Daily Bird Pics Vol. 385

Nice one Adel!

Donna, wishing you a speedy recovery, and a happy return to the things you love most. Looking forward on hearing from you again.
Pelle, no decline in Redpolls yet. It will be more toward mid April, before they start their journey north. My last record of them in 2009 was April 23.
Thanks Margarite, your Gallah and Corella shots are wonderful.
Red, can't wait to see the Waxwing return at my pond, will have to wait till April.
Lily your Heron doesn't seem to mind if your close. And neat Flickers, wish they would come visit me, in my yard.
Duc love your beautiful images of the Blackbird ,Cowbird, Junco and Tree Swallow and Waxwing.
Adel cute caption.

This Hoary Redpoll is very possessive of the feeder he's on. He chases anyone, who wants to dine with him.

Female Hairy woodpecker.

Male Downy Woodpecker.

We've had steady gentle rain nearly all day today. Before it rains, the N. Flicker has a chance to sunbath and preen himself for a bit before he continues to build his nest in the garden.

Well, the juncos have not left yet but some of the birds hereabouts have apparently decided that Spring is here. The bluebirds have chased their youngsters away and have decided to nest in the Gilbertson PVC nest box, the flickers are chasing each other high in the trees behind the shed, the Carolina wrens, chickadees and cardinals have paired up and the male robins have staked out claims to various trees in our yard and the neighbors. They sit for hours on the fence near "their" tree. Here is one that likes the looks of our Bradford Pear. He runs along the pickets, whenever another robin dares encroach.

I should add that the house finches have paired up as well. There was a female along with this male but she flew before I could get a shot of them together. Don't know what he has in his beak. Appears to be some kind of leaf.

The male bluebird does not help build the nest, but he sure likes to supervise.

A shot of the female

Nice shots all,my N Flicker is been hanging out alot,need to hook my camera back up...

Too funny about the Robin, Dave (and Adel!).

Adel...I think our robins are saying the same thing here. It rained all day yesterday.

Dave .....very nice and LOL @ your robin!

Lily...nice flicker shots. I have been hearing ours doing their one little call/squeal the last few days!

I had some Northern Flickers coming to my suet feeder, but since I put the new feeder in, I have not seen any, do you think it scared them away? Please let me know what your opinion is.

Teddy, I think that birds just come and go and you have to enjoy what you can. Especially Flickers. I rarely get them here through the winter. Mostly in the fall and through the summer. I don't think you've scared them away, because clearly the others keep coming back.

Beautiful start Nanny with the Pileated...I'm so jealous you get them in your yard!! Thanks for the new thread.

Nice shots everyone...I am enjoying seeing them all!

Daddy waiting on his breakfast.

Great shots everyone!!

Weather has warmed, but still raining

Spotted Towhee

Dark-eyed Junco

Fox Sparrow

Nice ones adel!
Hope your rain ends soon.

Nothing new happening here. I've been away, picked up a Remote Control Helicopter, and that has occupied my time. Today I saw a male Downy WP, but didn't have my camera.

But you all have been taking some nice pix.

Hack

Also took a pic of Mama yesterday morning, didn't publish. The pair showed a few signs of nesting over the weekend, but not a serious effort. Still a little early.

I always enjoy towees. We have a few spotted ones around here, but not many. Rare for me to see one.

This message was edited Mar 7, 2011 5:55 AM

Your Daddy bluebird shot above is amazing, red!

Cardinals singing over the weekend.

Not as colourful and spectacular as the above shots, but here is mine anyway.
This is an everyday sight since about 10 days or so as summer has started to begin its course and it will be warmer for the next 90 days or so. The birds need water as much as we humans do. They wont get a facility like this everywhere! I only wish more people realized the importance of keeping the birds in mind, as much as their children! They are important to nature.

Two colourful visitors to my bird bath.

Lily, your flicker photos are great!

Adel, our robins were looking similar to yours-cute photo. Cute sparrow, junco and towhee shots.

Burn, so are you putting out separate feeders for the possessive redpolls? Love your wp shots!

Dave, that robin photo is the cutest!! Love the beautiful bluebirds too. Have you seen any of HOSP around your Gilbertson boxes yet? I have four of them now and haven't seen one sparrow-I'm crossing my fingers it stays that way.

Red, your "daddy" sure is a handsome guy. Nice one of mom too.

Hack, now you need to figure out how to attach a camera to that helicopter.lol

Iris, glad you're hearing the cardinals.

Dinu, your bathers are sure beautiful.

Our robins are still grabbing the last of the berries, but the flock is growing and they'll soon all move on up the street where there's more berries.

Mr and Mrs Tree Swallow are happy with their Gilbertson nest box. They sit below it and fight the other swallows that try to claim their spot.

This message was edited Mar 7, 2011 4:39 PM

This one just kept preening as I stood less than 10 feet away snapping photos.

This one was trying to get the attention of a mate, but he just sat still in his spot and looked around.

duc, you're not gonna believe this, but I have ordered a "key-chain video camera" for the chopper. Mine is a big heli with a 26 inch rotor diameter. I have read accounts of hawks sweeping down and grabbing the smaller ones - and then dropping them 80-100 feet when they realize their mistake. Needless to say, the dropped chopper is usually totaled.

I got the camera mainly to look around from high up in the air. I'm not sure of the birds are gonna stay put with this big thing flying around them.

Hack

This message was edited Mar 7, 2011 10:50 AM

LOL, you sure know how to have a good time Hack. Enjoy yourself.

Love those Tree Swallows duc! Great pics!

Good Luck Hack! keep us posted!

Boy I can't wait until our swallows get here!

Nanny, Love your PW!!! We haven't had a Grackle here yet...probably within a week I'm guessing :)

Gardenpon, All your pics are wonderful...great Vulture shot!

Burn, I enjoy all your Redpoll pics!!!...and I finally saw one here today...WooHoo!

Margaret, those Galah birds are awesome!!! They look somewhat similar to Parrots :)

Reddirt, Great Waxwing pic!!!

Dinu, A wonderful capture...what are the name of those birds?

Lily, Love your Flicker pics!!!!

Adel, Nice pics...especially the spotted Towhee!!

Dave, Your bluebird pics are wonderful...ahhhh...someday I hope to live out in the country and have them nesting in our backyard :)

Duc, Lovely Robin capture...we had a flock of 10 in the crabapple tree here today. The male who had already claimed the tree and territory as his own could not have been anymore annoyed with the flock passing through...LOLOLOL

Today was VERY exciting here. We had a record # of Goldfinches today...86, which topped our highest # last year of 82. We also had our newest species visitor today, the 58th to our backyard habitat...AND lifer # 81 for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We had a Common Redpoll!!!!!!!! What makes it really cool is that it's not common to see one here. For those interested, check out e-bird, narrow down the e-bird sightings map by changing the settings to the area being the state of Nebraska. Over the past 4-5 years, there has only been 6 sightings...4 in Custer County, 1 in Dodge County and 1 in Madison County...So cool!




This message was edited Mar 7, 2011 1:17 PM

Congrats Susan! I would just love to see a redpoll! My goldfinches are all gone. They disappeared about a week ago. Must have headed your way!

This thread is just beautiful. Makes me kick myself for not check in more often! Nice job everyone!

I had a real treat. I went to see a bird that is rarely seen in the US. Thought I'd share -- Yellow-faced Grassquit at Goose Island State Park.

This message was edited Mar 7, 2011 5:46 PM

Sadly, something is wrong with the camera so there are streaks in this shot, but his feet and face are still pretty cool.

Then I went to see the Whooping Cranes. Couldn't get very close or get the right lighting for pictures, but I sure enjoyed the show. Here one is chasing another who appears headless in my shot!

There were 5 of them at this pond until these two flew off.

This female Kestrel was right by the road. Rolled down the car window for this pic.