Birding.

[Allon]

I like the pictures of the Red Tailed Hawks. We had a lot of them in Florida and they do fly high.

 

I always wondered if I could get close up to one until I was walking out to the lake and turned to see one staring at me, perched on the fence between us and the neighbor. Maybe 5 feet from me. He looked like he had been through a war, or had a bad night at the bar. His feathers were all ruffled.. Those claws and beak kept me away from him. We stared at each other for a while and he finally raised his wings as if bored and flew away. A majestic bird.

 

Just turning and seeing that big guy, scared the s*** out of me. He could have torn my eyes out we were that close.

 

I have seen owls do that too. I think they were after the citrus rats that plagued my orange and grapefruit stash. Two or three of them finally cleared out the top of the entry way to the back of the house. I wondered where the rats were hiding. Those owls had a field day, except it was at night. I was cheering the whole time. Damned rats.

[MikeandRong]

Glad to see that you are not putting food coloring into the humming bird sugar water. Especially the red color that does help to attract them but will cause tumors on their toungs.

I like the pictures of the Red Tailed Hawks. We had a lot of them in Florida and they do fly high.

 

I always wondered if I could get close up to one until I was walking out to the lake and turned to see one staring at me, perched on the fence between us and the neighbor. Maybe 5 feet from me. He looked like he had been through a war, or had a bad night at the bar. His feathers were all ruffled.. Those claws and beak kept me away from him. We stared at each other for a while and he finally raised his wings as if bored and flew away. A majestic bird.

 

Just turning and seeing that big guy, scared the s*** out of me. He could have torn my eyes out we were that close.

 

I have seen owls do that too. I think they were after the citrus rats that plagued my orange and grapefruit stash. Two or three of them finally cleared out the top of the entry way to the back of the house. I wondered where the rats were hiding. Those owls had a field day, except it was at night. I was cheering the whole time. Damned rats.

I never add anything to the food or water for the birds with the exception being some unsalted dry roalsted peanuts I get from the $store, or some dried out raisins with cranberries and blueberries that I add into the fruit and nut mix. Many many years ago I remember my Mother stop buying the liquid red food coloring, I think it was called Red Dye #2. The news was telling us that it can/could cause cancer in humans, even if used in cooking or baking. It was then even eliminated from the box of food color dye for quite some time, and none of our Easter eggs, Christmas cookies, or even M&Ms would have any red coloring in or on them either. Now days I do see the red being sold once again but I still won't use it (they say it's a different mixture now). If something needs a red color to be added to the recipe, some beets boiled in water and then reduced will do just as well and no worries about consuming it either.

 

Those Red Tailed Hawks sure do get pretty once they are fully grown up, espically the larger Females. They are quite large when just perching and watching the fields for a meal. And when they are starting their circle climb and you can spot them while they are still fairly close to the ground, their wing span and wing markings are just as impressive as their rusty red/brown tail feathers. I'll be getting some much better and more closer pictures of the different birds of prey as Autumn starts to wind down and Winter starts to settle in. For now though it's just a quick glimpse inside a small window of opportunity that I can get if only confining myself to the yard.

[MikeandRong]

Sunday started to warm up a little bit but some heavy low clouds hung around most of the morning. A cool colored Goldfinch was present so I went in to get the camera, but when I returned she was gone. I didn't even get a chance to sit down when this Ruby-throated Hummingbird darted in for a quick drink. Between my still standing up and the movement of raising the camera, it was a little too much activity on my part and these 2 photos were all I got. Rain moved in a short time later and that was enough to shut down my production for the rest of the day.

 

 

[MikeandRong]

Monday was overcast with rain and small bursts of thunderstorms on and off throughout the day, so no really good photo opportunities were to be had. The Doc had given me a new medicine to try last Thursday and I feel like I have drunk an entire urn of coffee the way it has kept me awake for the last 5 days now. Because of the rain we have gotten over the last 2 days I went outside to catch some Nightcrawlers for us to use as bait for when we go fishing later on this week. There were lots of new Cicada shells on the trees that I had not seen before tonight so I did a quick nighttime recon & survey and this is what is going on right now. Lots of fresh new Cicadas are emerging and crawling up the trees to shed their shells and dry and harden their bodies and wings before dawn brings out the birds that will have a Thanksgiving feast on this new hatch. The rain softened up the dirt just enough to give them their wake up call and start the next process of their lives. I'm half tempted to collect a couple cups full and have them for breakfast together with Mama, as this soft phase that they are going through the next couple of hours is easily the best time to collect them for cooking and eating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeandRong]

Tuesday brought a flurry of action in a matter of only nine minutes. This Female Hairy Woodpecker was busy eating and not paying any mind to the bird on the bottom of the feeder eating at the same time, and then the bottom bird suddenly flew away. A bald head peeked out from behind the reeder and it was the molting Male Red-bellied Woodpecker that had quietly snuck in for a bite to eat too. They both took turns looking at each other and the Hairy ended up flying over to the far left black oil sunflower seeds to eat in peace. But I also see a real raggedy looking House Finch squawking at her from the yellow feeder to her right. This Hairy Woodpecker just couldn't catch a break to be left alone to eat today.

 

 

 

 

[MikeandRong]

So I am standing up now and slowly moving to my right when this non breeding Female Goldfinch lands and starts to feed. She is pretty tame so I try to continue with my move right, trying to get the large tree in the middle of the background more off to the side. All the while I'm busy focusing and making minor adjustments, I can see movements out of the corners of both eyes. These non breeders sure do have some striking colors for being this late in the summer when the other birds are becoming more drab looking.

 

 

[MikeandRong]

Well the movement I was seeing was this little Ruby Throated Hummingbird that didn't seem to mind too much I was standing up almost right next to the sucrose feeder. The clicking of the camera shutter is what seems to tend to spook them away more so than my presence being so near to them. On a windy day or with more birds squawking in the background I can get away with more noise and the same amount of motion without spooking them quite so easily. So as I am taking her pictures, I once again catch some movement back on the thistle feeder.

 

 

 

 

[MikeandRong]

I slowly moved my body to the left, again lining up the thistle seed feeder. There is another non breeding Female Goldfinch along with a more yellow colored Female too this time. As I'm practically standing in the same spot as before and the sunlight has not changed I think it is 2 different birds than the alone one that was just feeding only 2 minutes prior to this, as these 2 Goldfinches have much more detail colored patterns and are somewhat brighter too. Again, all these different birds came in over a period of just 9 minutes, start to finish.

 

 

 

[MikeandRong]

We took a walk outside about midnight to see how the Cicadas were doing, and they were crawling out and hatching everywhere. There is excess clothesline balled up under the pine trees and they really seem to like that material to cling to. Most of them are just about head high, but some of them go way on up to about 20 feet before they shed their shells and start to dry out and harden. These are the yearly Cicadas that come out each summer all summer long. When we get the 17 year hatch they are red instead of green and they are out there by the millions, not just dozens like these here. Tomorrow morning they will all become bird food, thus starting the cycle of life all over again.

 

 

 

 

[MikeandRong]

Had to take a break as I was under the weather for a few days, but got off 1 nice picture Monday evening. This is a Female Rose-breasted Grosbeak that I spotted. They migrate through here in the spring and only stay for about 4 days at most. The Males are a vivid black, red, and white and really stand out and I have never seen one come through here in the fall, so it will be interesting to see if any more make an appearance here at this time of year. They are usually paired up when here in the spring so I'm hoping to see the Male too.

 

[MikeandRong]

With the cooler weather in the nighttime these days, I'm starting to see some of the bird species disappear and probably starting to migrate. Not too many Goldfinches around these days and I haven't seen any males. This nicely colored Female Non-breeding Goldfinch was feeding all alone here today. She sure looks bigger than the typical Female does.

 

 

[MikeandRong]

This Male Red-breasted Woodpecker in the top photo switched feeders and was still eating peanuts. The big Female Hairy Woodpecker in the second photo was doing the same thing too. Other than this feeder being in the sun at this time of day versus their usual one, they both have the exact same food inside. But these 2 pictures really let you see the size of them both and how this Hairy Woodpecker is really an exceptionally large sized one.

 

 

[MikeandRong]

The Blue Jay yearlings are doing great this year and look to be fully grown up and in nice color too. Only the crest on the top of their head will get taller and their beak will get a little darker black and thicker too once they reach full adulthood by next spring. I'm pretty sure this is the same bird in both photos, as the black coloring around his left eye is a real good match.

 

 

[MikeandRong]

This Ruby-throated Hummingbird spent a couple of minutes feeding and chasing away the Yellow Jacket Bees that are starting to show up to drink the sweet sucrose water too.

 

 

 

 

[MikeandRong]

With the sun almost directly overhead in the picture, this Common Blue-headed Grackle was showing off his blue colors nicely, even the few he has on his outer wing feathers which most times you can't see unless it's in direct sunlight. He's waiting his turn for the Red-breasted Woodpecker to finish eating the peanuts before he will go in to feed. He doesn't want to mess with that long and sharp bill the Woodpecker has.