Yes, in Oxfordshire, in a rural area. We do have lots of birds and I really enjoy watching them. We have bird feeding tables and quite a few nesting boxes, although the birds seem to build nests in all sorts of unlikely places. Robins are pretty tame here and will sit close by you if you are gardening in the hope that you will uncover some earthworms for them. We also have a large number of wrens, which are really cute, and in the summer a kingfisher is a regular and very pretty visitor. Lots of other regulars and countryside birds like owls and pheasants (beautiful but with absolutely no road sense ).
But I do envy the range of birds you have - bluebirds, hummingbirds, flickers (I'd never heard of a flicker before your post!) Wonderfully colourful and varied. It's interesting that there seems to be a much greater difference in the birdlife than in the plant life between the UK and the US. It's really fun to read the posts and learn about so many new sorts of bird.

Thank you Ann, Bananaquit is a wonderful name for an angry bird! We weren't in Cobbler's Cove but have stayed there before and this time were in another hotel just near it. How did you know?

@cliftoncat, Lovely bird photos! The first little cutie may be a Black Faced Grassquit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... Bird number two is a Dove but I'm not sure which ones are found in the Caribbean. It looks a lot like the Mourning Doves we have lots of here in the U.S. #3 is indeed a Bananaquit, love the expression on it's face!

@Claudia, I just love the Pileated WP's! We have them here in Florida too and I see them every once in awhile, usually running up and down the Palm Trees. They are a lot more skittish than the Red-bellied and Downy WP's and fly off quickly when a human walks by. They are so much larger than the RB's and never, ever come to the feeders like the other woodpeckers.

Lin, and I think you're right - the first bird does look very like the photo in your link. And 'Black Faced Grassquit' is another great name, especially for such a diminutive bird - who in the world thinks up such labels?

LOL, I often wonder where some bird names come from!

I am having real problems with I guess raccoons eating my suet cake. (I love to use it for the woodpeckers) Have had problems once or twice in the past but nothing like this. I thought that I had fixed it by wiring the hinge part. On the back side I ran heavy wire around several times and on the area where it snaps shut. Nope. My 4th cake !!! was eaten as well since the little bugger pulled it open and it was on my deck - pieces of suet cake strewn all about. The two pieces of wire on the back held.

Now that guy was strong and determined cause it would have taken a bit of time to rip it open. Needless to say - I was not happy.

So I am gonna fix him. I will add to the wire on the back and I bought a small pad lock for the part that snaps shut. And I will also use the heavy gauge wire to attach the holder to its hook.

Take that Mr. Raccoon!! Will let you know if it works.

I have to bring my feeders inside at night or the Raccoon's eat the suet and even steal the feeders if they can get hem out of the trees!!

Until I put up the pole systems with raccoon baffles, I use to put suet feeders on trees and brought them in at night. Raccoon have broken lots of my feeders over the years. They even took a couple with them!

@cliftoncat your place sounds very peaceful and charming! I hope you will posting more photos for us! It would be fun to see more birds here from around the world.

I did not want to resort to bringing things in. If it comes to that - I will.

We don't have racoons but we do have similar problems with squirrels. Although I like watching them as well as the birds, they used to eat all the bird food until I put up a baffle. Now I put out separate food for the squirrels. They're quite amusing and very enterprising - people have built obstacle courses, at first to try to stop them eating the bird food, later to see how clever they were. Here's a utube video of one:

https://youtu.be/CTz57K6Gkow

I've never met a racoon, but they certainly look very cute!

I had problems with tree rats too until I started putting out corn for them every now and then.

cliftoncat said:Thank you Ann, Bananaquit is a wonderful name for an angry bird! We weren't in Cobbler's Cove but have stayed there before and this time were in another hotel just near it. How did you know?

Because I'm a bit psychic.



















The real truth is:
Because - I believe it's the 1st link I gave you - the person who took the photo noted below it that's where it was taken. I was being a smarty pants.


Claudia, I did surely enjoy your photos of all the woodpeckers.

It's Folklore Friday from our friends at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary (owned by the Audubon Society, FYI). Today, it's about doves...

Folklore Friday: In Native American folklore, the Pueblo believed that the cooing of the Dove could coax the rain from the sky. The appearance of a Dove was a sign of rain to come. If there was a dry spell, the Dove would lead them to water. Doves play a variety of different roles in Native American mythology. The Blackfoot tribe associated the dove with protection and safe return from battle, and dove feathers were often carried by war leaders as talismans to help them bring their men back safely. In some Eastern Algonquian tribes, turtledoves were associated with the spirit world, and heard at certain times, their cries could be omens of death. The Ancient Celts, Picti, and Gauls believed the voice of the Dove was a mourning call. When its cry was heard, this indicated a soul was passing from the earth in peace. The Slavs believed the Dove carried the souls of the deceased to heaven. In Gypsy folklore the doves bring messages of love from the spirit world. In Christian traditions, the dove is considered a symbol of divinity. Also in ancient Christian lore the dove is considered a symbol for mother, specifically the virgin mother Mary. In some stories Mary was blessed by a dove at the moment of Annunciation, and Jesus was blessed by the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove at his baptism. The dove is said to be so pure that it is the one form into which Satan cannot transform. The dove is a symbol of peace, often portrayed with an olive branch in its mouth. Mourning doves represent peace and safety. However, a pair of doves, represents devotion, love and friendship. On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me: Two Turtle Doves and a Partridge in a Pear Tree. The entire staff at Corkscrew wishes you all a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and peaceful holiday season. While we all may have our own holiday traditions and beliefs, we also share a common love of nature and this pristine wilderness that is Corkscrew Sanctuary. ‪#‎CorkscrewSwamp‬ ‪#‎FolkloreFriday‬

One of my favorite sounds is the coo of the Mourning Dove. Thank you Melanie for another Folklore Friday.

Melanie, that was so interesting. Up until today, I have had a pair of mourning doves in my backyard. This morning I looked out and there were two pair under the feeders.

Mourning doves will always remind me of my paternal grandparents. I have such beautiful memories of time spent with them.

Thank you.

Interesting and informative, Melanie, thank you!

You incidentally cracked the mystery of the last of my three Barbados birds -

cliftoncat said:

Having read your post I looked up 'mourning dove' (I didn't know what they looked like) and found Zenaida Dove, the identity of the third of my feathered visitors.

Zenaida aurita (Temminck, 1809) - The Zenaida Dove
http://www.parfaitimage.com/Av...

So a DOUBLE for completing the hat trick!

Thanks everyone! Glad to be of service! If you're on Facebook, you can follow Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and all their beautiful posts. One of these days I'm going to make it down there! I also like the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail. They just finished doing a "Twelve Days of Christmas" on Facebook but each day was a different bird. It was pretty cool.

Oops, mellie. Not melanie. I apologize!

Nope, you were right. I'm Melanie. But you can call me Mellie if you want, too. I'm flexible like that!