Timothy's Wildlife Watch

While out on a shopping adventure with Momma, we stopped to have lunch in a parking lot near PetSmart. I could hear all these strange squawking sounds that I've never heard a'fore. Momma then said "oh Timmy, look up"! When I did, I saw the most fabulous thing! Lellow, webbed feetsies! I've never seen a birdie with webbed feetsies a'fore!
Momma said, "Wait Oobie, I have an idea! What if we put a french fry on the dashboard?" And a'fore we knowed it, there he was... A great big seagull...inches from my sharp teethies!! He landed on the monster with wheels and started walking around on the hood. I had all I could do to keep myself from freaking out! I maked my eye things get all way big and my whiskers flared out really wide! I sat up and put my paws on the dashboard and chittered like a crazy cat!!
Momma sure knows how to make a poodin happy! See here? This is a different seagull...he didn't have brown speckles like the first one did. They are two different kinds. You can see the french fry that's just outta reach. No worries, after taking a few pictures and me chittering at them like crazy, Momma threw a handful of fries out the window for them :)

Labels: wildlife watch

Here's one of the few squirrels that try so very hard to eat the birdseed. Because it's Winter and oh so cold out, Momma filled the birdbath with cracked corn since the water would freeze over. Now, the squirrels have their own food and haven't bothered the birdfeeders as much. Who knew!? Well, they do still bother me. One came on the window sill this morning and I showed him who's boss around these here parts. I pawed and drummed on the window so loud! He stood up and looked right at me...so I gave him the evil eyes and he took off runnin!

New to our feeders this year are the White-Throated Sparrows! At a quick glance, they look very much like our usual sparrows. But if you squint real hard, you'll see a little patch of lellow feathers right above their eyes. What a neat little song they sing too!

Now my last recording doesn't have a picture (yet) because they're "too fast" so says my photographer (such a lame excuse!) I always see them scratchin' around on the ground for food. They usually come whenever the White-Throated Sparrow does and from my research, I've read that sometimes they mate with the sparrows and create hybrids! Wouldn't that be cool? Oh wait. I didn't tell you who they are yet! It's the Dark-Eyed Junco! Grammie has heard that they've lived in Mew Jersey for a long time now, but it's just recently that we've seen them at the feeders. Here's a sampling of their song: Junco

Do you see it? Do you? That there is a little cat sun bathing under the great big tree in our front yard! Momma spotted it taking a bath and rolling on it's back showin' off it's belly. She tried very hard to make it feel at home by giving that kitty some of mine MINE stinky goodness. The nerve of her. If I'm gonna share mine stinky goodness, I want to at least KNOW the poodin. Anyway, as soon as Momma gotted near the kitty got spooked and slinked off under the tree. Hopefully mine stinky goodness didn't go to waste. I hopes that kitty camed back and had a nice meal for itself.

We all thinked that it was the neighbor's kitty and when we asked him about it, he said "I thought it was yours!" Turns out, this little kitty doesn't a'long to anyone and sneaks around our yards. One day, Momma sawed it sneak into our neighbor's trash cans. Shmaybe one day Momma will be able to convince it to come and see her.

Here's a fun birdie that my photographer spotted having a snack yesterday! What a fancy birdie eh? See the red on his head? Such a very clever lookin' fella. I sure hopes he doesn't a'cide to sit up in our gutter and peck for food. One year, every morning Momma said the woodpecker would go up there and peck at 7 AM! It sounded like the roof was falling off the house! I'm glad I wasn't around to hear that but I sure hopes that this guy doesn't get that idea. Sounds a bit scary.

I honestly thought that we would never see the sun thing come back and warm us up again! It's been rather chilly outside the house this year. But Spring is here whether the weather wants it to be or not! All the aminals are coming back out of their hiding places and coming to our yard in search of food! Our first hint that it was Spring was the yard full of Robins! The weather bowed to them and welcomed them back to the area by letting the sun thing come out and warm it up a bit!


Here's a mourning dove, no, nothin's wrong with it! Promise! It was sunbathing :) Every day we find them hanging out under the feeders in the sun. They like it when the little birds knock the good seed down on the ground and then they can peck around at it.


Grammie noticed this little beauty. It's the white breasted nuthatch! You should see them sometime! They're quite silly a'cause they can climb up and down the trees like a woodpecker and they knock on the wood to hear little buggies that are hiding in there and stuff...


Here's the most funnest one of all to talk about! Momma gotted the thistle feeder just so that this little guy would come, and he did! And he does! Every day, four little goldfinches have their meals here. Their song is so light and pretty, it reminds me of my good old friend, Tangie. He would have loved to hear them sing...


This am "The Dog Family". That's what Momma and Grammie call them. Every day, these two beans walk their doggies in front of our house. Whoever sees them walking by always says, "Oh! there goes the dog family!" Momma loves Beagles and as you can see, they have two! So she's always wanted to sneak a picture of them and finally got the shot! They don't live too far up the road from us. Sometimes, I can hear them barking outside...they have a funny bark (tee-hee!)

For the last few weeks, I've noticed a very cute little girl coming for lunch. Today, she brought along her husband who was quite striking with his reddish purple feathers... You can't see their colorings very well in this photo though. I thought they were purple finches until I read up on them and figured that the house finch is much more common to our area.

Isn't she lovely? The female had a little speckled belly and what looked like a hint of greenish yellow to her feathers and when the sun came out brightly, she was just lovely :) And might I add, quite dainty too!

Mr. House Finch on the other hand was quite stunning with his feathers all bright in the sunlight. Look at how spectacular he looks! Did you know that the female house finch looks for a husband by searching out the male birdie with the brightest plumage? It's true! The male house finch's colorings become brighter depending on the food he eats. The more red in his diet, the brighter he becomes! So, when the female looks for a husband, she seeks out the brightest fella around a'cause if he can find enough food to make him so pretty, then surely he can find enough food for her and the babies that they'll have!

I sure do hope that they come back again and again...and that it's not one of their stops along the way to the woodsy area by our house.

I was looking out the window the other day, enjoying the birdies that were having their lunch. The usual gang was there...ya know, chickadees, sparrows, cardinals and doves...but then, I looked up in the sky! There it was! Bigger than life!

I got my photographer up out of her chair fast enough to catch it on film but unfortunately, the door kinda got in the shot. I am not kidding when I tell you that that birdie was as big as me. It was humungoid!! Look at those feathers! And it's wise eyes were watching me and my photographer. She suspects it was soaring over the house eyeing the birdies that were having lunch. She thought shmaybe it wanted one of those birdies for it's lunch!

We watching this great big birdie soar over the house two more times and then it disappeared. I told my photographer to go outside and see if it was soaring over a nearby house. She was able to get one more shot of it:

And when she camed back in the house, she said there were TWO of them!! They haven't been back since but WOW what an amazing birdie!

Here I am on Sunday morning. The sky maked so much snow that it filled up my window! I was so upset that I pawed at the window to wipe it away but it didn't work. Then I tried to will it away by staring at it and squinting really hard. But know what? Momma realized that I couldn't see out at the birdies and she fixed it for me :) She opened the window and tapped at the snow until it fell down. I sniffed it and gotted some on my nose, it was cold and wet!!! But knows what? It tasted really good!
Can you a'lieve how much snow there was out there?!?! So much! The poor little birdies didn't come to eat that much until the afternoon when it warmed up a bit. The sun thing camed out and melted some of the snow away from the birdie feeder. Just in time too! There were all sorts of birdies out there! This weekend, Momma and me are going to participate in something called the Great Backyard Bird Count. I can't wait!! I'm not very good at counting birdies but I'm surely going to help Momma keep track of them all! I'm really good at chittering and watching them :)
Speaking of birdies, here's a special treat for you! It was for us too. Grammie noticed this birdie looking in the window at us! Momma maked a funny joke by saying "Wow Timmy, Dinner is served!" LOL! Oh Momma, she's such a kidder. I'd never eat such a nice birdie. It am a mourning dove. I haven't seen it come to the feeder a'fore. It's not really at the feeder yet though! It's sitting on top of it! LOL!!!

We gotted a new birdie feeder too! Momma putted it right near the other feeder so the birdies can hop from one, to the other. It am a special feeder for special birdies. It holds thistle seeds. Grammie says thistle is like gourmet food for outdoor birdies. Momma says finches and songbirdies like it a lot. So far, the visitors we've had are chickadees, titmouses (or is it titmice?! LOL) and a newbie, Mrs. Goldfinch!! (You can't see her very well through the screen but if you squint, you can see her better!)