We have wren babies! Mama Carolina Wren has five little young’ns of which she is taking most excellent care.

True to a wren’s nature, she picked a most annoying spot to build her nest. In the past we’ve had nests in the garage, where we had to remove a pane of glass to give the mama access in and out. We’ve had them in the shed, where we just couldn’t get anything out without sending mama into a flurry. This time, Mrs. Wren chose my “garden bar” — shelves on which I like to grow seedlings for my garden. We’d moved it behind the shed temporarily while working on the patio, and she claimed it for nest construction before we could move it back. So my little seedlings are nervously attempting to grow in potential peril of canine catastrophes, way too close to trampling paws. When those baby birds fledge, I’m reclaiming my garden shelves!

The eggs were quite small and speckled with brown. We waited with anticipation for those eggs to hatch, and all 5 hatched within 24 hours of each other. This happened from April 2 to 3.

Tiny little almost-naked things, but not featherless. It’s hard to see it from the pictures, but the little fuzz on their heads make them look like they have Mohawk hairstyles.

Below are the birds at about 5 days old. You can see they have a good covering of downy feathers at this point. They sleep with their heads stacked neatly upon another, little mouths conveniently located near the nest entrance.

And in the photo below they are about 6 days old. You can see that their eyes are beginning to open. Take a closer look at the baby bird on the right, in front — you’ll see that Mohawk look I was talking about.

While I miss my garden bar, I’m glad for the opportunity to watch the growth of these little cuties. Mama Wren has been most tolerant of my momentary visits, and I’m grateful to her. She’s a good mama. More pictures as the babies get bigger!

A weekend trip out to the Pineywoods to see Nana and Papa Don’s new rural property proved to be a birdwatching opportunity extraordinaire, just in time for the Great Backyard Bird Count. Getting up early on Sunday, I sat quietly outside with camera, notepad, and binoculars in hand for thorough observation and counting.

Being out in country, we witnessed numerous sparrows and other birds I just don’t get to see much, if at all, in urban Austin. The White-Throated Sparrows were plentiful — they are easy to distinguish by their — ahem — white throat feathers, as well as the little golden patches between their eyes and bill.

The Cardinals were the brightest of the lot — at least the males were — and they were feisty, chasing each other all around. In their favorite barely-budding tree, they looked like big red fruit.

The winners of the tally were without a doubt the American Goldfinches. We counted 36 in the backyard alone, and they feasted from feeders and foraged in the grass. They are still in their winter feathers, but some of them had very noticeable yellow showing through — summer coloration on its way.

The Goldfinches had no problem sharing the best food spots with other birds, like Chipping Sparrows and Cardinals.

For sheer beauty, the Eastern Bluebirds had my vote. I’m biased because I so rarely see blue-feathered birds, except for Blue Jays. The female Bluebird below is much paler than her mate, who sported vibrant blue and tan feathers but decided to not be accessible for a decent picture.

There were two Red-bellied Woodpeckers visiting at the feeders, and two Northern Flickers foraged in the field at the back of the property. I didn’t realize Flickers foraged on the ground, but apparently they like ants. In contrast, the Red-bellied Woodpeckers would grab seeds from the feeder and fly up to nearby trees to break the shells open. When they weren’t eating, the Woodpeckers called loudly from the trees or rat-ta-tat-tatted on the telephone pole nearby. It can be hard sometimes to tell that they have red belly feathers — the picture below hints at the belly blush. 

January is a quiet month at Hornsby Bend, with primary activity coming from the ducks at the ponds and the wintering songbirds in the woodlands. Even so, 98 species were counted by Travis Audubon birders earlier this month. I was at Hornsby Bend just last weekend, taking a Purple Martin workshop and apparently duckweed watching.

After the workshop I headed over to the ponds. I’m a duck newbie, so I took delight in just watching the birds swim around and taking an occasional picture. The only birds I could easily identify were the American Coots, as their white bills and dark feathers are very distinguishable features.

The sun was rapidly getting low in the sky, so picture pickins’ were already few, but to make matters worse, my camera battery ran out of juice right before I happened upon a very curious site: several large groups of ducks packed together in a swirling mass in the water, heads feeding below the surface. I’d never witnessed such a phenomena — and drat it, I wanted my camera working! Turns out these were likely Northern Shovelers, filter-feeding as a group.

Looking back through my photos, I did manage to get a picture of a Northern Shoveler — I think — keeping watch over nearby sleeping females.

And while at other times of the year, killdeer are quite plentiful along the water puddles and shore areas, I only saw about 3, and only one of them was kind enough to stay still for a photo.

As always, I long to return to Hornsby Bend for a better visit. Maybe I can get back there during the spring migrations — at a better time of day for photographs!

The cold weather this past week brought a flurry of not snow but birds, and the activity at the feeders was busier than ever. We saw some old familiar favorites join the foraging winter flock, including cardinals, house finches, and goldfinches, as well as some species that are new to me.

Of course, the titmice, chickadees, nuthatches, and wrens are still around, too. All I can say is, “Welcome!”

My friend Marya gave me a container of Jim’s Birdacious Bark Butter from Wild Birds Unlimited, and I tried it out this week. As true as it promises, the birds love it. 

When it was really cold outside, they went crazy for the Bark Butter, and some birds skipped the birdseed entirely. They’ve already cleaned the bark of the high-protein treat, so I’ll be sure to spread some more on right away. Thank you, Marya — the bark butter is a hit!

And on a completely different note, Happy Birdie Birthday to my sister Heather!

EDIT: My friend Jane, a Travis Audubon urban bird guru, identified the two last birds above for me — the bottom one is an Orange-Crowned Warbler, and the one above it is a pale Yellow-Rumped Warbler. Jane, thank you!