Bickering Birdies~

On By cindy knokeIn Birds, Conservation, HOLLER HAPPENINGS, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, REVERIES, Wild Life

Love to argue.

Orioles and mockingbirds are definitely the culprits,

while scrubjays and woodpeckers,

just stand back stunned,

and watch the show!

Cheers to you from The Holler’s bickering birdies~

210 thoughts on “Bickering Birdies~”

          1. It must be terribly hard for those little guys! And explaining why they need to must just lead to more tears. You’ve got to remember to tell them the story when they get older. What a fabulous memory of their childhood…I’m sure they’ll get a big laugh out of it.
            When my kiddos were little, I had to get double of everything or else there would be meltdowns.

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  18. Beautiful captures of the bickering birdies Cindy. Such gorgeous colors. This again shows us how intelligent birds are and how like humans they can be, which much of the recent research and neurological studies ate revealing.

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  28. There’s your particular magic again, birds allowing you to be like kin. A story told by birds, transposed by you. Round here it’s mostly big black crows. Gulls and sparse eagles keep their distance.

    Thing about birds, much as they interest, amuse – for certain wouldn’t want to be one of them. Every one who finds a nice scrap of food is soon dogged by the rest waiting for the first to accidentally drop, else just outright steal the morsel away for themselves, who become next in line. Someone said, true, survival itself ain’t pretty. (makes me re-wonder – what about us?) Thanks Cindy for the front-row view.

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    1. This reminds me of the melee for scarce taxis at the airport in Buenos Aires! Smiling people turned into vicious competitors in no time flat. Disconcerting დ

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  37. Gorgeous photos, Cindy! The birdies that visit our balcony squabble and fight over the food we give them. Very entertaining to watch! 💖

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  38. Cindy, last week I saw a redheaded woodpecker in our big oak tree in the back yard.
    Such a long time since I’d seen one – he was tap, tap, tapping away while I took a break on our screened porch! I thought of you immediately and think I enjoyed the time with him with you, too.
    Thank you for all your birdies!

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    1. So happy you spent time with the woodpecker. Birds are excellent judges of character. They only pick trust worthy people to hang out with. So consider yourself trusted! დ

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  40. It is lovely to hear the bird song even if they are bickering Cindy. I do think they talk to each other. I often try to whistle back to them. My younger son would call to the Turtledoves and they would fly to him.
    Leslie

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    1. Aww…. So sweet about your son. I do the same thing. I always call back to birds. The great horned owls usually engage in long converstations with me. They are chatty! დ

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  53. Deborah

    They can certainly fuss at each other when they want the same space … kinda ignoring the raptor circling overhead.🦅🦅🦅

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    1. Mockingbirds can definitely be attitudinal! I have loved them since I was a kid, terrified by a rattlesnake, that I watched them dispatch with amazing skill დ

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  57. Curt Mekemson

    A territorial dispute for sure, Cindy! Love the way other birds flew in to check out the debate.

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  63. Must have been so wonderful to be able to watch this piece of avian theatre!
    Did you get anything sorted with your blog? I got the needed kick up the pants from you reading about your story, and have since changed to a WP theme that has not been retired. It was easier than I thought it would be. The Happiness Engineers will walk you through it in online chat.
    Alison

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  76. The birds are fascinating right now feeding babies and the beautiful nests they’ve made and houses they have chosen to create families it.. it’s absolutely fascinating!

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  77. What a lovely variety. Of three… I lost a goard birdhouse… and of the two left I think only one is being occupied by a house wren. But there’s probably a bunch of nests in trees I can’t see. Cheers to all the birds everywhere!

    I think some have started late or are going for a second brood here as I saw one little birdie gathering material just the other day! 😀

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          1. I know some folks say you shouldn’t feed the birdies in the summer when they can ‘catch’ their own. But I think we ‘both’ benefit 😀

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        1. Yes, I could help. I need to know where you are, so I can determine what birds you are trying to attract? Also how urban is your domicile? And how much of a garden do you have?

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          1. The house is in Cuernavaca, south of Mexico city. Semi-urban, large houses with large gardens all around. Our garden is probably 500 sq meters…(Lemme check sq ft, I never know.) 5,000 sq ft and a bit more. Lots of trees. There are sparrows, warblers, birds which I don’t know with a yellow belly and a black head… Several kinds really. We also have a ‘possum and a squirrel… 😉 (There’s also a small swimming pool which atracts the birds for water… Voilà…)

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            1. Wow! I love Cuernavaca, but haven’t been since I was younger. You have hummingbirds there, Rufous, Broad Billed (which I would so love to see!) and Black Chinned. I would focus on the hummingbirds. Once you have them mobbing your yards, the other birds get curious and you can branch out to them. I think your hummingbirds are there in the winter months. I would hang a feeder with a 4 to 1 solution, 1 part sugar to 4 parts H2O when they first show up. Put in a few drops of red food dye to first attract them. Once they are established. You no longer need the dye. Since winter is a long way away, why don’t you put out some thistle seed for your seed eaters. You could put out meal worms for you warblers, but I don’t! No live bugs for me. You have orioles too!! They will be there with the hummingbirds. Get an oriole feeder and fill it with oranges and grape jelly. If you don’t have birds everywhere I would be surprised. Let me know how it goes.

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              1. Thank you so much Cindy. Yes we have humming birds, but I “discarded” them, wanting to focus on the others. We’ll do as you say. One step at a time.
                Yes, the yellow-bellied little guys are most probably orioles.
                Great tips. Thank you again.
                We’ll let you know the progress.
                🙏🏻

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                1. I went when I was 16 on a trip to Mexico City & Yucatan. When we visited Yucatan there were no tourists anywhere. We climbed the pyramids alone in the jungle and clamored all through the astronomy observation towers. I was the Spanish speaker for the family, but I didn’t know the difference between izquierda and derecho, so getting directions in the jungle was a challenge! 😉 My daughter studied abroad for a year in Queretero and I returned to visit her. The Colonial Cities are so special and beautiful.

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                  1. That’s quite a nice trip. I went to Yucatan on a summer course when I was in Grad school. Maya anthropology which did not count for my MBA. LOL. So you speak Spanish. Qué bueno.
                    And Queretaro is a nice city to spend a year. What did your daughter major in?
                    Cuídate mucho.

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  79. I would pay a kings ransom to have those bickering birdies visit here, …they’re absolutely fantastic Cindy, …I feed our li’l visitors every morning, Blue Tits, Blackbirds, Magpies, Robins, ..but none as brightly coloured as your photos, …Still, I enjoy their visits, and it’s a privilege to see them, our garden visitors, …their antics light up the day, …thank you for sharing your photos, …👏

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    1. Wild birds are simply amazing to live with. They get to know you. I envy your magpies. I find them incredibly interactive and intelligent. I only see them on trips. They have given me gifts, even though they barely know me. 🙂 I photographed them forever being stalked by fox kits in a London park, out of a tiny opening in my hotel window. The magpies had such obvious fun leading the kits on a fruitless chase. Even the haughty hawks know you if you live with them. When I come back from any trip, and drive down our steep driveway, they, without fail, everytime, fly over as if to say, “About time you came back you creature we barely tolerate!” 🙂

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