Saturday, February 11, 2012

Yesterday's Newcomers--Yellow Birds

Yesterday, I noticed a little yellow bird on the side of the house. The bird seemed to be digging something out of the sand. It has a beautiful singing voice. I photographed the bird from over the fence and its body appeared to be yellow, then I walked around the outside of the house to the side of the wall and left some seed on the wall. It wasn't really interested on the seed, but not particularly intimidate by me. However, in the photographs from the front of the house, the bird appeared to be orange, or red.

Today, I realized the "newcomer" is actually two birds. The female is yellow, the male is a reddish/orange. I watched them for nearly an hour. I believe they are building a nest near or under the children's playhouse. They are digging in the sand for grubs and sticks and grass for the nest.

They only appear at sunset, and as they work, they pause and lift their faces to the sun and their bodies pick up the sunset colors, then they suddenly dart to the ground and pull a bug out of the ground. It's as if they sense the movement in the sand. Their nest must be either in the playhouse attic or underneath. I am hoping they build the nest in the attack. I have no doubt that this area has snakes, and ground nests are always more vulnerable. They are beautiful little birds, so delicate, with a sweet voice.

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