Terre Pruitt's Blog

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Archive for the ‘Birds’ Category

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Easy To Clean, Perhaps Not So Easy To Drink From

Posted by terrepruitt on July 11, 2016

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYo, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFitI have written about how my hubby and I feed the hummingbirds. I have written about their tongues. I have written about the sugar we use.  I have shared them being in our yard. In one of those posts I’ve had to have mentioned how difficult it is to clean the feeders. With the hummingbirds putting their tongues in the feeders there is a lot of stuff that grows in there. It pretty much looks like black slime. It is pretty gross. The way the feeders are constructed it is difficult to get in there and clean it out. We have several different brushes and we poke ’em through the little holes and clean the sludge out as best as we can. But it is time consuming – and gross. I have always wondered why someone hasn’t made a feeder that comes apart easily so that it is easier to clean. Easier to make sure all the gunk is gone. Well, I found one. I was so excited. I think I had food made up on the day they were scheduled to arrive so once they got here I could just fill them and put them outside. Well, sadly, I am disappointed in them.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYo, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFitI had found them on Perky Pet. But we had two that were still useable so I was going to wait until we needed one before I bought it. Well, it just happened within days of me finding it, I was washing the ones we had and I broke one. It fell in the sink and broke. Then I found the feeder sold through Amazon and it was Prime so it would get here faster and free. The new ones look the same as our old ones.  With slight differences.

When I got it I filled it and put it outside. The birds didn’t touch it. They used the other feeder. I even put the new one in the spot where the old one was – 1) I didn’t trust that it wouldn’t leak (so I put it over the dirt) 2) I thought that would encourage them to use it.

When I saw a bird at the new feed what I saw was the little hummingbird sitting on it and then having to REACH his neck up really tall in order to get his beak into the “bee guard” flower. The flowers on the new feeders have a little tube that are supposed to keep bees out. But our birds are so tiny they really have to reach to get at the right angle.

I thought I could use the OLD flowers in the new feeder, but of course not. They are not interchangeable. Since I thought the little tube was the problem, I cut them off all of the flowers. But still, the birds were not using it as much as the old feeder.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYo, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFitI am not sure what the issue is. I THINK that the nectar doesn’t flow freely from the bottle into the reservoirs. So what I do is go outside every once in awhile and jiggle the feeder. When I jiggle it, bubbles blurp in the bottle and then I can actually see the sugar water at the holes of the flowers. So I know they can get at it.

The past two nights the old feeder has been empty so we have seen increased activity by the new feeder, but they still don’t seem to be using it as much. Or they try and they can’t get at the water . . . I am not sure. I am not filling the feeders as much, but there seems to be the same amount of birds and activity in the yard. To me if the birds are there in full force the feeders should be empting faster.

We will see. It is REALLY nice to have the feeders come apart. When they are apart I can ensure that I get it clean. There are no nooks and crannies for the slime to hide in. I really like that part. I just want to make sure that the birds can drink out of them.

I am about to fill all three again . . . . we will see how it goes. Perhaps it was just a matter of the birds getting used to using the new one. They might have to use the new feeders differently because they are configured little differently inside.

Posted in Birds, Misc | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Hummingbirds On A BEAUTIFUL Day

Posted by terrepruitt on June 15, 2016

Wow.  We are having the best weather here in the South Bay Area.  It is June and I have my windows open!  Usually it is too hot and we have everything shut up until it cools down.  At about 8:30 or 9:00 pm we open the house and try to let it cool down.  We keep the windows open for as long as we can hoping that will help keep it cool for the next day’s heat.  But we have not been having heat!  YAY!  So excited.  So loving it.  The other day when I got up, I was enjoying the hummingbirds around the feeders.  There was four to five of them.  When I got home from teaching Nia and yoga, I noticed the feeders were empty, so I texted my hubby asking him if he would make food that night.  He is the expert hummingbird food maker.  That is his job.  I made sure they were cleaned out so all he had to do was “cook” and fill the feeders.  And, today, I was able to enjoy the fruits of his labor.  With the weather being so awesome, I had the doors open so I could hear their chittering.  I can also hear the buzz of their wings.  So awesome.  I love it.

I was watching them fly all around and I was able to take this video.  As I often say when I take pictures or videos – and it sounds lame, but hey, that is the way it is – I couldn’t see what I was shooting.  The sun was very bright and I was at an odd angle – half in, half out of the house.  I was trying not to disturb the birds.  I THOUGHT I was capturing two birds on the feeder.  I also was fascinated by the crazy one that is off in the distance.  See him?  He was flying around as if he were drunk.  It was so funny.  When I looked at the video I was so surprised to see FOUR on the feeder.  I mean, that happens, that is why I wanted to be sure to fill the feeders again right away.  But I didn’t even see them, when I was recording.  That portion of the feeder was out of sight.  Basically only my arms were sticking out of the house trying to capture the birds eating.

I could sit there all day and take pictures and make recordings, but . . . I do have other things to do.

I have not been able to get a good picture of an oriole yet.  They are very shy and fly away the moment I move towards the door or window.  I hope to have all summer long to try to get a good photo.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYo, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFitI love our hummingbirds – oh, except the on that was getting back at me for walking by him.  I was outside, there was a bird on the feeder.  I didn’t want to wait for him to finish so I squeezed by as close to our yard furniture as I could . . . giving him as wide of a berth as I could.  He flew off the feeder.  I turned around to and said, “Sorry about that.”  And he flew up and then flew straight at me!  Bugger!

They are so entertaining.

As a note . . . there is no added coloring to the water, it is that color because of the sugar.  You can read about that in my post Another Case Where Less Might Be More.

Do you have hummingbirds?  Do you have other birds? 

Posted in Birds, Misc | Tagged: , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Another Case Where Less Might Be More

Posted by terrepruitt on June 8, 2016

One day I was in the store and I decided to buy sugar.  I was in the Grocery Outlet.  Do you have those in your area?  Have you ever been to one?  My parents used to go and I wrinkled my nose at that, thinking it was a bunch of weird off-brand stuff.  Then one day I went in there and I discovered brand name stuff for about half the price as you find in regular grocery stores.  Granted most of the stuff in there is snack food and basically over-processed food, but we do eat bread and often times you can find it there for half the price as the other stores.  I had seen C&H Pure Cane sugar there before so I thought I would drop in and get some.  I mean, if I am going to buy what I consider to be less-than-healthy food, I might as well spend less.  Well, they didn’t have any and I didn’t want to go to another store, because really?  It’s sugar.  So I saw something that attracted my attention.  It was  Zulka Morena Pure Cane Sugar.  The package said that it was less processed than other sugar and it was organic so I thought I would give it a try.  I discovered something interesting about it.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYo, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFitThis sugar is not white like C&H Pure Cane white sugar yet it is not brown either.  It is off white.  Well, when I used it I notice things in it.  What type of things, I don’t know.  They could be pieces of bugs or leaves.  They kind of look like pieces of leaves.  But it somewhat turned me off of using it.  I put it in my sugar container, but I would reach for some other sugar I had before I reached for it.

One day my husband told me to stop by the store to pick up sugar because he was going to make hummingbird food, I said we have sugar.  I actually thought I had seen another bag of white sugar in the closet, but when I got home and looked all we had was the Zulka Morena.  It is used like regular sugar.  It is “regular” sugar it is just processed less.  So I talked him into using it.  He didn’t want to.**updated 04.29.18

Well, he made the food and it came out kinda tan.  It was not clear/white like when we use our familiar white sugar.  It wasn’t cloudy, it was just colored.  I was kind of concerned, thinking perhaps it wouldn’t be good for the birds.  I wondered if they would care.  I wondered if they would notice a difference.  I wondered if they would like it.

The reason I had him make the food (he is the hummingbird food maker in the house so when it is needed, he makes it) was because I had seen some hummingbirds flitting around the empty feeders.  So I was thinking when he put full ones up they would be there.  But there were not. I was worried.  I thought that the food must not be good.  I thought they didn’t like it.  Usually, when we see them at the feeders and we put food out they are right there!  But they weren’t.

I am gonna say it took at least a week for them to come.  But then, it seemed like when I looked out the window, they were always there.  But oddly enough, they were only at one feeder.  Usually they will eat off of both.  One more than the other, but both.  This time – I had seen them at the other feeder once or twice, but they actually emptied one out before they used the other.  So that means that the unused one was there for even longer than the first one.

Our feeders are in the sun.  SUN.  Sometimes the bottles start to have stuff grow in them.  This isn’t good for the birds.  So it is a drag when that happens.  And sometimes it can happen fast.  I mentioned the sun because I figure that the sun is a contributing factor to the growth in the bottles.  It could be the shade.  Either way, sometimes it happens really fast.

You may or may not know that hummingbirds don’t suck the nectar out of the feeders.  Their beaks are not straws.  I had thought that until I saw one stick its tongue out.  So they actually stick their tongue into the feeder.  I believe that the way they eat helps contribute to the stuff growing in the bottles.  So a busy feeder with a few hot days stuff can grow pretty fast.

Well, it is my opinion – I don’t think my hubby agrees with me – that this sugar does not grow stuff as fast.  We had the bottles out there a long time and there wasn’t the weird stringy black stuff that has seen to pop up really fast in the feeders in the batches we made before these last ones.  I think it is cool.

I just cleaned the feeders and my hubby is going to come home and make food tonight.  So we will have them up again by tomorrow.  I am going to watch them again closely and see.  I know there are many things that can contribute to the stuff growing in them, but it seems our last few batches have gotten it awful fast.  So we will see how this new batch fares.

At least the birds seem to like the sugar.  They don’t care about the color.  Who cares that it is not clear, as long as it is not red (the red dye is not good for the birds).

Do you feed the hummingbirds?  Do you have hummingbird feeders?  What type of sugar do you use? What is your recipe?  What type of sugar do you use?

**updated 04.29.18 – please see comments below, as this type of sugar has traces of iron in it and hummingbirds have a low tolerance to iron.

Posted in Birds, Misc | Tagged: , , , , , | 19 Comments »

Re-visiting Our Yard

Posted by terrepruitt on June 13, 2015

I love our yard.  It is very small, but often very full of activity.  This year we have new visitors to our yard.  I know that we have had one once or twice, that I have seen, in the past.  But this year they are regular visitors.  They might have been regular visitors for some years now, but they are very shy so perhaps we just didn’t see them before.  I’ve only seen them twice in years past, as I said.  Since they are shy I don’t have any good pictures of them.  The second we approach any window they are gone.  But our hummingbirds are very brave this year.  I can walk right up to the window where the feeder hangs about six inches away and the birds will just sit there.  They seem fearless.  And we have one that is the largest one I have ever seen visit our yard.  This past week we had a little bit of rain. First it started off here as a mist, then the drops came, but it was a very gentle rain.  Oh my, you should have heard and seen the yard.  There were so many birds it in.  They seemed so happy.  They were just jumping around from place to place.  It was a nice sight to see.  I love that we have so much entertainment in our yard.

The new visitors are orioles.  There seems to be at least four.  There are two brightly colored ones and to “dingy” ones.  They barely look yellow.  One of the dingy ones has a bad leg.  I say that because as she perches on anything there is something that hangs down.  And she doesn’t perch well.  She rocks on the feeders unless she is situated just right.  When she is on one of our towers she hunkers down on it.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia at the San Jose Community Centers, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYoAt first they knocked the yellow flower out of the hummingbird feeder.  But once we saw them feeding on the hummingbird feeders we removed a flower from each feeder.

I think the new birds might be affecting our hummingbird population in regards to how many we get visiting the feeders in our yard.  But that is ok.  They need to eat too.

This is why I recently posted Outside Yoga – Easier Said Than Done  because we have so much bird activity.  I get distracted.  Birds are fascinating.  The blue jays rarely just pick a nut.  They will land and pick up a nut, then put it down.  Then pick up another nut, then put it down.  It looks sometimes as if they are shaking it, but I am not sure.  Then they will pick up another one and put it down.  I’ve seen one bird do that a dozen times.  I am so curious as to why.  I have my ideas as to why, but I would love so much for them to be able to tell me.

The collage with the orioles makes me squint because of the out of focus, faded pictures where the oriole has his back to the camera.  They are that way because I was taking it far from a way and through a dirty window and through a screen.  The orioles are very skittish.  The blurry photo where his coloring is bright was from very far away and as soon as he noticed me he was gone.  The one of the oriole in the tree, that is the less-than-brightly-colored female.

The mourning dove has been trying to get to that feeder for days now.  And I say “trying to get” because I have never seen it IN the feeder.  It flies up to the top of it and that is as far as we have seen it get.  But perhaps when we are not looking it actually makes it to the bottom to get the seed.  Tonight my husband and I watched its progress.  The mourning doves are skittish, too, but I think her having won such a hard battle she was not going to just fly away.

Our yard is small, but we are blessed with visiting birds.  What’s in your yard?  Do you have a flower garden?  Do you have a vegetable garden?  Do you have birds that visit?

Posted in Birds, Misc | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Stuff Happens In Life As Do Moments

Posted by terrepruitt on June 5, 2012

I had to rearrange my Nia Classes this week and next week because stuff happens in life.  You know that right?  You have a plan, just cruising a long and something happens.  Sometimes it is just a little quirk that maybe changes your schedule a bit.  Sometimes it might be something bigger that changes a lot of things.  Either way, there is stuff.  We all have stuff.  Even if it doesn’t happen directly to us, it happens to someone who affects us.  Stuff.  Good stuff, bad stuff, stuff that can’t be qualified as either . . . but stuff.  Sometimes you gotta drop what you are doing and deal with it.  Sometimes you get a little prep time.  Whether you can actually get prepared in that time is another story, huh?  There are also moments when you might be able to forget the stuff and enjoy the moment that is.  Recently I was able to enjoy a moment.  I took a few pictures of it.  Since there is “stuff” I am using my moment to fill in.

I love when animals drink out of the bird bath.  My husband and I try to keep it clean and full.  I am really particular during the hot days.  Even though I am sure the water gets really hot, I still want to make sure there is water in there for them.  I like to see them drink out of it.  The blue jay are funny because they put their heads back and move their heads as if that is how they have to get the water down.  Is that how they have to do it?  Do you know?

Dance Exercies, Nia, Nia Campbell, Campbell Nia, Nia classes in Campbell, evening Nia, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, NiaWhat I love more than animals drinking from the bird bath is birds taking a bath.  They seem as if they really allow themselves to really enjoy it.  They seem to love to get to splish and splash around.  I love that.  I really love when I have my camera or phone close by so I can take some pictures.  I posted a long time ago (in 2009) about the baby blue jays taking a bath.  They were so funny to watch because each one was so different in how they took their baths.  One would barely get wet, while another would just go crazy in the water.  You can see from the pictures how he would just splash around really big.  He became a big blur.  It was fun to see the different personalities of the birds.

Dance Exercies, Nia, Nia Campbell, Campbell Nia, Nia classes in Campbell, evening Nia, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, NiaThe other day, I just happen to look up as a bird hopped in the water.  He would jump in splash around, then jump out, then jump in splash around, then stop, then splash, then stop.  Just having a good old time.  He was not a big blurry splasher like that one baby blue jay was.  Whenever I think of that blue jay it makes me laugh because he would just get so crazy.  It does make me happy to see the birds actually taking a bath in the bird bath.  Although I am fine if they just drink out of it.  It is a nice break, either way, especially where there is “stuff”.

All this splishing and splashing reminds me of the Duck Walk.  🙂  Thanks for letting me take a little break and share a bird’s bath with you.  It was a nice moment.

How are you doing?  Have you had any moments lately?  Got any stuff?

Look at all the water . . . . . now this is FUN STUFF!Dance Exercies, Nia, Nia Campbell, Campbell Nia, Nia classes in Campbell, evening Nia, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia

Dance Exercies, Nia, Nia Campbell, Campbell Nia, Nia classes in Campbell, evening Nia, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia

Posted in Birds | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

Some April 2012 Backyard Happenings

Posted by terrepruitt on April 21, 2012

To me life is about learning.  I have learned a few things since I started my Nia Class on Monday in Campbell in the evenings and my Nia Class on Saturday.  It is much better for me to have Monday’s dinner cooked on Sunday.  So I have been planning my weekend meals so that I have leftovers on Monday.  You may have noticed that I didn’t post anything last Saturday . . . . lesson learned:  I need to make sure my Saturday post is done on Friday.  I have too many other things to do when I get home from my 10:00 am Nia Class.  It ends at 11:00 so I don’t get home until 11:30 (at the earliest) or noon!  So I really need to have my post done because the next thing I know it is 1:48 am on Sunday morning and I am just noticing I forgot to post on my blog.  😦  Well, it was only the second time I forgot.  The first time also was a Saturday.  This past week the weather has been gorgeous here in San Jose.  I haven’t spent much time lately getting any pictures of our yard happenings.  This past week while the weather was cool and nice I took a few.  I thought I would share some with you.  It has been awhile since I have shared some fun pictures on my blog.Dance Exercies, Nia, Nia Campbell, Campbell Nia, Nia classes in Campbell, evening Nia, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia

This guy has an injured foot.  I noticed his injury about the same time I hurt my foot.  I try to keep an eye on him and make sure he gets some nuts.  And he makes sure I know he wants nuts.  He will find a spot where he can look in a window at me and stare.  He will stare at me until I go outside and give him some peanuts.

He is doing that now.  Staring.  Of course, I went outside and gave him some nuts.  Did you notice how clear the sky is?

Dance Exercies, Nia, Nia Campbell, Campbell Nia, Nia classes in Campbell, evening Nia, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, NiaSometimes the squirrels drop whatever it is once they get it up to the roof.  There is often fruit in our yard that doesn’t blog to any tree we have.

Dance Exercies, Nia, Nia Campbell, Campbell Nia, Nia classes in Campbell, evening Nia, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, NiaHere is a picture of the cat enjoying the sun.  She will stay in the sun for a bit, then get too hot and move.

Dance Exercies, Nia, Nia Campbell, Campbell Nia, Nia classes in Campbell, evening Nia, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, NiaThe blue jay was getting some nuts.  I took a few shots “through” the chair then I went out and turned it so I could get a clear shot.  And of course I sat there for a long time waiting.  I got bored with staring at my camera at a peanut filled chair so I started taking pictures of the cat.  What happens?  The blue jay sneaks back while I wasn’t paying attention.  But I managed to get a few.Dance Exercies, Nia, Nia Campbell, Campbell Nia, Nia classes in Campbell, evening Nia, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia

Dance Exercies, Nia, Nia Campbell, Campbell Nia, Nia classes in Campbell, evening Nia, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, NiaOf course the squirrels wanted some too!Dance Exercies, Nia, Nia Campbell, Campbell Nia, Nia classes in Campbell, evening Nia, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia

Dance Exercies, Nia, Nia Campbell, Campbell Nia, Nia classes in Campbell, evening Nia, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, NiaI wanted to get some shots of our blooming rose bush.  A while back I was unhappy with the wilderness that was out the window so I went outside and did some pruning.  It was completely “Edward Scissorhands” style as I just took the saw and went right and left and left and right and up and down and down and up and all around.  I just wanted all the wildness gone.  So I was very concerned that I wrecked the bush.  So when I saw one rose I was very happy.  And now that the whole bush is blooming I am really happy and wanting to share.  I’ve posted about how weird our roses are.  But I still like them, even though they start out really sunset orange and then fade to a washed out peach.  They SMELL really good. 

Dance Exercies, Nia, Nia Campbell, Campbell Nia, Nia classes in Campbell, evening Nia, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, NiaOne bush has a single flower on it.   The single flower is pictured below.Dance Exercies, Nia, Nia Campbell, Campbell Nia, Nia classes in Campbell, evening Nia, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia

Well, thank you for stopping by and visiting our yard.  We enjoy the entertainment the wildlife offers and the beauty that the flowers share with us.  I hope you did too.

Do you have a flower garden?  Do you have a vegetable garden?  Fruit trees?  Does any wildlife visit your yard?

Posted in Birds, Flowers, Misc | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments »

Assessing The Threat Level – Can It Eat Us?

Posted by terrepruitt on August 16, 2011

Our cat is an indoor cat. She does not go outside. I honestly feel that cats should be able to go outside. There are so many fun things for cats to experience; butterflies, grass, fences, frogs, lizards, flowers, etc. They do belong outside, able to roam, but unfortunately there are also many dangers. In addition to believing that cats really should be allowed to go outside, I feel that people must take responsibility for their pet(s) and that can come with a heavy price tag. Neither my heart nor my wallet could afford having to fix my cat if one of those outside dangers were to injure her. In our neighborhood we have raccoons, opossums, dogs, cats, cars, and sometimes the worst danger of all . . . other people. Not everyone is an animal lover or they might not enjoy a kitty fertilizing their garden — understandable. So we keep our cat inside. She, like a lot of indoor animals, LOVES to sit by any open door or window. She can sit there for hours. She stares and sniffs, and sniffs and stares. She will often go from door to door as if patrolling her yard. My hubby and I feed birds and squirrels in our yard in hopes that they will serve as entertainment for the cat. We have learned that we are overly entertained by our yard animals too. As I have posted before, the animals often distract me when I am doing a Nia routine or working out.

My hubby and I also have animal protocol, if there is an animal in the yard and we are on our way out to the yard, we stop and wait for it to settle or be gone. If we are in the yard and one comes in we freeze and let it do what it is there to do then we proceed. We often will stop what we are doing (pause a DVD, pause our conversation, etc.) to watch the various critters that come to visit. They are very entertaining. They eat, they play, they drink, they take baths. It is all very fun to watch. They can be quite silly.

We used to have blue jays come with their babies every year. They must have nested in our neighbor’s yard, because one year he drastically trimmed the trees and the babies that visit now are not nearly as young as the ones we used to have. So I believe the birds are having their babies elsewhere and sometimes they come here to eat or bath, but they are not here over a period of months as they once were. It is interesting and very amusing watching “babies” learn new things.

I believe the video included in this post is a group of “baby” hummingbirds. They are either babies or they are adults new to our yard and they have not seen the “house” that we allow our cat to go outside in. The hummingbirds swarm around the house to see what exactly is the threat of the animal inside. It is quite entertaining. They did this just a few times and have since learned that she is no threat and they act as if she is not there. The squirrels often check her out though. They climb on the table and peer in at her. She just looks back at them, rarely does she rush at them. She knows she can’t get them, but I don’t think they are always so sure.

On this video you can hear the birds making their little chitter noise. I imagine them saying, “What is it doing?  What is it?  Can it eat us?”

Posted in Birds | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments »

Baby Blue Jays – August 2009

Posted by terrepruitt on August 20, 2009

We have recently had baby blue jays surface.  For the most part I don’t even know they are there.  When they do make noise it is hilarious.  I can’t tell how many there are.  I think there are at least two, maybe three, but at least one has a hilarious voice.  It is not the squawk of a blue jay yet.  I can’t even describe it, but it makes me laugh.  Whatever I am doing I will stop to listen to him.  It is so funny.  I tried to record it today, but . . . I only have my iPhone and the baby stopped the second I pressed record.  Then all the other birds started in and drowned out his little voice. 

Anyway, it is Thursday, and I haven’t posted birds once this month so I thought I would share some baby pictures.  The babies are deceptively large.  At first, you don’t realize that the baby is the baby because he is so much bigger than the adults then it opens its mouth and makes this pathetic noise or it walks and has absolutely no grace. 

So, please keep in mind I am not posting this pictures because they are good pictures and I wanted to share, I am posting them because they are our babies and I wanted to share.

 

 

 

 

 

Its a beautiful day in San Jose for this bird to sit by the water. 

 

 

 

 

 Do you see his brother (sister?) on the rock behind him?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think the one on the rock is the one that is has the funny little voice.  It is so funny. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Babies just stand different.  They are still learning.  It is so funny to watch them move.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think the one on the rock still wants to be fed because he will open his wings and make his little noise.  He “screams” at the top of his voice.  But scream is a harsh word since it sounds so cute, but . . . you can tell it is a workout for him.  He puts a lot of effort into it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Ooooh, balancing on one foot.  Good.

 

 

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Silhouettes

Posted by terrepruitt on July 30, 2009

I love these.  At first I was disappointed because you can’t actually see the colors, but I looked at them again, and, I like them.

Look, you can see the tiny feet.

He’s not landing because he keeps getting chased off.

Their little feet are so cute!

I always think that we are so lucky because in San Jose, California, we get to see them for a long period during the year.  And we have about eight.  My friend just posted on FaceBook that she has too many to count.  She has to fill her feeders twice a day.  We have six feeders and we don’t fill them that much.  When it is hot, it works out to maybe twice  a week, but when it is cooler they don’t drink at much.

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Hummingbirds In Our Yard

Posted by terrepruitt on June 25, 2009

I love to watch our hummingbirds.  I have always wanted to try to film them.  I know it is almost impossible given our equipment and our yard, but I thought I would try.  Yes, I know I posted hummingbird pictures on my last “whatever” Thursday, but remember, my blog, my rules—and a lot of people seemed to enjoy the hummingbirds–maybe it was the tongue.

I think this is getting to be their kind of weather.  I am going to warn you, you will probably see a lot of them on my blog—hopefully you’ll come back.  They are so entertaining.  And as I always say since we are in San Jose we have them for a long period of time.  It just works out that way with our wonderful weather.

So I was outside for about an hour and a half.  I shot about 100 videos.  Most of them were just a few seconds long because that is how fast the hummingbirds are.  A lot of them are clear, a lot of them are not.  Our camera auto focuses and it has a difficult time with moving feeders. 

My goal was to post a short video of a hummingbird flying and maybe feeding.  Well, just as it was getting too dark to film—and the shots started getting grainy—I got this really long sequence of birds eating, flying, fighting, and just all around being the entertaining birds that they are.  So I apologize that it is over 5 minutes long.  Also, I apologize because I am talking throughout the video, but they actually smack each other.  And they do it audibly.  You might not be able to hear it on the video but I could hear it.  And they would do it right over my head! 

At one point, around 3.28 you’ll hear “wrrrrr” that is a bird flying over me and the microphone. 

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