Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and Friends In Our St. Louis Yard

BlueBirds

2006-05-26T20:15:00.000-07:00

Baby Bluebirds on 5/19/2006. One has eye open and other one has foot talon hanging out of nest. Still pretty ugly though at this point.

Bluebirds eating mealworms. Get your mealworms!

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in EARLY May!

2006-05-17T19:56:00.000-07:00

This first picture, courtesy of next door neighbor, Dave.

Chickadee Blanket

2006-05-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

Did you know...

Chickadees often place a "blanket" over eggs and nestlings and are usually made of fur, and perhaps serve to hide the eggs and babies from predators like House Wrens and Eurasian Tree Sparrows, and/or to maintain temperatures when the female is out of the box.

5 Baby Bluebird Beaks!

2006-05-16T04:17:00.000-07:00

5/15/2006 - 5 beaks visible. All five have hatched.

Baby Bluebirds Hatched!

2006-05-16T04:15:00.000-07:00

5/13/2006 - Baby bluebirds hatched within last few days. Ugly thangs!

5 Eastern Bluebird Eggs

2006-05-16T04:05:00.000-07:00

5/7/2006 - 5 Bluebird eggs, very close to hatching, can't you tell?

Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird on 5/11/2006

2006-05-11T19:52:00.000-07:00

Migrant or local nester? She's feeding on flower on bottom left.

Cardinal Flower - Lobelia.

2006-05-11T09:49:00.000-07:00

Picture from 2005. Lobelia Cardinal Flower.

Picture of my Mailbox Honesuckle Garden from 2005

2006-05-11T09:45:00.000-07:00

Not as flowery as it is in 2006. I will have to get a picture of how it looks now. Lobelia Cardinal flowers are underneath mailbox. That is also a TOP hummingbird flower.

Early May 2006 Sightings

2006-05-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

Saw Male ruby-throated hummingbird 5/10/2006 morning in front yard mailbox coral honeysuckle.
Saw female ruby-throated hummingbird 5/10/2006 during rain at my back window feeder
Saw male and female ruby-throated hummingbird 5/11/2006 in front yard mailbox coral honeysuckle and pineapple sage in pots.

Interesting part: Female drove male away from mailbox coral honeysuckle. I don't know if I've ever seen that before.

Wondering if male was her offspring from last year and didn't want to put up with him. Or my even more dreamy thought is that she is nesting closer by than past years and will visit more often as a result and is protecting her food source. Because usually I would see female very rarely during spring...figuring nest was too far away for visiting our yards. Would be cool if nest was close to get more visits from from female.

Tennessee warblers have been in locust tree last few days. they are not too exciting however, plummage-wise.

First Rubythroated Hummingbird Showed up May 2, 2006

2006-05-05T19:12:00.000-07:00

Here in St. Louis, Missouri, our first Rubythroated hummingbird showed up in our backyard on May 2nd, 2006. The mrs. spotted it. I saw the Male rubythroated hummingbird again on May 3rd, 2006. We saw a male and a female tonight May 6th, 2006. They like all the flowers blooming now in my yard: Coral Honeysuckle, John-Clayton Honeysuckle, Wild Columbine, and Red Fortune Agastache. Success is here! We also have nesting bluebirds for the first time ever with 5 blue eggs waiting to hatch. They showed up on April 4th. We have nesting mockingbirds too. 2 baby birds present. Don't know what happened to other 3 eggs. And we had nesting chickadees who fledged May 4th, 2006. Our nesting cardinals have not laid any eggs yet. The House Wrens are now creating nests in neighbors yard and in our bluebird boxes. Pictures to be posted later!

Hummingbird Photo of the Week

2006-01-20T20:19:00.000-08:00

Here's a purty burdy to look at.