Birdsters! May is here and we want to see your 'firsts'! :-)

Wonderful ... and am happy for you, pedally!! The R-B Grosbeaks are quite a site to see ... 'Almost' boring (the backsides) .. if you don't get to see that brilliant red breast !! .. hee

Guess that you certainly will be glad .. when your plants 'catch up' for/to the birds !!

Also .. a big ol 'hearty' welcome .. to DG, to ya !!!!

- Magpye

Kenndyth, thanks for the relations to our whip poor wills. Their sound in the night will forever hold a special place in my heart.

Our summer blue jays are back. Blue white and black sassy fellows. Never saw a western one before. Nice photos all. thanks.

The stellar's Jay can be found east to around the Montana/Idaho border. In the mountains east of Cranbrook BC to be exact. I got it on video but haven't extracted a still shot yet..... Tom

On Wednesday, I visited Eastern Neck Wildlife Refuge in Maryland. I had a few May firsts in that I saw three Bald Eagles, all too far away to get a good photo. I also saw quite a few Osprey that are now nesting. Here is one photo of a male Osprey taken along the road. Taking a decent photo against the bright sky is a real challenge (for me). Note that he has half a fish in his talons.

The Common Tern was also a May first for me ....

Great photos Linthicum! That Osprey especially is so lovely!

It's funny you all are talking about whip poor wills. The past week or so I keep hearing something in the garden that sounds remarkably like a whip poor will, but it's always in our very dense Brachychiton tree and I've never gotten even a slight view of him/her. Ken and Hillary and Psilo, do you know if there are any Old World cousins to the whip poor will....or if any of the Old World birds make that distinctive sound? I'm so curious and it's drives me batty every time I hear it and can't SEE it! LOL

-Julie

Wonderful pics everyone. Got this shot this morning, there were two playing at the feeders.

Viv

Well, I was going to post this in a separate thread, and then I saw yours, so I'll do it here!

I have never tried attracting orioles to my yard....this was such a blessing to see earlier this morning! It's partner was camera shy and I couldn't get a good pic of the two of them together.

Sandy

Oh Sandy I want orioles in my yard.... great pic.


Viv

Sandy, how FUN! S/he's a realy beauty! :-) Congratulations on getting them in your garden! :-)

-Julie

Sandy How did you do that? I swear I saw an Oriole in our back yard today and I know they like grape jelly. Is that what is on top of the orange? Also how did you make it so the oranges stayed in place? Thanks so much for sharing the beautiful pic. :) Buckimom

This message was edited May 9, 2005 6:28 AM

We've a Red Bellied woodpecker since winter but this is the 1st Red Headed woodpecker I've ever seen. Sorry the pic is kind of blurry, I'm still trying to figure out my new digi camera. I missed the shot of him when he got on the suet feeder.

Here's the Red Bellied

I believe this is a Red Bellied female, the head only had a small amount of red.

Here are some baby chickadees, the nest is down in one the the fence post.

Hi sadie--very neat picture of the RHWO. I am dying to spy one in our yard and am constantly keeping a look-out. Seems we get everything else, but RHWO. There seem to be a few more around our area this year according to the Cincinnati Audubon/Birding rare bird alerts so maybe the RHWO are making a comeback.

Please let us know if he stays around and if he comes to your feeders (and what you have in them)...

Salv--thanks for picking up the Birdsters thread. We've had some pretty good May posts.

SS. I am especially keen on the Oriole sightings, too. We have a nest of O's in our birch trees. A first for us. Makes me happy.

Happy birding to all. t.

Great series of birds photos. Where I grew up the Red Headed was the only true Woodpecker, plus Flickers. I have never been able to get a picture of either.

trois

Thanks! I was so excited to see the Red Headed, I had to sneak back into the house for the camera and he was very skittish. I'm hoping he comes back. He did fly to the suet feeder, then saw me and flew off. It's just the plain "Year Round" Morning Song suet from Walmart.
tabasco - I'm hoping to get some better pics to post of the Orioles on that jelly feeder I put out. They still aren't touching the oranges.

My pair of Downeys go for the same suet. They really seem to like the nutty and plain versions-- there is a berry one as well that they are less interested in. It's cheap too! .92 cents and that's great -- since my $$$ seed is feeding the @%&^$ squirrels... goin to get a baffel today

We have squirrels, voles, and rats going for ours, especially Sunflower seeds. At night, the raccons finish off anything left. They even started eating my oranges off the tree last winter.

Sadie...congratulations on getting both types of woodpeckers to your garden! How fun! And that pic of the Chickadee babies is so cute! I sure hope they stay safe in that spot!

-Julie

Seedsower ..
Ohh, how very purtee a bird the Orioles are! Some captivatingly beautiful coloring!! I swear their 'yellery-orange' is the same color of the orange peels!! Wonderful shot

I knew that we hadn't accumulated THAT many hummers (yet!) .. to 'do in' two quarts over such a short period of time!!! With our last count - we've got the proverbial bakers dozen' that visit, but that truly shocked me! I thought the feeders'd developed an awful leak!! .. hee .. The Oriole had apparently been coming to the hummer feeders, and had two of them completely drained over a three day period of time.

Finally 'lucked up' on Moms Day .. and fetched a few pitters too!! But, it took settin' a couple of orange halves out in the 'mouth' of the Alligator log feeder .. to draw him 'down' out of the tops of the trees! I was thrilled beyond belief - and almost forgot I had my camera in-hand!!! The ol coot had barely made it back to the porch, before one sat himself down to investigate the lil gifts. .. hee .. Reckon he thought it was too good a deal to pass up .. The Oriole, then announced his find .. with the shrillest, loudest and the ultimately sweetest arpeggio of 'tunes', I've ever heard!!

sadiemaewebb ... How superbly grand a sighting for you to share with us!! Aren't the Red-headeds jes gorgeous!?! Hopin' like 'all-get-out' .. that one of those fellers comes to pay us another visit, this year also!
It's a wonderful shot!!! Not a whole lot of folks get to see them so clearly .. let alone, capture a shot of them!!

The chickAdee nest 'babies' .. are adorable!! Maybe get ya to give us a pitter of the fence post itself - for my wee brain cannot picture their nest the way you've described it! But then again - I'm still truly amazed that airplanes get off the ground! ... (*LOL*) ...

And .. congratulations .. on the new digital cam'ra too!! .. Ya gonna tell us a bit more about yer cam'ra: or have you mentioned it elsewhere; on the camera forum(?) - reckon I should jes go and check fer myseff, 'ey?! .. (*hee*)

ALL of the posts .. are some most wonderful 1st for May !! .. Thanks so very much, for allowing me to share and view them with all of you guys ...

- Magpye

Magpye - I'll post a pic of the fence post when I get home. DH is always fussing that some of them are rotten in the tops, but that evidently makes good nesting places. There was a chickadee nest in one of the other ones last year, every time I would mow, I kept hearing this sound and it took me forever to figure out where they were, I couldn't get positioned right to get a pic of those. I had to climb up on the brace post and look down to get the above pic!

My camera is a Kodak DX7590, it is so much fancier than my little Toshiba and I haven't gotten it all figured out yet. I mainly bought it to take better pics of the hummers, but the zoom is so good, I've taken pics of everything that will sit still :-) I was glad I got the pic of the Red Head, but wish it had been focused better. I really want to see a Pileated woodpecker. DH says he's seen them in the woods. I've seen posted here that they will come to feeders, so I'm hoping....

I've also seen the Downeys at the feeder, but every time they see me, they move around to the other side. I saw them much more this winter than I am seeing them now.

Thank goodness we don't have any other critters messing with the feeders, I don't think the raccoons and squirrels have figured out that the dogs can't get out of the yard.

I've have enjoyed looking at everyone's pics so much. I'm glad I "found" this forum, it's only taken me a year and a half, duh!

Magpye - Here ya go. See the crack in the post? The post is partially hollow down to the bottom of that crack and that's where the babies are :-)

On Sunday afternoon, I was having an idle moment watching Motor racing on the TV and the bird table on our patio, became very busy, with a lot of the larger birds. First to come were the Crimson Rosellas Platycercus elegans. They love to come and feed on sunflower seeds and are regular visitors all year round. Here is an adult Crimson Rosella.

the young Crimson Rosellas are mostly green. Here is an immature bird, with the crimson beginning to spread over its breast.

Fay had put some meat scraps on the bird table and the next to arrive was the Australian Magpie Gymnorhina tibicen. This is an immature bird without the clear black on its breast. The streak of yellow on its face is just a shaft of sunlight.

Later an adult male Australian Magpie joined the feast. These birds are about the size of a crow and have a beautiful carolling song.

Next on the scene were the Pied Currawongs Strepera graculina. These birds are usually in large noisy flocks. Although very crow-like in appearance, they are not related to the crows, in fact they are the same family as the Australian Magpies. Here is the first Pied Currawong on the bird-table on Sunday.

Finally, the Australian Raven Corvus coronoides arrived. This is a regular visitor to the garden, but they are very wary birds and up to now I have never managed a photograph. On Sunday, instead of standing at the open screen door as I had for the other birds, I stayed in my chair and tried a picture through the screen door and the result was much better than I had expected. Note the white eye. All the Australian crows and ravens (5 species in all) have white eyes. The currawongs on the other hand have yellow eyes, see the previous picture. Here is my first ever Australian Raven picture:

AHH .. a picture is most definitely .. worth, a thousand words - of breath saving (rather: key peckin') explanations !! .. LOL .. Puts everything in perspective fer me! .. THANK YOU soooo much ..

Those lil guys sure are adorable! Bet mom & dad get a wee bit wet when it rains, tryin' to keep 'em nice and dry ... hee

I jes got thru .. takin' a look peek at the model of Kodak digital, that ya fetch'd fer yourself, also! And, geezer-weezers . . . sure seems the only thing that, that lil ditty haint got - is ya leather seats and a V-8 turbo engine!! (*hee*) She looks to be a mitey dandy lil gem, and loaded with all sorts of wonderful goodies, to boot!! That 5 MP joined with the 10X optical zoom, is a force to be reckoned with! No doubt .. you're very proud .. as well a body should be!! .. hee .. Heck, Kodak has been around since, before I can remember -so, they oughta have the wisdom & the how to's .. down to a fine art, fer sure!

Here's wishin' for that 'better shot' that you (and the rest of us) .. are always wanting. B'leeve it's associated to that contagious 'foto-feva' that'll getcha in a heartbeat!! .. hee ..

So, once more . . . Happy shutterbuggin' to ya, sadiemae !!! .. Enjoy!

- Magpye

Good-ness Ken !! .. Ya and the missus, must've set the table mitey well .. with a feast for the birds!!

Hah .. Australian MagpYe, 'ey!?! .. Welllll, ya know already .. which one of yer birds .. is 'my' fav-rite!! hee
( .. I know; jes plum silly of me .. hee!! ) However, I don't recall the black & white colors lookin' anywhere near as fetchin' on any other bird, as they are .. on your Magpie. That adult male is a most gorgeous bird!! Almost dressed-to-kill (figuritively speakin' only!!!!) in a fetchin' bird 'tux' of sorts! .. lol ..

You have me most curious now .. to do some internet searchin', in hopes of finding a lil peice of audio, of the Magpies' caroling tunes ...

The Curawongs eyes .. resemble the Grackles' yellow eyes.

Have certainly enjoyed .. your sharing your Sunday afternoon 'entertainment' with us, Ken .. very much so!

- Magpye

Great bird photos. We have a few Australian birds. Do you have Grass Parakeets there? We had one for a long time and he was a sweet bird.

Thanks for the photos.

trois

Ken, what a fun group of visitors to your relaxing Sunday afternoon :-). I agree with Magpye...your Australian Magpie is such a lovely bird! But take a look at the beak on that Pied Currawong!!! Wow! And the Crimson Rosellas sure do add a bright splash of color to your fall garden! The Australian Raven.....well, he's definitely a lovely bird and the white eye is really cool! I may have, but I really don't recall ever having seen a bird with a white eye before. Thanks for sharing you pics with us!

-Julie

Ken, those pictures are wonderful! :) Thank you so much for posting them! Again, thanks for sharing! Bucki

We went for a hike on Saturday. The first birds I saw were Tristam's Grackles. Didn't get a shot of them though as they were a pair chasing each other between the trees. Then I saw some swifts...which were as usual too 'swift' for me to shoot or ID....or maybe they were swallows. In any case, they were doing some great acrobatics in the sky. LOL I saw loads of Great Tits and House Sparrows as well as Yellow-venter Bulbuls.

The first birds I was able to get pics of were the Rock Doves Columba livia

Then I saw this one. I can't tell if it's a female Rock Dove or a Woodpigeon Columba palumbus .... or neither or a cross. LOL. In any case, I thought the mottling was pretty.

Next was this pretty one. The markings aren't quite right for a Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur. Dunno what it is.

Then I spotted this Jay Garrulus glandarius eating bugs out of the bark of this tree. So sorry about all the blurriness with these photos....dunno why I couldn't get my act together that day.

Julie, Rock Doves are the ancestors of all the Domestic Pigeons and there are very few places where pure rock doves still exist. The chances are that your second bird is a cross between rock dove and domestic pigeon