My Nemesis

FormerHangie

FormerHangie

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Roswell, GA
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FormerHangie
Last month, a small brown bird started building a nest under our deck. I'm not one to interfere with nature any more than I have to, so I did my best to not bother it. As of lately I believe that this bird finds me to be an annoyance. If I walk by the area where the nest is, he swoops down at me and makes a loud clicking sound. I just assume he's protecting his nest. This particular bird will land on something that's maybe two feet away and stare at me as if it thinks I shouldn't be there.

This afternoon I was up in the front yard, digging up the daffodil bulbs in preparation for replanting them this fall, and a small brown bird swooped at me again. I'm wondering if it's that same bird, but it's about 150 feet from from the nest to where I was working, so nowhere near the nest.

Here's the action at the nest this morning:
Chicks.jpg

My best guess is that these are Eastern Phoebes. So, apparently I have a nemesis, and it's a bird.
 
I can't put any vehicles in the non-insualted part of my shop due to birds. Anything left in there becomes encrusted in a mostly white substance in a few weeks... and I mean encrusted not just a couple spots.
 
cowman said:
I can't put any vehicles in the non-insualted part of my shop due to birds. Anything left in there becomes encrusted in a mostly white substance in a few weeks... and I mean encrusted not just a couple spots.
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Did the horses our forefathers ambled on suffer the same indignity? Musings of an addled mind.
 
catmandu said:
Did the horses our forefathers ambled on suffer the same indignity? Musings of an addled mind.
Click to expand...
As I also have horses here I think I can answer that, horses move around and swish their tails so the birds don't really come near them. I'm assuming that's why... either way the only poop horses come out of a stall covered in is their own.
 
Domenick said:
How big is the adult?
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I would describe him as being a small bird, similar to a robin. I was standing up, separating bunches of bulbs into individuals, when he flew over to the yard waste bag and landed on it. He was about six feet away from me. Earlier in the day, I was down on my knees pulling up a bunch of bulbs and he landed on my back.
BirdOnBag.JPG
I have had a previous history with birds. A few years ago, a Red Tailed Hawk scraped me on the scalp with one of his talons on two different occasions.
 
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cowman said:
As I also have horses here I think I can answer that, horses move around and swish their tails so the birds don't really come near them. I'm assuming that's why... either way the only poop horses come out of a stall covered in is their own.
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If you spend enough time outdoors odds are you will get pooped on by one of our fine feathered friends. A seagull got me when I was a teen - yuck.
 
I'm done digging up the daffodils. Here's the harvest:
Daffodil Harvest 2026.jpg

I'm not sure how many bulbs that is, but it's way more than I'm going to plant this fall. So if anyone in the north Metro Atlanta area wants a few dozen, I can set you up.
 
I would guess Eastern Kingbird from the picture and attitude. They can be very aggressive, but very comfortable around people.

We had one resident for a year, and avoided being around the tree with the nest while the little guys were there.

Naturally that was a pair, but the female is more aggressive.

They are voracious consumers of insects, which will make your deck more enjoyable this summer.
 
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FormerHangie said:
If you spend enough time outdoors odds are you will get pooped on by one of our fine feathered friends. A seagull got me when I was a teen - yuck.
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Just today a bird got me on the head as I was working on the plants out front. Yuk verified!
 
I'm not sure it's an Eastern Kingbird. Both sexes are similar and their tails are tipped in white top and underneath. The photo shows no white tail tip.
www.audubon.org

Eastern Kingbird

The Eastern Kingbird is the only widespread kingbird in the east. Common and conspicuous in summer, it is often seen perched jauntily on a treetop or fence wire, or sallying out with shallow...
www.audubon.org www.audubon.org

Note the taxonomic name. :)
 
My car got bombed just outside my office door yesterday. Hood, sunroof, Drivers side and left pax glass left mirror.
It reminded me to park away from the building....seems I need a reminder every year. Yeah, I got it....
 
Domenick said:
I'm not sure it's an Eastern Kingbird. Both sexes are similar and their tails are tipped in white top and underneath. The photo shows no white tail tip.
www.audubon.org

Eastern Kingbird

The Eastern Kingbird is the only widespread kingbird in the east. Common and conspicuous in summer, it is often seen perched jauntily on a treetop or fence wire, or sallying out with shallow...
www.audubon.org www.audubon.org

Note the taxonomic name. :)
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I'm thinking it's an Eastern Phoebe, it was a fairly small bird, a little smaller than what a Kingbird is described is.
 
Could be. Eastern Phoebes do nest in structures. Generally, Kingbirds don't. In any case, seems like you're an ornithological uncle. Enjoy it!

Baby birds tend to look rather similar, but note the stripes flanking the chicks' mouth in yours and the image below.
www.vmnh.net

Please enjoy this nest of fledgling eastern ...

Please enjoy this nest of fledgling eastern phoebes (Sayornis phoebe) as they stare at my camera in confusion! Phoebe nests are fairly distinctive, as they have a mud base and are lined with moss and grass. They're usually built in crevices, whether on a rock or on a man-made structure (like...
www.vmnh.net www.vmnh.net
 
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That’s a pretty cool deal, especially landing on your back.
I guess I like birds as I recently built a pigeon loft. After a month I can now let em out and they come back, most of them. A couple didn’t come back…Hope to race some of them.IMG_6393.jpeg
IMG_6388.jpeg
 
Domenick said:
Could be. Eastern Phoebes do next in structures. Generally, Kingbirds don't. In any case, seems like you're an ornithological uncle. Enjoy it!

Baby birds tend to look rather similar, but note the stripes flanking the chicks' mouth in yours and the image below.
www.vmnh.net

Please enjoy this nest of fledgling eastern ...

Please enjoy this nest of fledgling eastern phoebes (Sayornis phoebe) as they stare at my camera in confusion! Phoebe nests are fairly distinctive, as they have a mud base and are lined with moss and grass. They're usually built in crevices, whether on a rock or on a man-made structure (like...
www.vmnh.net www.vmnh.net
Click to expand...
The day I finished digging up the bulbs, I walked by the nest, and the chicks looked more like the adult birds, and the nest was starting to look a little small. The following day, the nest was empty, and there was increased bird activity in the front yard. I assume they've fledged and are now living as adult birds do.

So I'm reading that the female bird does the nest building. I'm thinking that the nest builder is the same bird that has been landed on my back and the yard waste bag. While the nest was going up, if I was out in the yard near the nest, she stayed in the area and kept an eye on me, waiting for me leave so she could resume her nest building. If it's possible for a bird to be annoyed, I think she was annoyed with my presence.

On the daffodil front, I spent an hour or so sorting through the bulbs. I originally planted 60 bulbs. I'm probably two thirds through, and so far I have 529 bulbs that I would consider worth planting. I will plant 80 or so bulbs, and that leaves an awful lot left over.
 
If you were closer, I'd take some to plant at our new place.
Thanks for the offer.

When I was a kid, we had purple martins every summer. Pretty sure the same ones come back every summer.
Because one year our dog sniffed or ate a baby that fell out of the house. The birds started dive bombing the dog and it went on summer after summer. Those birds did not forget that dog year after year.
 
For help with bird identification, go to your favorite App Store and search for Merlin Bird ID. Free download! It is great! Just get a photo of your unknown feathered visitor and you will have your answer.

-Skip
 
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