Parrot Destructions
Living with two twenty-five-plus-year-old birds means dealing with things such as small slippery landmines that resemble watery guacamole, regularly repairing bits of doors that have…
Tag: Birds
Another Auction Craft
From the very same auction that yielded the bountiful crystal chandelier in the last two posts, I also picked up a bunch of small glass…
Stega’s Bay Area Bird Photographers Presentation
Earlier this month I gave an online presentation to the Bay Area Bird Photographers group, covering a huge swath of my travels and resulting nature…
Birds and Shelter
In addition to all the nest boxes and all the work to stop birds from hitting our windows, we have also installed a few simple…
Birds and Boxes
Way back in May of 2018, we installed our first round of nest boxes. I posted an update of sorts regarding their success here in…
Feeders We Do Not Like: Nectar
Continuing on from the last post (yes it’s been a while), it’s not just seed feeders, as there are a lot of poor-to-middling hummingbird feeders…
Feeders We Do Not Like: Seeds
As mentioned two posts (and months) ago, about half the bird feeders on the market are poor quality and/or unsafe for use. 1. Cheap plastic…
Improving Bird Feeder Designs
As mentioned in the previous post, we like the Birds Choice Magnet Mesh nut feeder a lot, but it has a significant flaw when it…
Feeding the Birds: Feeders We Like
There are a bazillion bird feeders on the market and about half them are awful; they’re either downright dangerous and not suitable for their purposes,…
Feeding the Birds: Our Setups
We have turned bird feeding into a mini-industry here at Purgatory, although sometimes it borders on an art form as well. With multiple stations that…
Third Annual Birdathon Team
It’s that time of year again, Purgatory Fans! No, not nesting season, although that is indeed underway and this year we are happy to announce…
Last Chance at Purgatory: SCVAS Birdathon Team
We’re running a Birdathon team again this year. Consider sponsoring me or, even better, if you live in the SF Bay Area, consider joining our…
“Backyard” Bird Counting
It’s that time of year: Audubon’s great Backyard Bird Count. Agent Smith was off racing so I set aside a bit of time Sunday and…
Wild Life Part 3: Peacock
Following on the posts from October, it’s not just turkeys and lizards and spiders. Back in April of this year, we had a feral Peacock…
The Feathered Dinosaurs (that eat things they should not)
Living with parrots means things that should not be eaten are often eaten. Eventually you get used to making sure you don’t leave stuff laying…
Birds and Windows
People in glasses houses–besides not throwing stones–also need to find ways to mitigate the needless avian deaths caused by all that glass. With over 100…
Inanimate Birds
While there is still plenty of house/land stuff to keep us busy, sometimes it’s nice to have a scheduled activity to allow us to relax…
Quick Beaks and Quick Fixes
One of the recurring issues we’ve experienced–besides the ineptitude of the previous owners–is the destructive desire of the boys, Tenar and Thlayli. When moving in,…
Downward Facing Birds
I set up one of the trail cams pointing downward at the water bowl outside the kitchen, the same one Frank the Skunk likes to…
At the Birdbath
(Yes, I’m still very behind on posts, but I really am working on that, albeit very slowly.) On the suggestion of a neighbor, I took…
Touching up some leaves
Shortly after the floors were done and the boys moved back into their place, I retouched the trees I painted on the walls a couple…
Eating things one should not: Power Cords
Continuing the theme of the preceding post, living with two large parrots means sometimes things get eaten. Shoes are a frequent target. I have a…
Eating things one should not: Cardboard
Regular readers of this little blog know that we have two large parrots sharing our world. While Tenar and Thlayli (Thy for short) are basically…
Birds and More Birds
Saturday I took part in an online birding event sponsored by the San Francisco Bird Observatory. It was pretty straightforward: go out and take pictures…
Shelter in Place
California, like most of the country, is currently asking residents to shelter in place. Except for the fact that Agent Smith isn’t going into the…
Nesting Birds
This post a few weeks ago covered the story of 10 nesting boxes installed at Purgatory over a year ago. Last summer nary a bird…
Birdhouses of Purgatory
Finally, a story I’ve been wanting to tell for ages, but forced myself to get through the backlog of other stuff first. One of the…
Keeping Me Company
While we don’t often write about them, Tenar and Thy are always part of the ranch. They have their own room with painted trees and…
Bonus Post: Bird Herding
We have several tools that we employ to help herd the boys when they wander into parts of the house where they really shouldn’t remain…
Owlet Video
In the summer of last year, we had barn owls nest and raise seven offspring in the stables. We took some still images and set…
Birds and Windows: New Contest @Purgatory
One of the downsides to living in an MCM house is having a LOT of windows, so we often have birds running into them, and…