Sunday 26 October 2014

Action at the bird feeder

It's been quite the week for many. My coughing is lessening, although I'm still up at night.  The coughing is giving me headaches, it's so bad! The antibiotics are doing their work, as well as the ventolin puffer. Thank goodness for drugs! Thanks to all who have been asking.
Sadie has a bad cold, too! She's wheezing and sneezing. No temperature, though, and she should get over it.

Thursday the sun came out. I grabbed the zoom and sat awhile. My coughing scares Daisy and hubby, no one else seems bothered! Buster just sits on my lap when he is in for the day. More on that later, too! He's the best hot water bottle!

You can imagine the outtakes! All of us have those funny bird butt photos. Gone are the days when we had to throw out bad photos. The trick to this photo shoot was to prefocus the camera, putting it on manual. The autofocus was useless!

SC #47
No birds were harmed at the feeder. The cats have managed to grab only a few birds in the summer. None at the feeders since I put them up. We had a bird of prey at the front, I think, and we lost a blue jay and a grouse this month. They were going so fast, right into the window. More on the grouse in another post.

The birds watch the cats carefully. They almost taunt the cats! In our last year here, they've caught 6 birds, and I've released two. This, in summer.

The ornamental corn the woodpeckers love. The bucket underneath is the one where I put whole peanuts. About 10 seconds after I put a handful of peanuts in, the blue jays begin. It relieves the pressure for the other birds, since the jays dominate the feeder. They do need an air traffic controller, though, as there were several near misses as they dove in for food.

13 comments:

eileeninmd said...

Hello Jen, I hope you feel better soon.. I love your feeder birds. The jays are woodies are both great birds to watch... wonderful photos. Thank you for linking up, have a happy day!

Roan said...

You certainly had a productive day with your camera. Lots of birds. I have been listening to the news re the shootings. I never think of Canada as a place where something like this could happen. Guess I was wrong. So sad.

Christine said...

Lovely bird photos! Seagull art is coming next weekend! Stay tuned Jenn.

Phil Slade said...

I hope you feel better soon Jennifer. Bird watching is therapeutic don't you find? The Blue Jays alone look to be great entertainment. I bet that puss would like some camouflage gear.

Hilary said...

Keep on feeling better! I love the shot of the bluejay flying off with the peanut in its mouth.. the one in the middle of three. Great capture.

One of my cats runs away if I simply clear my throat. I don't know what it is about coughing, sneezing and hemhemming that scares him so.

Nancy J said...

Lovely series, and great feeders everywhere. For your ribs and lungs, have you tried the what is now old-fashioned kaolin poultices? They do help, and if not available, I think somewhere there will be a "recipe" or method for one using stale bread. Anything with heat to ease the pain, I know breathing is difficult, coughing so painful, and even to walk is not easy. Rest up, dear friend, Love and hugs, Jean

William Kendall said...

Such beautiful bird shots, and I get a kick out of the cat reactions!

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
Hi Jenn, getting a 'window' to catch up a bit - travelling interferes with blog reading a bit! - sorry you have had such a nasty dose of lurgy and do hope it will not linger too much longer.

These are just delightful shots; bringing lightness to life. YAM xx

DeniseinVA said...

I hope you feel better soon too Jenn, I can sympathize because I have had one of those respiratory infections that just won't quit and the coughing can be horrendous. Your photos are amazing, I love them all but I particularly loved the ones you caught while flying. Gorgeous shots all of them!

Jen said...

Great pics of the blue jays. I may offer the ones around here a peanut or two and see if they like them as much as yours do. Hope you're better soon.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Nice bird selection! You have so many beauties! Scrub jays used to almost land on one of our cats, I swear I could hear them laughing about it. Long time ago, we have no pets now

. Keep on getting better.

Adam Jones said...

Great pictures, and I'd love to see some of these birds here in the UK.

Unknown said...

Wonderful photos of the birds and the cats. I love the woodies.