Birding.

[MikeandRong]

 

The weather has turned sticky, hot, and humid. Other than Sparrows throughout the day, most birds are feeding late afternoon through dark or just before sunrise, not leaving me many photo ops.

 

This Male Cardinal was filling his craw when the Male House Finch came in to eat too.

[MikeandRong]

 

This Mourning Dove is for sure the same one that keeps eating off the feeder instead of on the ground below. The photo does not do his true colors justice when they are reflecting all his different colored iridescent hues in the fading sunlight that I can see first hand.

[MikeandRong]

 

The sun is backlighting this time of day from where I am sitting, but seeing these 2 different yearlings eating together tells me that the sudden heat wave has knocked all the usual fiestiness out of this Female Hairy Woodpecker and Blue Jay.

[MikeandRong]

 

I was trying some different settings and just happened to catch this Black-capped Chickadee skydiving in. I'm sure the camera just happened to catch him between wing beats as I don't think they dive bomb in like this.

[MikeandRong]

Today was much more cooler and way less humid. The Downy's started showing up just before sunrise. This Female Downy Woodpecker was really relaxed for it being so early in the morning, and did not mind me moving up closer to her.

 

 

Half hour later the sun really lights up this bird feeder from the side. Lucky this little Male Downy Woodpecker was feeding directly in the sunlight and not in the shadows.

 

 

Late afternoon a different Male Downy Woodpecker was here feeding. It may be due to the sun behind him now but his head cap sure looked like it was starting to turn more red now. His black and white neck patterns are a little different from the others, so I know these are 3 different yearling Downy's.

 

[MikeandRong]

 

This baby Blue Jay just stayed in the sun for the longest time, maybe he was cold. He never did come in to feed and ended up just flying away.

[MikeandRong]

 

This White-breasted Nuthatch who is supposed to only feed up off the ground on seeds and berries was rummaging around in the grass in front of me. I have confirmed yet another species catching and eating the emerging Cicada hatch.

[MikeandRong]

This bird feeder eating Mourning Dove is again the same one as before. Here he is flying in and bully chasing away the other group of birds that were feeding so peacefully.

 

 

Next he flys over to his favorite food the safflower seed and starts to feed.

 

 

Once he finished eating, instead of leaving and letting the other birds come in to feed, he simply closes his eyes and takes a short nap hogging up the feeder. This guy is really developing a unique personality this past week.

 

[MikeandRong]

This Male Cardinal didn't seem to mind me closer to him as long as the sun was in his eyes. As soon as he heard the camera shutter go click he cocked his head a little bit and gave me the sideways evil eye statedown before leaving.

 

 

[MikeandRong]

This Male Cardinal was busy feeding until this baby Female House Sparrow came in and landed on the same feeder he was at. They had a stare down contest going on with neither one eating nor moving for almost a minute until they both flew off at the same time in different directions.

 

[amberjack1234]

Great pictures and I see every one of them and read every caption.

[MikeandRong]

This Yearling Male Downy Woodpecker was the first to show up this morning just before the sun came up. An interesting fact is that they all use their tail feathers as a third leg or brace to get extra leverage when eating or climbing due to their small size. But they never brace with their wing tips leaving them in pristine condition. This set of photos are of all different Downy's throughout the day today.

 

 

This is that tiny baby again, still looking in good condition.

 

 

Tail bracing while resting on the tree trunk.

 

 

Resting on the branch while bracing

 

 

I haven't seen this adult Female since the babies first left the nest a few weeks ago.

 

 

Tried a different angle tonight so it wouldn't backlight so much in the evening photos. This little guy is hanging upside down and his tail feathers aren't long enough to brace himself even though he's trying to.

 

[MikeandRong]

There is about a ten minute window early in the morning just as the sun reflects directly on the feeders from below, but behind them are dark, dense, emerald green grape vines that at this time are getting zero sunlight, thus this unique lighting effect. This is the Red-bellied Woodpecker that got hit in the head 3 weeks ago during the bad storm. His head has healed up nicely, but I see his eye is still bloody red.

 

 

Tonight I sat to the North to get a different angle of the sunlight and it worked on this guy. It's said that their tongue can extend up to 2 inches beyond the end of their beak to aid in feeding on insects buried deep inside trees. If you look closely you can clearly see him flicking his tongue out to get inside the bird feeder.

 

[MikeandRong]

I needed another 10 minutes for the sun to rise up and catch some better colors as it was only at the bottom of the suet block. This young Blue Jay was enjoying his time and cawing up a storm before starting to eat. Nothing special, just wait.

 

 

He begins to start feeding and everything looks normal and calm.

 

 

Out of nowhere this other bird attacks him, grabbing him in the chest with his left leg. This young Blue Jay immediately bites him in the upper chest to drive him away, which he does, even though he is smaller and younger.

 

 

It was over in 2 seconds and with the other bird driven off this Blue Jay triumphed and sat on top of the suet block looking proud and unhurt. I have no idea what species the other bird was and was lucky enough just to be snapping some photos when it occurred.

 

[MikeandRong]

There were so many adult Male Cardinals coming in to feed today, way more than usual. It was not till later today I figured out why. This first one was eating calmly together with a House Finch all the while watching something else.

 

 

Next thing that happens is this big chested Male chases away both of them and still is watching something else.

 

 

Turns out he was keeping an eye on this very young baby who looked like she was flying for the first time from on top of the neighbors roof edge.

 

 

Later on another Male was hanging around and looking past me so after getting a photo of him.

 

 

I slowly looked the other side of the tree and spotted this bigger baby Cardinal looking all puffed up and trying to intimidate me. That was pretty cool as I have never seen babies up close before other than in a nest.

 

 

Edited July 31, 2017 by MikeandRong (see edit history)