculated the distance as it hit the screen rather hard. And is here sitting on the deck stunned.

Spoiler alert, it was able to fly off, and did so when I went out to check on it.

We take steps to prevent window strikes, placing the bird feeders at a safe distance and hanging cords in front of the windows, but it is very unusual for bird to fly into a screen hard enough to be stunned. In fact, this is the only instance I can recall.

Weird. I wonder what it was thinking?

~~~~~~~~~~~

* And then there is this ... my coin bird list.

Materials ...

It's what the world, and apparently this walkway, are made of.

Northern Parula, (YAYCOTW)

 Northern Parula. 

A bird most often found up in the canopy, but during migration can be found foraging in the understory. 

Or in this case at the bird bath area in our Feeder Garden (although I mostly see them up in the tree tops here).

Outside our living room window.  

Another benefit of working from home. I work on a computer sitting at a desk all day. So I make it a point to get up and walk around on a regular basis. And this gives me a chance to spot things. And grab my camera (which is set up in the living room overlooking this spot).

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You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

YAYCOTW = Yet Another Yard Critter Of The Week

Skittles

Not all birds we see are in our yard.

Although this would certainly be a very cool yard bird.

A Blue-and-yellow Macaw.

That goes by the name of Skittles.

And likes pizza.

The Show Goes On

As it must I suppose.

The Warbler Show that is. While most of the warblers have moved on, there are still a few lingering species. 

American Redstarts, like this female, continue to entertain us with their presence.

This one is taking a break from chasing other birds through the trees, non stop movement most of time. No wonder it needs a break.

If we didn't have the yard, and the gardens, and the wildlife I'm sure we'd both be going stir crazy by now during these Covid times.

But we too could really use a break.

We have friends who live in Philadelphia who we went hiking with last weekend. And they are all stressed out. I couldn't imagine living in a city right now. And even with the yard we are developing a bit of cabin fever. And trying to figure out how to safely get away.

Envying the birds and their ability to just fly off.

Here's hoping the days when we could just fly off will return.

Still Blooming

Howard Boyd, in his excellent Wildflowers of the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, notes that Partridgeberry, or as he writes, "Partridge-berry", (Latin: Mitchella repens; Mohawk: Noon kid oo nah yeah), blooms in mid to late May to late June.

Today is September 24th. Extremely late June.

We have this growing all over our property.

This is the only spot still blooming. Curious.

Googly Eyed Moth

I was doing some yard work when this critter landed on my work glove.

As is my custom, I pulled out my phone and took some pictures.

It wasn't until I loaded the images onto my computer that I noticed the eyes.

👀  👁  👀  👁  👀

This is probably an Orange Holomelina, Virbia aurantiaca,  but I've been cautioned that id'ing species in the genus Virbia is difficult. 

So I'll just call this the Googly Eyed Moth, and leave it at that. Happy knowing that such a creature lives  in our yard.

Today's Bubbler Bird

 Gray Catbird. 

A relative of the Mockingbird, this critter also mimics the calls of other birds. But it is known, and named, for its cat like call.

This bird likes forest edges with thick shrubs and fruit. That describes our yard, so we've had several about for the last month or so. They, along with the Great-crested Flycatchers, have picked our Elderberry and Viburnums clean. Chowing down on the berries.

They are curious, like their namesake, and will often fly to a nearby bush to check us out while we're in the yard. Also curious is that despite their being a year round resident of New Jersey, we do not see them year round in our yard. We see them in spring and then again in fall.

I suspect that the lack of understory in the woods around us, due to deer pressure, is the reason they're not here. Perhaps as we extend the deer fence around our yard, to recreate this forest understory, they'll decide to hang around.

Until them, we've still several fruiting shrubs and they are welcome to pick them clean too.

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You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

The End of the Show?

Today, Sunday September 20th, was not a good day for warblers in the yard. It's been two days since we've seen the Prothonotary, so I guess it has gone. And the only warbler we saw win the yard today was this one.

The American Redstart. These two were spotted while we were watching bad football.

It seems the warbler show may be over for this year.

Meanwhile at the Back Bubbler

 In this week's back bubbler news ...

Northern Raccoons are still visiting, although we don't see them in the feeder garden all that often. Maybe when we start putting peanut butter out for the flying squirrels we'll see them there.

American Redstarts male ...

... and female have been common in the yard the past couple or weeks. So no surprise to see them at the back bubbler.

Likewise with Black and White Warblers.

That cat is still around. We've tried to coax it in but it is very wary of humans. Sadly, it doesn't look very  healthy.

The Eastern Gray Squirrels on the other hand look just fine. Of course, unlike the cats, they are native to the area, and are adapted to the environment and living outdoors (cats are known as "house cats" for a reason).

And we have a very healthy population of Mourning Doves, which are the most common critters on the trail cam images. 

And that's it for this weeks update. I keep hoping with bird migration underway we'll get something interesting and unusual. Hasn't happened yet, but the camera is out there watching. My fingers are crossed.

Today's Bubbler Bird (A YCOTW)

 The Bluejay.

Bluejays are common yard birds. And breed in our area, if not our yard. Yet they disappeared for what seemed like the entire summer, returning only in the last couple of weeks.

And for the past several days we've had three at a time visiting the feeders. 

And seemingly more calling from the surrounding woods. Often mimicking a Red-shouldered Hawk, causing me to search to no avail.

A boisterous and active critter when they are around, we expect to enjoy their antics throughout the winter.

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You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

Still Still Here

The Prothonotary Warbler that is. Friday September 18 edition.

It's deja vu all over again.

Seen here munching down a caterpillar of unknown species.

 I guess it won't leave until the food runs out. Or ti gets too cold.

Destination Yard II

That fellow who showed up Wednesday morning liked the place so much he came back. And he brought along his wife. He emailed first this time. :-)

And after a short tour of the yard they settled down to wait for the warbler show to begin.

And begin it did.

And if we zoom in ...

... we see he got the Prothonotary (you may need to bigafy).

Or jus look at his image:

Image courtesy Bob Ferguson

The American Redstarts have been daily visitors.

Image courtesy Bob Ferguson

And to everyone's delight, a Hooded Warbler made an appearance.

Image courtesy Bob Ferguson

And one final image of the Prothonotary. Kinda looks like a penguin.

Image courtesy Bob Ferguson

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You can find more of Bob's excellent photographs on his Flicker site. Enjoy!