Birding.

[MikeandRong]

 

 

Top photo is 3 different Male Red-winged Blackbirds. Bottom photo is a nice Male Brown-headed Cowbird who landed on top of the shed and is checking things out very relaxed only 10 yards from me.

[MikeandRong]

 

 

Top photo is a wet adult Female Cardinal and the bottom photo is another Female Cardinal together with her partner Male.

[MikeandRong]

 

 

A very nice Female Hairy Woodpecker that is the same bird in both photos.

[MikeandRong]

 

 

 

3 different Male Red-bellied Woodpeckers all eating the peanuts today. Top photo is a bid adult, I think the same one from yesterday due to his size. 2nd photo is a ragged looking one probably going through his summer molting. 3d photo is a smaller adult that came in durning the afternoon time and feeding alongside a Female House Sparrow. Almost always they will chase away any other bird that is near them and then feed alone. Nice cool weather and abundant food has calmed them down today it seems.

[MikeandRong]

 

This White-breasted Nuthatch was just playing around with this 1/2 sunflower shell that was quite empty. He would put it in a crack in the tree bark then pick it up and move it over and over again, all the while not 8 feet in front of me.

[MikeandRong]

 

 

 

 

These 4 photos of a Mourning Dove are of the same bird and are my favorite of the day. The books all say they always feed on the ground and I have never seen one feeding on a bird feeder before, so this was quite unique to me. Plus once he turned into the sun more his iridescent neck colors really showed well. Each Dove I have ever seen is always marked just a little bit different from the next, no two being exactly the same. This guy really looks good and is full sized too.

[Allon]

Keep'em coming, Mike. You are really educating me on birds. My former wife was really into ornithology. Did the full back pack in many places across the US and got me into birding.

 

You have to have wide spaces for the number of different species you are catching. Some are pretty common.

 

Birds are funny people. I miss my geese.

[MikeandRong]

 

 

 

This Male Cardinal showed up tonight really relaxed. I was able to stay a lot closer than usual to him, so I tried to get him to pop his head crest up by softly calling to him. All he did in the first photo was open his ear up to listen to me. The 2nd photo all he does is turn his head and stare me down all the while munching on safflower seed. Look how strong his beak is built for crunching up seeds, nuts, berries, and fruit.

[MikeandRong]

 

This yearling Male Downy Woodpecker chose the only sunlit spot on the feeder to land on.

[MikeandRong]

 

This adult Female Hairy Woodpecker was more busy chasing away the Blackbirds than taking her time to eat.

[MikeandRong]

 

This is a full sized adult Male White-breasted Nuthatch right in front of me. Look at the extra long back toe and claw he has. This enables that species of bird to be able to walk face down a tree, one of the very few birds that can do that.

[MikeandRong]

 

This Mourning Dove looks like the same one that was eating on the bird feeder yesterday, a little black hashmark behind his right eye gave him away. Both the House Finch's and him are quite contented to feed together today.

[MikeandRong]

 

The adult Male Cardinal I think was blinded by the very bright sunlight and could not see myself and both the dogs outside. I was getting some vegetables out of the garden and had the sun directly at my back, and the dogs were laying on the grass between myself and the feeder. It was a lucky photo to get, all commotion considered.

[MikeandRong]

 

 

 

This Male Cardinal showed up all puffed up and landed on the peanut feeder. At the sound of the camera shutter he flapped his wings and instead of leaving just went to the other side. The late afternoon sun is behind the birds now giving them all a backlit appearance.

[MikeandRong]

 

This yearling Female Cardinal would not let me get any closer to her to get a better photo, it's too bad the sun is lighting her up from behind at this time of day. Her colors are just starting to show up nicely and by next spring she will be fully grown. All these hungry birds today emptied 3 of the 4 feeders, the nice cool and bright sunny weather had them feeding all day long.