If you are new, or not so new, come and visit our last thread it was filled with many wonderful pictures and variety: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1085478/
Male Northern Cardinals wouldn't sit still very long in spring. They would chase one another from tree to tree. What a hoot! This one just stops for a brief break.
Adel, I hope temp. is warming up there for you?
Here is a pic. of a handsome male House finch. Hang on folks. Red is on the way with his many interesting birds from Uvalde county Tx.
An Osprey, what a beautiful bird!
Thanks for the new thread Lily! Love that Cardinal amidst all the blooms of that tree! I know the house finch is common for some but I rarely see them, cutie bird .. and of course I Love that Osprey! I still haven't remembered to take my camera and take pic's of the Osprey's nesting at our nearby Wal-Mart!
Reddirttree: That Flycatcher from the previous thread is gorgeous! What great color .. I've never seen one of those. We have the black vulture's here too and I got a couple of shots of them along side the road by my neighbors yard with their road kill last year but lost all the pic's when my hard drive crashed recently. Interesting looking birds aren't they? That's a cool shot that you got there before they finished off their raccoon dinner!
Great start Lily!!! Good pics, I especially love the Osprey!
Thanks for starting the new thread!!
Thanks Lin and Pelle, here are few more of the pics. I took on Easter Sunday. Great Blue Heron by the nest along river bank.
Lily, I'm amazed at the osprey shot! I like the house finch too.
Reddirttree -- I'm so jealous of the Vermillion Flycatcher! I've been dying to see one. What a great trip you must be having.
Great start Lily! It seems that we are just flying through these threads! Your cardinal, finch, and heron are pretty, but I love the osprey! They are impressive birds!
I spotted some sort of dark bird in the river when driving by yesterday, and went back about 6pm to try and photograph them, but we had a T-storm and I couldn't even SEE the river for a few minutes! We even ended up with some dime-sized hail! I'm thinking they are loons or cormorants, but I have never seen cormorants this far inland.
That is so pretty Lily!
Ughhh! Wild Rose, I hope the weather didn't affect you much. That same 'cool front' is coming our way--by a day after tomorrow. I think. For right now it's balmy hot down here. Got up nearly 90F. degrees yesterday. Stay safe, last time I experienced hales, it cost us a new roof for the house (last May).
Back to our wonderful world of birding; These Pekin Ducks came by to "be-friend" this fisherman, lol.
Nanny, your crow is cute. Looks like it was posing for you.
Rose, love those Barn Swallows. They have more coloring than my swallows.
Burn enjoy the new laptop. Your birds are really cute.
Gazergirl, hope the orioles enjoy your sugar water.
Red, congrats on the lifers. Beautiful shot of the vulture. I love the Vermillion Flycatchers-glad you got to enjoy them. They sure are beautiful birds.
Lily, thanks for the new start. Your cardinal looks so pretty in the blooms. Great shots of the finch and osprey too!! That heron on the nest is wonderful. I''m always amazed to see these large birds in the tops of the trees.
This Crow was looking up at the suet I put in the peanut butter log.
I almost died laughing when he stuck his beak into the suet and it stuck to the tip of his beak. He kept looking at me inside the house and trying to figure out how to get it into his mouth. It took a while but he finally figured out that if he jumped over to one of my potted plants, he could stick his bill into the dirt and get the suet off.
Here's one of my Golden crowned Sparrows.
Had to show you this one. I got this new Oriole feeder for my orioles and they're continuing to ignore it completely. I guess they're just used to drinking from the hummer feeders.
This hummingbird couldn't figure out how to sit on the perch and drink the sugar water. There's a bee guard in the feeding port and the birds have to push it in to get to the liquid. I don't think the hummers are strong enough to push it in. Maybe that's why my orioles won't use it too?
One of my beautiful Tree Swallows. Two of them sit on this branch that's attached to my deck all day long and they refuse to sit anywhere else, including the new branches I've placed closeby. Sure would be nice to get different photos of them, but I haven't got the heart to remove their favorite perch.
Lily: Love the Heron! I know if I was out on the boat I'd never catch any fish because I'd be too busy watching all the birds! By the way, nice lake!
duc: What wonderful photo's of the crow, especially that second one with his mouth open and the suet on his beak! That Golden crowned Sparrow is really nice, love his colorful crown! I love seeing pic's of the Hummers! I haven't filled my feeders in a long while but should do it. I haven't seen any hummers yet this year. My neighbors had one in their yard early last month. I need to keep my eyes open and maybe if I'd fill their feeders they would stop by.
Oh, I was typing and missed that beautiful Tree Swallow! We don't ever see swallows of any kind here, that really is a pretty bird and it looks like he wanted his picture taken, sitting pretty and looking right at you! Great shot!
Duc, those tree swallows are really photogenic! And that first picture of the crow looks so sweet. DOn't know that I've ever seen a crow looks "sweet" before.
Nice start to the thread, LL!
Well I've had an interesting morning. Two lifers already.
It's dark and drizzly, so these are not great pix. First up is what I think is a Hermit Thrush. I suppose it could be a Swainson's though but the tail feathers are a little more rusty so I'm going with Hermit
And then to my surprise, this little sweetie showed up. A Winter Wren. They move so darned fast and it is so dark that the shots are a bit fuzzy.
Red-Bellied Woodpecker from about an hour ago.
This one was searching the neighbors Banana tree for some food.
Digging deep.
Catbird.
Pardon the butt, but a good look at a Catbirds' red rear.
If you have a cute butt, you should show it off! Nice pics GP and Duc!
I've been releasing lady bugs. They seem to be happy the next day and then they disappear. Found out why -- a Carolina Wren is eating them. If he'd eat the aphids, I would be fine with that. Oh well. Looks like they may be nesting in the only box that I didn't specially make for them. It's like they want to annoy me!
They won't let me get a good pic either. I guess since I'm posting, I should include some picture. Here's a talkative goldfinch.
Elphaba, great timing on the "talkative Goldie" lol. He's so pretty and bright. I put up my nyjers sock for them but apparently they've have all gone to Tx? LOL, then I just saw a female stopping by, and the House Finch took turn to chased her away, then, in turn the Red Bellied WP chased at the House finch....on and on, wished they would choose their own-size to pick on. lol.
Duc, your Golden Crowned Sparrow is so pretty. It's so nice to see the hummingbird on your feeder. This is the very first time I learn of "Bee guard". Wow, what do they think up next? Keep those helpful info. coming please.
Mrs_Ed, congrats on your two 'Lifers' the Winter Wren is cute as a button. The Hermit Thrush is new to me.
GP, lol about us all being mooned by that Catbird, thanks for the sharing of info. otherwise I wouldn't haven't known. lol.
Lin, isn't it the truth about our fishing hobby. I don't remember the last time I caught a fish and it's time to renew our license. lol.
This message was edited Apr 6, 2010 12:09 PM
Ok, I hope I don't sound too dumb here but I must ask. What does it mean when y'all refer to some of these birds as "Lifers"? I noticed Hack refer to the Hairy Woodpecker as his Lifer and now Mrs_Ed. I'm just curious as to what you mean by that term when referring to the birds in your photo's.
Mrs_Ed: That little Hermit Thrush is adorable, and what a teeny cutie that Winter Wren is! Such cute pictures.
gardenpom: Great shots of the Red-bellied! I wonder what he's after deep in that plant? I'm hoping to see the Grey Catbird again soon ... they seem very elusive around here, come and go quick as a wink!
Elphaba: Nice shot of the singing Goldfinch!
Great shots Duc! The Crow is beautiful and I love your shot of the Golden-crowned Sparrow. The Tree Swallow is gorgeous and that is one sweet hummingbird!
Congratulations on the 2 Lifers Mrs Ed!!!
Wonderful shots GP!! Love the Cat bird and Red-bellied!
Elphaba, Nice catch on the Goldfinch!! I love their little zeet zeet sounds!
Hi Lin, You keep a Life List of birds that you have seen. Each new one is called a "Lifer".
Here is my Life List on a website- http://www.yardbirder.net/List.php?Name=PellesBackyard&List=Lifelist
Here is the Home Page- http://www.yardbirder.net/index.php
This message was edited Apr 6, 2010 1:15 PM
Caught a Great Blue Heron shaking off the water on its feathers.
LOL, Nice catch Lily!!!!
From a distance, but I think this is a Belted Kingfisher. Boys the bird is a chunk of ham. Sizable bird!
Hmmm, I'm not quite sure of that one . Let's try the next shot.
Pelle, those herons they're quite accustomed to being around boaters and people in general. They don't seem to be timid at all. Hubby said they used to be quite shy in years past.
Thanks Pelle ... a life list sounds like a wonderful idea! I'm going to check out those links!
Lily: How wonderful that you have a Belted Kingfisher! I've only seen one once in my 62 years and they sure are awesome looking birds! They dive headfirst into the water to catch a fish. There may be many others, but it's the only bird I know of where the female has more color than the male. She has the red "belt" across her chest.
I can't tell for sure but it does look to be the right shape and size: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=belted+kingfisher&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=h227S_CvLsL38Abj9vzECA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQsAQwAA
I'm so happy to learn new information on the Kingfisher, Lin. Thank you. I'll be on the look out to find a female when I can....
If it's not the Belted Kingfisher, could it be a Swallow of some sort? Some one help me out please. We need photoshop to crop and zoom into the image.
Not too far from the site, I spotted this Swallow (Cliff? Tree, I don't know which).
Could it possibly be the Gray Kingbird: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Gray+Kingbird&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=sY-7S7P7HJLA9QSclLT7Bw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBEQsAQwAA
I'm inclined to think they are found in Central Alabama. My Fla bird book says it is slightly larger than the Eastern Kingbird, lighter above with a slightly forked, unbanded tail and has a larger, heavier bill. Loosely constructed nests are often placed in mangroves, overhanging water. They feed on insects from exposed, elevated perches. Quite tolerant of human activity provided there is ample feeding and nesting habitat.
A redwinged Black Bird checking out the feeder.
Lin it could possibly be, I've seen all 3, Phoebe, Kingbird and the Belted Kingfisher in close up in the area. It's the Swallow that would make a 'lifer' for me since I wasn't able to capture any of them close up.
I'm heading out for a little while, will post more pics. this evening.
Eastern Kingbird - note the white tip of the tail, Gray Kingbird doesn't have that, just a plain grey tail.
Resin
