Rambi? Thursday & Neighborhood Birds Today

Despite lots of extra time "sheltering in place", I couldn't get Mike VanderStelt's latest video to fit the restrictions of the blog.  So while reading his Thursday email below, imagine you're seeing a Mourning Dove eating seed from a tilted plastic container on a wooden deck and not flying away despite the repeated tapping of Mike's foot:

"This is the one that hangs around all day everyday,  Plus, although it gets a little bit antsy, it rarely ever flies away if I move around, unlike the others, that if I move an inch will all fly off across the pond.  If this particular one flies off, it just goes ten feet up into a branch and then turns back around and sits down staring at me.  I set this down on the floor and tilted it to the side because of the rain.  Plus I turned it a little bit so if he came in he would have to eat a little bit blind to me. (He was sitting on a branch watching me move it.)  When I tap my boot on the deck, I am doing it fairly hard, I have tried it a couple times with others that come up and land on the deck rail, but I can't even get the first tap out.  As soon as I move my foot, they are history.  Also, I took this video after he had been down there for about 5 minutes, and he stayed, got his fill, actually walked about a foot or so closer to me, then only flew off because another one came in and landed on the rail down at the other end of the deck, and as per usual, he chased it off the railing, then continued on across the pond.  Maybe I am just hoping it is Rambi, but it sure acts a little bit different than the rest."

Meanwhile if the Corona virus hadn't canceled today's Grand Ravines field trip, our walk would have been even colder than on our "dry run" earlier in the month.  Temps in the 20's made staying home a sensible choice this morning.  This afternoon wasn't much warmer, but the sun helped as I photographed some birds in our backyard maple tree:

Male House Finch

Female Downy Woodpecker

No photos of the Red-shouldered Hawks screaming over their nest somewhere in the woods across the street.  I'll check for the blueberry patch woodcocks again this evening; no peenting so far this year.

- Ric