Rain Gryphon

So, I seem to have helped the Birds with a Friendship Problem. I have most of my feeder stations and the bath beneath a huge old Maple tree. It gives some coverage from the sky, as well as having a low branch over the bath that everyone can quickly reach even with waterlogged feathers, so that the Birds generally seem to feel more secure and relaxed there. I'd been dumping the peanuts right beside the seed tray, so they'd be easy to find. The Blue Jays had recently developed the annoying habit of gathering high in the tree, and then one of them would let loose with a Redtailed Hawk screech (they mimic this very well, and they're *loud*), and when the others scattered, the Jays would all come swarming down to eat peanuts.

Several places online assert that they do this for fun (and perhaps they may - they're certainly smart enough to enjoy fooling the other Birds), but it seemed to me that it was only when peanuts were on offer that they bothered. Also, you only ever had one Jay of a group giving the call. I'd expect less discipline were it done for fun.

So, IMHO, a food-related behaviour. My other big peanut fans are the Grackles. And while a Jay can take a Grackle in a one-on-one, normally when peauts were out you'd get seven to eight Grackles, but maybe only two to three Jays - sometimes only one. So, I think the Jays felt kinda threatened, is maybe why they did that.

Scattering the peanuts broadly over the yard seems to have fixed that. That stopped the food riots around the peanut pile, where the more dominant birds were basically hogging the resource - now I've got Jays and Grackles both busily hunting around the lawn. They seem, to me at least, happier doing it that way, perhaps because it more closely conforms to their natural behaviour. Certainly it gives the weaker and more timid birds a better chance to get peanuts. Everyone's getting along, and the Jays aren't panicking the other birds anymore. So, that works. Now, if I could devise a way to stop the Jays from eating the other birds' babies...

Okay. Something has opened up a major rift between the Birds and Squirrels. A few minutes ago I saw the Grackles and Starlings absolutely mobbing the new Squirrel as he fled up the tree. He was spiralling around the trunk trying to shake them, and they were just on his case bigly. He finally reached a hole. A few minutes later, the Chipmunk, who's lived under the back steps and beneath the foundation of the garage for a year or so, went out to see about getting some of the peanuts, as is her custom. She's done that for months when I put out peanuts, with never any friction between her and the Birds. This time a huge Grackle came at her instantly, just off the ground, squawking and making a big threat display. She fled back to her hole, presumably screaming like a little girl were I able to hear. That was major aggression - not the usual "get away from me" pissiness that you sometimes see around the feeders.

So, something happened. If I were to guess, I'd say that the Squirrel probably raided someone's nest. Hopefully a lesson has been learned.

So, I know the exact locations of two Robins' nests, and I'm pretty sure where the Cardinals have nested, although I prolly won't ever find it exactly. One Robin is in the big shrubbery/tree at the NW corner of the house. I found her accidentally the other day while clearing out grape vines. The other one is set up right outside the bathroom window, of all places, in plain sight from the window, although well-hidden otherwise. She started sitting her eggs Monday, so ought to hatch around the 27th or so. The other one is probably a few days in advance, although I'm unsure how much. The Cardinals are somewhere inside the shrubbery, probably right outside the picture window.

I found a predated Robin's egg Monday alongside the feeder. I'm pretty sure it's the work of the Cowbirds. I haven't checked either nest to be sure. Definitely carried there by a bird, as there was a hole in the very middle of the shell, and the yolk eaten out. For whatever reason, I've had absolute hordes of Cowbirds at the feeders this year - that's a very new thing. Lots of Sparrows, Grackles, and Blackbirds, along with many Doves (also new) and Cowbirds. We've also got a pair of Housefinches who are probably nesting nearby, possibly across the road among the Blackbirds, as well as the usual Woodpeckers.

I found a Song Sparrow's used nest while trimming back the shrub under the kitchen window. I was pretty sure they were in there, but I never knew for a fact. I've also started to attract Crows, although I'm not the least bit sure why. I've put out unshelled peanuts for them, although the Grackles seem to eat most of them. Crows are very, very wary about coming to eat with the rest, and the smaller birds are very cautious of the Crows. I may put something down at the end of the yard for them. There's at least one pair of Juncos as well. The other day, when I went to refill the seed tube, everybody flew away except this little cock Junco, who stared me down until I got about three feet away, when he lost his nerve.

Lots of bird sex, and mild mating fights, Cowbirds and Blackbirds especially. I also saw earlier today three cock Sparrows with one hen. Her actual mate (I think) was trying to keep the other two away, while she kind of circled, using him for a shield. She suddenly flopped onto her back with her wings spread, and he mounted her that way (which I've not seen before), and it was all over in a few seconds. Also one poor Dove, trying to impress a hen who wasn't really ready yet. He ended up finally just kind of posing before her, and puffed up his feathers to look big and impressive, but she wasn't having any.

This is really seriously the most activity I've ever seen at my feeders, lots of new birds, and constant action. I wonder how many grew up here, and are come back now?

I saw an Otter crossing the road! Exceptionally well-fed Otter too, or else pregnant. I don't know when their season for having babies is.

*****

Very aggressive Robin in what's left of the maple tree by the driveway. In about 30 minutes of sitting out front, I saw him chase off an Oriole (which you seldom see here), then a big Grackle cock. Robins are usually fairly mellow. I wondered at first if the Oriole's bright orange was upsetting to the Robin (cocks get twitchy in breeding season sometimes), but then he went after the Grackle too. I think he's just very touchy about his core territory right now. This is the tree that I lost part of last week, so I wonder if that has some bearing. There's bound to be a nest up there, but I don't see it.

If there was a nest in there that got wrecked, I didn't find any eggs or hatchlings, and I think I would have, since I raked pretty thoroughly. Robin's nests that fall in storms usually leave little blobs of muddy sticks, too.