In our backyard flower garden, we have a wide variety of wild visitors. Year round, we have birds. One of the most frequent sights are the larger birds congregating around the bottoms of our feeders, where the smaller birds such as sparrows and Tufted Titmouses have scattered seed down to the ground.

Frequent visitors on the ground are Mourning Doves, Mockingbirds, Robins, Blue Jays and Brown Thrashers. Here are some of their pictures.

Beginning in May, we start to see more Blue Jays. Usually, they are just flying through the yard. Not until late June do we start seeing them around the bottom of our feeders, eating seed and cracked corn that has fallen out of the feeders. They spend alot of time sitting in our smaller Tuplip Poplar trees which border along one of our feeders.

At the back of our garden is a stepping stone path with a comfortable swing in the shade. Often while sitting there, you can hear the many songs of a Mockingbird that perches in a nearby tree.

Many early mornings in late May through the summer, we enjoy watching five to ten Robins in our yard, close to the house, searching for earthworms.

The Brown Thrashers that dwell in a wooden area off to the side of our garden, aren't very sure of us yet. From a distance, we see them attempting to land on our feeders for food, but usually, they just succeed in knocking seed to the ground and feasting there. When I go out to take pictures, they head for the trees. Once, a few days ago (June 2001), a neighbors cat was trying to get at one of the thrasher nests. The Thrasher stayed close to the cat, in a bush or tree, and this gave me a chance to get very close to it and shoot some video footage. I also kept running the cat away too. The more I chased the cat away, the longer the Thrasher stayed nearby and watched me as I filmed it. Watch for a QuickTime movie in a few weeks about the Brown Thrasher.

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This page was revised on June 23, 2001