Lili of the Valley - Reindeer Robin
Copics
The bird is a robin. However, I colored it blue. We had nest #3 of bluebird babies hatch on July 8th. The 2nd brood of Bluebirds are still teenagers and they are gobbling down the live mealworms we are putting out for the 3rd brood. It's like watching a comedy with those 5 teenagers. They don't land well yet. They run into each other. They sometimes fall off the birdbath. It is kinda comical. Now that it's hotter it's really hard on the parents. The March and the May brood had it easy as far as the weather went. There were 5 eggs in each of those nest. This last brood had 4 eggs. We've never had 3 broods of bluebirds in a row. I asked my husband if we should bring in that baby-maker of a nest box after brood 3 fledges because of the heat here in Florida. He said they would go someplace else so we might as well continue to be the host family. Where else are they going to get so spoiled? Live mealworms, homemade suet, dried mealworms for when they get older and fresh water everyday. Fortunately the nest box is in the shade for a good portion of the day. We also have red bellied woodpeckers, hairy and downy woodpeckers, yellow bellied sap suckers, cardinals, tufted titmice, chickadee's, blue jays and other varieties of birds that ALL eat at the same feeder. Occasionally we get the pileated woodpeckers. In Oct/Nov we'll get the Baltimore Orioles and we'll get the Painted Buntings in April but they don't stay long. The Orioles stay for many months. There have been fights at the feeder. Not always the biggest bird wins. To live in a residential neighborhood we are very fortunate to get the variety we do. Living not far from the coast certainly helps. We had the barred owls coming but the 2 lots across the street from us that had been wooded for many many years took down every tree and will be building. That leaves only 2 wooded lots left. We've been fortunate for the past 40 plus years.
Stickles
Copics - E30 31 35, BG0000 01 05, Y14
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