A complete pair of yellow-billed cuckoos! Reclusive, preferring not to leave the canopy, and singing to us all summer long--I've never seen one in my life! But there they were, bathing away, just like Frederick in his water dish.
Awesome.
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
In a Warm Birdbath
As we finished dinner the Composer spotted a large bird body in the birdbath in the courtyard. We *never* see birds in the bath, though I try to keep it filled, especially in this weather. At first we thought it was a mourning dove. But no!
A complete pair of yellow-billed cuckoos! Reclusive, preferring not to leave the canopy, and singing to us all summer long--I've never seen one in my life! But there they were, bathing away, just like Frederick in his water dish.
Awesome.
A complete pair of yellow-billed cuckoos! Reclusive, preferring not to leave the canopy, and singing to us all summer long--I've never seen one in my life! But there they were, bathing away, just like Frederick in his water dish.
Awesome.
How fun! I'm just getting the garden variety birds in my bath but tonight I had a little guy begging for a refill out there ... I think this Texas heatwave is getting to our feathered friends.
ReplyDeleteHow lovely and sweet. Thank you for sharing this. Kathi
ReplyDeleteWhat a treat - I'll bet your resident birder was delighted to have such an illusive pair visit your hospitable birdbath! We too try to keep the bird baths clean and filled each day but rarely see any feathered friends enjoying our hospitality. Our outdoor cat, who likes to lap up the cool fresh water visits occasionally. We had to buy a bird bath that wouldn't tilt and land on him! No doubt he's the reason that only wasps and bees drink, though we've been favored with many hummingbirds and goldfinches in the garden this summer. They don't seem to mind the cat.
ReplyDeleteHow absolutely lovely! I've only seen one once in my life, and that was when I was a child. A yellow-billed cuckoo knocked itself "cuckoo" on one of our picture windows. We got quite a laugh out of that once the bird had recovered and was winging its way skyward again.
ReplyDeleteOh, we don't have those here - how wonderful!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny the birds don't use your birdbath. Is it the first year you've had it? I remember the first year we had ours, it seemed to take the birds a while to get used to it.
Watching birds in a birdbath is such a pleasure. Simple and good.
ReplyDeleteSonya
That is AMAZING. What a sighting! I for one am glad you got pics to share.
ReplyDeleteYes, definitely awesome.
ReplyDeleteHa, jealous!
ReplyDelete