Daily Pics Vol. 40

RBW enjoying the peanut feeder.

Nice pics Marilyn. Lucky you to see 2 T T's.

Thanks Pelle! I was surprised to see both of them together to get a pic! Had to take from inside. Today's a chilly damp raw day, I've taken some inside too.

GF on one of my newest feeders (that I finally got filled up and hung). It has my mix of thistle and BOSS chips.

Tufted Titmouse and a Downy on the peanut feeder together. Not as clear and sharp of a pic, since I had to take it inside.

The Ravens went down the street ahead of the garbage truck again today. Before they finished the contents of this bag was spread across the entire width of the street.

The sun poked through a hole in the clouds for a few minutes to day, just long enough to take this shot of a red-breasted Nuthatch through the kitchen window.

brrrr Gary, Raven street cleaners? or messers? great pic of the RbN! We are still due for our 1st real freeze here. :-

Brrrr! I feel like I'm in Alaska! We're getting buried here. It took me 2 1/2 hours to drive 10 miles home from work. I'm still twitching from the stress...I feel better now that I'm looking at the birdie pics.

Love the RbN in the sun. The Mountain Dee Wingpit is cute too! lol

Great set of pics Marilyn! Wowie!

Marilynbeth

Not getting great pics of the GF.....

#2

Nice capture of the Mountain Dee, tiger.

Adelbert, nice rich blue, are they Western scrub Jays?

Gee pelle, you still in the wet stuff?

nanny, your second pic of the GF is very clear, nice expression too!

I've been trying to get robin again but he's been following me around, lurking in the shadows. Today it was sunny again, although only 37F, it's not that high off the horizon now so he positioned to get the best of it.

Yes I'm watching you

Cutie Blue Tit

Acrobat

Look at me...

Dinner.

Great Tit got his dinner too, he was in dark shadows.

Nice pics wallaby! I love those 2 birds!

Love your robins wallaby! I really like the other 2 also! Boy, you have to watch your phrasing with those!!!

Couple more bad GF. For some reason, the other day it seemed like all the birds would turn their backs to me as soon as I pushed the shutter button.

#2 at the finch feeder.

wallaby1

Todd, when I first saw your #1 picture, I too thought it was a Partridge. I don't know my birds all that well either. Very cute fellow.
Wallaby, your birds comes out, so striking against that blue sky.
adelbertcat, Nice quail and Jay, Your jays are different then the ones we get here.
Marilynbeth, you have a great variety of birds, You have a Downy WP , and on my Tread I called him an Hairy WP LOL.
Grasmussen, and Pelletory, Nice little Nuthatch, don't get to see them in my yard. Nice to be able to see them here.
Nanny, your GF was camera shy in one of your pic, but made a good pose for the second shot. Nice. I love these They are bountiful in my yard in the summer. In the Wintertime they are more olive, and I don't get as much.

There are some fantastic shots on this thread and I am in awe as usual!

I tried to take a pic of this cute little Titmouse that was high in the tree. Not too good but it sure is cute and fluffy!

Need an ID Please ... Any idea what type of bird this one is?

At first I thought it was a mountain chickadee; but its beak and wing pattern are wrong for that. In addition, it's a bit too large to be a chickadee (just a bit larger than a house finch).

Other than the black eye mask and wing bars, it was very light gray all over. Also, the upper beak has a slight downward curve (like a hawk's beak); but that doesn't show up very well in these photos.

I'm pretty sure this one is a Great White Heron (e.g the White Morph of the Great Blue Heron) as opposed to an Egret. I was going crazy shooting photos and managed to catch it in flight and landing on the river.

This Rough-Legged Hawk put on quite a show soaring around in circles looking for something to eat.

Jane,

Northern Shrike http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Northern_Shrike.html

Great shots of all your pics!

Rose,

Your Titmouse is adorable, cute and fluffy! Nice shot!

Burn,

Nice shot of your Blue Jay!

Nanny,

Nice pics! Love the GF!

Wallaby,

Nice pics!

Debnes,

Thanks!

Gras,

Nice pics!

nanny- Nice pics of the AG

Jane- Congrats on the Shrike, the other looks like a Great Egret.

Rose- I love the Titmouse.

burn- Nice shot!

This message was edited Dec 14, 2007 7:37 AM

I am also in awe of everyones pics!! I love the wintertime birding!!

Marilyn we get the Loggerhead here in Texas, however I have to go up into the country fields to see them. Here are a couple pics from last January:

http://www.theletteroflove.com/photography/wp-content/photos/loggerheadshrike2.jpg
http://www.theletteroflove.com/photography/wp-content/photos/loggerheadshrike.jpg

Very similar, but LH has more of the blue gray...

Thanks Pelle and Marilyn! The little Titmouse was back this morning and is still cute and fluffy! We finally have sun today so I hope I can venture to the river and check out the birds!

Oops..meant to post this pic!

Marilynbeth & Debnes ... Thanks so much for the Shrike identification. I checked the region for the Northern Shrike and it doesn't come this far south. The Loggerhead Shrike's region does include New Mexico; so that's probably it. To be honest, I can't tell the different between the two varieties.

Pelle ... I debated between the Great Egret and the Great White Heron. The Cornell site list the Great Egret as "all white". When I caught this one in flight, I thought it had a charcoal grey color on the underside. After looking more closely, I think it's just a shadow.

I love adding new birds to my list; but identifying them can be really tricky sometimes. This forum has been such a wonderful source of information and everyone here is just great.

Here's a picture of a hawk I took last week. I named this collage "Ready .. Set ... Go!"

Edited (typos) ..

This message was edited Dec 14, 2007 10:30 AM

Oh it isn't the colorations so much, (oops!) I was mistaken... Jane

It is the size NS are 10" on average, and LHS are 9"


The other thing is their beaks NS has a profound hook... see attached from my Nat Geographic Birds of NA:

The early bird gets the peanut.

I second that.

Different morning, same bunch.

=== Can you hear the Juncos in the background grumbling?