Photo Courtesy of: Flickr Photos and Shared through Creative Commons by Kenneth Cole Schneider
A bird exactly like the one in the photograph above visited my yard in the past week or two. I was thrilled when I first spotted him, and became even more enthralled when he whimsically jumped aboard my old-fashioned swing. He hopped around the yard a few minutes and then took to wing.
I immediately went to the computer and typed all his characteristic markings into Google. Larger sized bird, purple/black crescent on chest, spots, and a red stripe on head. I searched through images that came up and soon identified my “pheathered” visitor as a Flicker.
I have had a large variety of birds in my yard this year. I think it is due in part to this new/old suet feeder my father gave to me. It is protected from marauding squirrels by an outer cage, and seems to have drawn many more woodpeckers, flickers and other nuthatch type birds to the yard.
I have two small bird baths, but this large-sized bath in the back garden is a popular place. I can look out all through the day and see birds drinking and bathing. I’m having a good time bird-watching this summer.
Here’s an addition to this post that I am re-printing here from the comment section. Thanks James!
IDEA:
“I took a plastic birdbath & drilled 2 small holes in it….1 in the base, & 1 in the dish.
I then took 2 couplers*(I think that’s what they are called) & inserted them in the holes(there are nuts & washers on both ends to tighten against the plastic).
I then used a small rubber type hose, to run from the base to the dish…secured each end of the hose with a adjustable hose clamp.
On the base, I added a converter so that I could hook up a garden hose to the bird bath.
On the piece that protrudes from the dish, I found(at a garden store) nozzle that clamps onto that piece….
now in the summer, when the birds need it most, they have a constant “shower” in which to bathe….and I get the honor of watching them as they do..
footnote:
where the couplers go through the plastic, I added a clear silicone sealant to keep out the weather & to keep in the gravel that I added to the base for ballast weight.
With this extra weight in the bottom, the bird bath is not so apt to get blown over during storms.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This DIY project may seem complicated to some, but it really isn’t hard at all, and it doesn’t take a lot of time once you get everything you need. & it’s cheap too!
I had most of what I needed, so it didn’t cost much…I think I spent $4 or $5 on the whole thing…but like I said, I had most of what I needed already.
I’m thinking about $10 for everything but the bird bath….maybe less.
*the couplers I speak of are hollow threaded tubes with a washer & a nut on both ends. these are made of steel, brass, or stainless steel.
stainless steel…….most expensive type, but the best quality
steel………………….moderately priced but cheapest quality
brass…………………cheapest cost but 2nd best quality “
MINDING MY P'S WITH Q 
It must be wonderful to sit on your back porch/patio on a nice sunny day, with a glass of iced tea/lemonade/beverage of your choice, watching the birds and viewing your garden. This is my 2nd year of watching Cornell’s bird cams (All about birds) featuring a pair of Red-tailed hawks (Ezra [EZ] and Big Red [BR]) raising their family. It’s addicting. Each year, in mid-spring, their chicks start out as 3 little white fuzz balls after hatching and drying out and grow into these beautiful majestic hawks that fledge from the nest in nearly 3 months. Ithaca is gorgeous and Cornell’s campus has wonderful rolling hills, trees and architecture – a perfect place for the fledgling hawks until they migrate in late fall.
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Sounds terrific! I’m going to go and google “cornell bird cams.”
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It is wonderful, Kathy. I’m sorry you missed this season. For now, the daily chat forum (an excellent feature that was offered) is closed since the babies fledged (it ran Sun. – Sat. from 6AM until 10PM EST) and you will only see tweets from one of the Moderators (Mods- very knowledgeable group of volunteers -you’d love them) that moderated different chat shifts and there is limited cam scans of the nest and the hawks, but from the time EZ and BR start refurbishing their selected nest until June 22nd of this year, chat was open. I was a “lurker” I didn’t chat but enjoyed the comments/discussions that occurred. There are currently birders on the ground (BOG’s) that will follow the fledglings at different times. Karel (pronounced as Carl) and his wife, referred to as BOGette, are providing live and mostly daily sessions of filming the fledges. There are only 2 for viewing, E1 and E2, E3 was injured a few weeks ago, had to have wing surgery, and is being taken care of in Cornell’s veterinary clinic. You will need to sign up for a LiveStream account (it’s free) and “Follow” Karel so you will be notified via email of an “event” (filming session). Incidentally, the babies are not named. This years chicks are E’s (E1, E2, E3 – by order of hatching). Next year they will be F’s. If you sign up for the Cornell Bird Cams emails, you will be notified when BR lays her eggs next season. If you have any questions, I’ll do my best to walk you through the process.
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Thanks so much Jane…it does sound wonderful! 🙂
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I took a quick peek…found it right away. OH MY! I know it is going to be something I go to frequently, and I think my husband will enjoy it too. I will probably feature the link to the site on the blog this week…thanks again so very much Jane. 🙂
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Great!! Yes, I will make you “hawkaholics” (the nickname for us followers. 😀
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My husband will like that one. He had the binoculars out watching a hawk in our neighborhood just this week. We are amazed at the size of a few in our area.
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The females are larger than the males. If you both follow the hawks next season, I guarantee you will be become so attached. We lost 2 fledgling D’s (out of 3) last year and it broke our hearts – one from blunt force trauma (probably a vehicle) and the other D’s legs were so wounded – perhaps trying to capture prey (a squirrel?) that it had to be euthanized. I believe fledglings have a 60% mortality rate their first year. They are not an endangered species but it still smarts.
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IDEA:
I took a plastic birdbath & drilled 2 small holes in it….1 in the base, & 1 in the dish.
I then took 2 couplers*(I think that’s what they are called) & inserted them in the holes(there are nuts & washers on both ends to tighten against the plastic).
I then used a small rubber type hose, to run from the base to the dish…secured each end of the hose with a adjustable hose clamp.
On the base, I added a converter so that I could hook up a garden hose to the bird bath.
On the piece that protrudes from the dish, I found(at a garden store) nozzle that clamps onto that piece….
now in the summer, when the birds need it most, they have a constant “shower” in which to bathe….and I get the honor of watching them as they do..
footnote:
where the couplers go through the plastic, I added a clear silicone sealant to keep out the weather & to keep in the gravel that I added to the base for ballast weight.
With this extra weight in the bottom, the bird bath is not so apt to get blown over during storms.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
this DIY project may seem complicated to some, but it really isn’t hard at all, and it doesn’t take a lot of time once you get everything you need. & it’s cheap too!
I had most of what I needed, so it didn’t cost much…I think I spent $4 or $5 on the whole thing…but like I said, I had most of what I needed already.
I’m thinking about $10 for everything but the bird bath….maybe less.
*the couplers I speak of are hollow threaded tubes with a washer & a nut on both ends. these are made of steel, brass, or stainless steel.
stainless steel…….most expensive type, but the best quality
steel………………….moderately priced but cheapest quality
brass…………………cheapest cost but 2nd best quality
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It sounds like a great idea. I’ll have to copy it and paste it into the body of the post as another good idea to try. Thanks so much for taking the time to write it down for the comment section.
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Any good deed, any kind word or any kind of wisdom that I may possess, I shall share it with others as often as I can, for if you have but 1 friend, that is not enough…and if you have but 1 enemy, that is too many.
And I love my friends.
🙂
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Thanks James!
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🙂
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