Rambunctious Robin

When we first set up the Birdfy bird feeder, the first to arrive were the sparrows and house finches. Gradually, the larger birds ventured to try it out and we saw grackles, redwings, mourning doves and cardinals. When I noticed a robin hopping around on the ground, I was willing it to come on up and give it a go and eventually it did.

We don’t very often see robins on any of the bird feeders, they usually prefer to poke about in the lawn looking for worms, so I was rather surprised when this one paid a return visit.

And it kept coming back. By this time it was starting to get quite bold. It was almost as though it knew it was having its picture taken. It was literally ‘watching the birdie.’ The thing had become stagestruck!

And it was definitely hogging the limelight. It wouldn’t allow any other birds on the scene. In fact it was even chasing them off of the other feeders. No one else could get a look-in. There was no way this bird was sharing the spotlight.

I rarely chase away any birds, other than the pigeons, from the feeders, but this robin is becoming a distinct pest. Every time I get a notification on my phone that there’s activitiy on the feeder, I look at the screen and there’s the robin peering back at me.

Birdfy

As some of you may remember, I recently received a Netvue Birdfy bird feeder as a Christmas gift. I’ve been waiting for the better weather to try it out, and I can finally share some of the shots that have resulted. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this gadget, it’s a bird feeder that comes with a built-in camera and microphone.

It’s not perfect, by any means – it will never replace my Canon EOS – but it’s a fun gizmo to have on hand. once you get it up and running. Birdfy only works with 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, so the first thing we had to do was figure out how to split our Wi-Fi band. Assembling the feeder was easy and there are several ways to install it either by mounting it on a pole or attaching it to a wall or fence. It comes with all the necessary screws, brackets and clamps.

At first, I opted for mounting it on my old Bogen tripod. I figured it would be easier to move around the garden. It’s quite substantial and very steady so it seemed like the ideal solution. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, I couldn’t stop the squirrels from reaching the feeder, so had to settle for attaching it to the existing pole that holds our other bird feeders. Even then, the squirrel was so determined to reach the new feeder that it jumped a good 10ft from the top of my fake tree to reach it. Luckily, I was watching the livestream on my phone while sitting at the computer and rushed out to chase him off. Needless to say, I will now have to move the fake tree.

Getting Birdfy to communicate with the Wi-Fi was a rather more frustrating process. Apparently our Wi-Fi signal is not that great and even with an extender, the livestreaming on the camera keeps dropping out, something I will just have to learn to live with, I suppose.

I would definitely recommend purchasing the additional mini solar panel that is easily affixed to the feeder. It keeps the power to the camera sustained and saves having to constantly take it down to recharge it.

It has taken the birds a while to get used to this new feeder but you might have guessed the sparrows would be the first ones to try it out.

Birdfy even identifies the bird species and downloads a video and still shots onto your phone or you can take your own screen shots. The camera will support up to 128GB Micro SD card for extra storage. So far, it has downloaded pictures of house finches, cardinals, redwing blackbirds and cowbirds and, although many of the shots are blurred and unusable, there are still quite a few that are reasonably sharp. It’s also nice to be able to hear the individual birdsongs clearly through the microphone.

One of the advantages of the Birdfy is that you can also use it as a security camera. It has a siren that you can activate from the phone and the microphone allows you to communicate with anyone walking around in the garden. There are several other options that you can subscribe to, but for me, what there is in this package is quite sufficient.

Square Odds

It’s good to see that Becky is back again with her Square Photo Challenges. This month the subject is Square Odds. While I was at the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Orchid Show, I stopped in at the Desert Greenhouse where the plants are definitely odd looking. You probably would never see one of these growing in a garden in this area.

The Greatest Show On Earth!

Roll up! Roll up, folks, and see the greatest show on earth! The Chicago Botanic Garden’s Orchid Show, with this year’s Circus theme, is a spectacle not to be missed.

After passing through The Big Top, you come to a section that resembles a giant carousel, with lights and fantastic creatures all decked out with orchids.

These colorful displays feature every kind of orchid that you could possibly imagine. And to put us in the circus mood, appropiate music and sound effects play throughout the show.

As we enter the Hall of Mirrors, young and old alike can’t help but laugh at the distorted images that look back at them.

Walking through the greenhouses, I feel, once again, like a kid in a candy store. And for those of us who are itching to get outside and play in the dirt, this is the perfect antidote to the winter blues.

In keeping with the circus spirit, the orchids are performing on the trapeze, while overhead, they are doing tricks on a unicycle. But don’t worry there’s a net below to catch anyone who falls.

Despite the fact that a timed ticket is needed for entry to the show, the place was packed, and everyone naturally wanted to take pictures. I was no exception, as you can imagine. This is always an incredible oppotunity that is too good to pass up.

As the band played on, everyone seemed in very good spirits, enjoying the beautiful flowers and remarking on what a great show it was this year. I agree with them. This was just the boost that this annual show needed.

But if you want to catch the show, you need to be quick. Saturday is the last day to visit before the circus leaves town. If you can make it, I highly recommend seeing the show. It really is amazing!

On Thin Ice

We had some unseasonably mild weather on Thursday and Friday, so I took the opportunity to get some fresh air and visit Spring Valley Nature Center in Schaumburg. Sadly, with an arthritic back and/or hips, walking is not quite such an enjoyable activity for me these days. If you haven’t already done so, you might want to join me at my blog ‘Incidentally’ where I have some Thoughts on Walking. However, I’m not about to give up on one of my favorite pastimes just yet. As long as I can sit down every once in a while, I can still manage to get around places like Spring Valley.

Over by the lake, I was pleased to see that the water levels had risen since my last visit. The ducks and geese were starting to gather, and what ice there was on the water was paper thin.

By Friday, there was even more open water and, as I neared a conveniently placed bench by the water’s edge, I heard something making a hasty exit with a splash. I decided to sit for a while and wait to see if whatever it was would make another appearance. Eventually a turtle poked its head out of the water but sank back down again and I was left with a couple of mallards and a goose that seemed to be giving my presence some careful consideration. Just before I left, a water rat swam up to the bank but it didn’t give me the opportunity to take a shot.

In the wooded area over by the farm. I spotted a deer. I had a hard time getting a clear shot but I knew if it kept going in the same direction it would have to come out in the open so I waited. I was quite close and although it did emerge for just a moment, it soon turned around and headed back into the trees, only giving me time to capture a couple of fleeting images.

They have been clearing away small trees and brush recently in an effort to allow native plants to grow. It will be interesting to see how these areas develop. Part of the nature center used to be a peony farm many years ago, and there is still one patch that remains where the flowers appear every spring.

Tales From The Tree

As you will probably have gathered by now, I don’t do much in the way of photography during the winter months. Instead, I like to write and continue with my research into our family’s history, a pastime that has kept me busy for many years. For the most part, the people whose names appear on our family tree lived quiet, unremarkable lives, but every once in a while I come across a story that catches my imagination. I hope you will join me at my blog ‘Incidentally’ and read about what happened to Mary Ann In The Time Of Jack The Ripper

January In Our Garden

Welcome to 2024 in our garden. We kicked off the year in grand style with a burst water main that sent water gushing out of the grass and flowing down the sidewalk. Luckily the break was under the parkway so they didn’t have to dig up any of the flower beds this time. The public works crew quickly got things under control and normal service was resumed shortly thereafter.

On the weather front, Mother Nature decided that we’d been having it too good over the past few weeks and made up for lost time by dumping about 10 inches of snow on us. With temperatures predicted to drop down to -12F at times this week, there will be little in the way of outdoor activities for the forseeable future.

The hawk is an almost daily visitor now, and although it swoops in as though it means business, I haven’t seen it make a kill recently. We did, however, find a profusion on feathers on the path before the snow fell, so maybe it did manage to snag something at some point while I wasn’t looking.

Our daughter bought us a nifty bird feeder with camera attached, for Christmas. I can’t wait to try it out, but given the current weather conditions, I think I’ll wait for a while.

Happy New Year!

Although the weather has been unusually mild for the time of year, we haven’t seen much of the sun lately, so I was glad that I had set aside some pictures that I’d captured while on a walk at Crabtree Nature Center back in November. With all the rain that we’ve had over the past few weeks, I imagine it’s rather soggy there now.

Over by the recently refurbished visitors center, a rescued owl was dozing on a perch in the sun, while inside we took a look at some fish swimming about in the new tanks, and a little Eastern Screech owl that seemed to have made itself quite at home in it’s new surroundings.

I’m looking forward to getting back on the trail, at Crabtree and other nature centers in 2024, but for now, I wish you all a Happy, Healthy and Peaceful New Year.

CFFC – Blue

This is the time of year when I try to participate in photo challenges and one of my favorites is Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge. I enjoy going through the past year’s pictures and finding ones that I haven’t used before, especially when they remind me of warmer days. The subject for this challenge was Blue. Two of the shots were from my garden. The butterfly was at the Chicago Botanic Garden and the beautiful stained glass features were at the Sanfilippo Estate in Barrington.

Inundated

We’ve been inundated with squirrels just recently, including one with a distinct mohawk hair-do on its head and back and one little guy with only half a tail, probably as a result of a close encounter with a hawk.

Speaking of hawks, we have been noticing a different species of hawk in the garden for the past few weeks. It is slightly smaller than the Cooper’s Hawk and is very adept at flying through the shrubbery in pursuit of its prey. I’m thinking it might be a sharp-shinned hawk but I’m no expert so if anyone knows what it is, I’d love to hear from you. The picture isn’t very sharp as I had to take the shot through two sets of windows and a screen in order to get it.

We still see the Cooper’s Hawk every once in a while. I happened to look out of the window the other day and saw one chilling out on the bird bath. It looked very relaxed, standing there on one leg, without a care in the world. All of a sudden a flock of pigeons landed nearby. Bad idea! Out came the other claw. You could almost see it flexing its muscles and cracking its knuckles. Off it went, like a shot, after the pigeons, but imagine my surprise when just seconds later, a larger hawk stepped out from the adjacent shrubbery. Could it have been an adult teaching a juvenile how to hunt?

It’s always nice to see a blue jay in the garden. They make these drab winter days a little brighter. And two are twice as nice. This pair has been visiting the garden regularly for several weeks.

If you haven’t already done so, I hope you will join me on my other blog, Getting the Picture, where you will find the 4th part of my series on the Sanfillipo Estate in Barrington, Perfume and Music.