Apparently the Squirrels are gorging themselves so much they can’t even move.  Look at this Squirrel!  It’s actually laying down in the bird feeder next to a Mourning Dove.

Squirrel Laying In Bird Feeder

If you think that’s bad, also consider that I sprinkled this hot pepper mixture on top of all the seeds and they still won’t stop eating.

Look at this next shot.  This Squirrel is so full, it doesn’t even notice that there’s another Squirrel above it dropping food on its back!

Squirrel Laying In Bird Feeder With Dove

I’ll also say this.  The bigger SD card you can get, the better.  The BirdCam does take lots of pictures and/or videos, and if you have a pesky Squirrel or two like I do, you will end up with lots of images of that.

One of the funniest pictures taken was of this Red Bellied Woodpecker.  As I was looking at this picture, it took me a moment to see what the Woodpecker was looking at.  Look in the left hand side of the picture.  Did you notice that Squirrel in the Rose looking very guilty?

Red Bellied Woodpecker And Squirrel In Background

The Birdcam also captured a couple of birds that I have never taken pictures of before.

One was of a Brown Headed Cowbird.  If seen this bird in the backyard before, but not so frequently I’ve ever been able to take a picture.

Brown Headed Cowbird Captured With WIngscapes Birdcam

A second bird that I’ve never take a picture of before was of a Common Grackle.  In this image, the Mourning Dove looks a little intimated by the Grackle.

Grackle With Mourning Dove Captured By Birdcam

I was hoping I would be able to take some decent video with the Birdcam and overall I’m reasonably satisfied.  My one disappointment with the video capabilities of this Birdcam is that the maximum amount of each video is only 10 seconds.  I wish I could choose on how long it would record each video.

The most entertaining video that was recorded was of a little spat between the Common Grackle and the Red Bellied Woodpecker.  The Woodpecker didn’t seem to pleased about the arrival of the Grackle.

Despite the lack of pictures, I can give everyone a verbal update.

The Purple Martin babies (the original 5) all seemed to have fledged now.  There are probably 20 Martins flying around every night.  I think there may even be more babies, but when I contemplate checking the Martin house, the Martins start rioting.  I do need to check the house to make sure the original 5 are doing okay, and check the other nest boxes to make sure all is well.

I don’t see any Pipevine Caterpillars, but I do see a few Chrysalises along the edge of the house between the roof and brick.

The single Monarch that I saw a couple of weeks ago laying eggs has not returned, nor have I seen any Caterpillars from her egg laying.  Leecy and I have been collecting the Milkweed seeds like crazy.  She actually created this cute little seed packet and information card and was giving some seeds to our friends and colleagues.  If we end up having more seeds then we know what to do with, I may offer a first come, first serve type thing for whoever needs some.  There’s no way we could plant all of them and I have a pretty big back yard.  If you’re really desperate for some Milkweed seeds (Mexican Milkweed) then let me know.

MJ, the big female Bullfrog hasn’t been seen in weeks.  I can’t remember if she goes off somewhere in the Summer or if she might be just laying low somewhere in the ground trying to stay cool and moist.  We’ve had very little rain so far this year and I wonder if that makes an impact?

Speaking of Frogs, they are creating quite a chorus at night.  There’s normally a little green Tree Frog on the kitchen window every night.  If we could actually get some decent rain I bet many of them would head over to the Pond to do some mating.

The cute little Red Eared Slider that I found in the Pond a few weeks back hasn’t been seen recently.  The Koi are too small to eat the Turtle and I don’t have any predatory birds around the Pond, so I’m not sure what happened to the little thing.

The Box Turtle that the neighbors brought to my house was released back into the wild behind my house.  There’s lots of vegetation and protective cover back there.

We seen quite a few Giant Swallowtail Butterflies flying around and occasionally laying eggs on the Orange tree, but damn if we ever see the Caterpillars.  I don’t know if some insect is getting to them, or the birds, or what.

Once again, we have some Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillars.  We did have 1 Caterpillar a few weeks ago, but like many things, it also disappeared before it got very big.  It was on the Spicebush plant.  Today we counted 7 Spicebush Caterpillars and some of them are on the Sassafras plant, some on the Spicebush.  They are really tiny.

We have lots of Songbirds (Cardinals, Doves, Blue Jays, Woodpeckers, Mockingbirds) right now and they are eating lots of bird seed.  They also are starting to eat some Tomatoes, Grapes, and Blueberries.  Just once I would actually like to be able to taste one of the Grapes we have each year.  I’m too afraid to put a net on the plants as I don’t want one of the birds to get entangled in the net.  There is also a single Male Ruby Throated Hummingbird hanging around.  It’s been typically avoiding any feeders and going directly to the plants for nectar.

Plant-wise it’s just a jungle in the backyard.  The vegetable garden is being taken over by the Cherry Tomatoes. We pick close to a dozen of them every night.  Oh, we also have a Turnip in the garden.  The problem is we didn’t plant any Turnips.  I’m going to guess this is like last year when we had all these Cantaloupes we didn’t plant.  It’s my guess that those lovely bird poops turn into a plant occasionally.

The rescued Kitten we adopted (Delilah) is growing like a weed (to me).  Leecy asks me every night if I can tell how much bigger she has become.  I just offer the “head bob” and the “of course, Honey” when she asks.  The kitten really likes to play with Chloe (the other cat) and to nap near the dogs.  The only interaction I’m not quite comfortable with is Delilah and Coco (African Grey Parrot). I can’t tell if Delilah wants to play with her or eat her so I need to work with both of them on that.

Last but not least, the reason for my delay in posting is because we got a new TV and entertainment system. On just the 2nd day I had the TV the high definition channels wouldn’t work so I immediately called Comcast to tell them where was a problem as I was looking forward to seeing the Three Stooges in high definition.  The person at Comcast thought I was crazy for calling at 6 am to report that kind of outage:-)

Dove With Avian Pox

Look at all the growths around the beak and the feet.  This bird doesn’t appear to be in good shape at all.  Leecy sent an email to the Wildlife Rescue place to find out if we should try and capture this bird and see if it can be treated.

Dove With Avian Pox Left View

The first is the Eurasian Collared Dove.  I’ve also heard people call this the Ring Neck Dove. These birds are not native to the US, they were inadvertently released in the Bahamas in the late 1970′s or early 1980′s.

They are much larger than a Mourning Dove and just based on experience, compete for the same food source.

Eurasian Collared Dove On Fence

The Mourning Doves are considerably smaller.  In some states it is hunted as a game bird, while in others it is protected as a song bird.

Mourning Dove On Fence

And the Rose, has absolutely no relation to these pictures others than I was taking them at the same time I was shooting the birds.  We’re cutting about 6-10 Roses per day and still can’t keep up.

Pink Rose From The Garden

Unfortunately, I did get some pictures, but they are not that good, and what they do show is gross.  I think this Dove is infected with Trichomoniasis.

After doing some additional research.  It the above disease is what this Dove has, it is highly contagious.  It says the bird will continue to try to feed and drink even though it may be starving or dying of thirst (reference here).

Now I’m feeling kind of bad.  Hopefully I didn’t create a situation where this disease develops.  It says to clean the food and water stations daily (I didn’t do it every day).

Last but not least, this bird looks so miserable, how do I put it out of its misery and also protect the other birds?  I’m not good at euthanasia.  I can’t imagine trying to catch him with a net or anything.  I do have a pellet gun (which I never use).  Maybe I’ll see if Leecy can try and shoot it.  For those wondering why I would ask Leecy to try and shoot the bird to put it out of its misery, I’ll share one example of why.

We put down a glue mouse trap one time.  It worked.  The mouse was stuck in the glue.  Being the freak that I am, I was asking how we could save it and even tried to gently pry it off the glue (that made it worse).  In the end, Leecy was able to end it’s suffering, no thanks to me.

Trichomoniasis In Dove 2

Here’s the Eurasian Collared Dove.  It’s quite a bit larger than the Mourning Dove and it also has that ring around its neck.

Here’s a Mourning Dove for comparison.

I kinda messed up.  I thought these were all pictures of Doves in flight.  I was wrong.  This second shot is of a Sparrow in flight.

Same with this.

Here’s the Woodpecker squawking just a little louder.

Leecy thought this first photo looked like the Dove’s wings were Photoshopped.  They weren’t, I think they’re just that gray color underneath.

I think this next one would have been an awesome photo just 1 second later or earlier where the Dove’s eyes weren’t covered.

This last shot is rather a mess yet at the same time kinda cool (at least to me).  As you can see, one bird (Sparrow I think) is taking off, one bird (the Dove) is landing, and in the middle of all that is (I think) a piece of food that was dropped (see that black orb thing about to hit the flying Dove in the head).

I also gave her a little bit of water and some of Coco’s food that I mixed in warm water.  After she ate a little bit it seemed to exhaust her and she started sleeping as soon as we set her down.  Still not sure if this bird is sick, hungry, or just young.

When we put her by the bird feeder to see if any of the older Doves would try and feed her, they just ignored her.

Here’s another shot

Sorry, I kinda messed up on the crop of this picture. Click on it to see the dove (and understand the title)