Happy Fourth of July!

No blog this week -- just a couple of red, white, and blue local birds: northern cardinal, great egret, and blue jay. Have a great holiday! Click to enlarge. 

Bird Jokes!

Know why I fly over the sea?
Because if I flew over the bay -- I'd be a bagel. Ha ha ha ha ha!

Know why I hold up one foot?
Because if I held up two -- I'd fall over. LoLoLoL!

What's got six legs and can fly? Us! Ha ha ha!  

What's the best time to buy a parrot?
When they're going cheep! Ha! 

Composing a tweet right now. :-) 

A Cardinal's Progress

Remember this little immature cardinal from last week's blog? Click to enlarge. 

He has grown in the intervening week -- longer tail, longer wings, and check out that working crest! I like to think that the peanut breakfasts I provide are helping him grow big and red. Oh, and he makes a better impression when dry, too. 

Baby Cardinal Poses for the Camera

Maybe it was the cold windy rain on Sunday, or maybe he's now old enough to recognize a friend, but the normally elusive baby cardinal that's been coming to my porch for seeds and has always flown away before when I pointed a camera at him, finally sat still for photos. Click to enlarge.

As usual, his mother was not far away. He has her nose, don't you think?

The little fella still begs with fluttering wings and soft chipping sounds for mother to pick food up for him and put it in his mouth, but when she's not close he feeds himself. 

Unlike his mainly tan mother, he's growing male red body feathers. 

 A nice addition to our Brooklyn garden! 

Cardinals Doing Fine

Northern cardinals nest in the garden behind my condo every year; it's a good spot for them with trees, water, and food. They stop by my porch occasionally and I give them snacks of raisins and peanuts.  For the past few days the female pictured above has been going out of her way to make sure I see her when she visits; she flutters in front of the window or lands on the sill and looks in while chipping loudly. Click to enlarge. 

Not coincidentally, a male cardinal has been stopping by the porch with two big babies in tow. He feeds them mouth-to-mouth or flits around nervously while they feed themselves. The male and female haven't come to the porch together for a while. Maybe they are working different shifts. 

The male is easily spooked when the youngsters are with him and they all fly away when I try to photograph them so a don't have a 2016 family photo yet. But here is a picture of one of the baby porch cardinals from a previous year. 

Any questions? 

A Pomegranate for the Cardinals

Sometimes I buy a pomegranate, put it on a shelf, and never get around to eating it. You have to be in the mood to get red juice on your hands...

Cardinals are happy to help with that. I cut a dried-up looking pomegranate into bits yesterday -- it was still juicy inside -- and put them on my porch.

A male (above) and female northern cardinal (below) have been visiting ever since. They eat seeds and fruit, so  pomegranate pips must seem like the perfect food -- a seed wrapped in a bit of juicy red fruit!