FOY Lark Sparrow. Also saw my first Barn Swallow yesterday, but no pic. I thought I heard a scissortail and was glassing the hill for it when I saw the swallow in flight. Blue Herons are visiting the ponds, but infrequently.
This message was edited Mar 30, 2010 5:56 AM
This message was edited Mar 30, 2010 6:36 AM
Took a walk around a local nature area yesterday and the spring weather had a lot of folks out so we boondocked some to get a better view of birds. Went down to a beaver pond below the main lake and found this nesting Canada Goose.
My one and only "snow bird" is still here. The Baltimore Oriole, look at that marking on her neck should anyone recognize her when she returns northward bound. lol.
Rose, I though I would recognize the purple finch, but I'm still confused them with the housefinches...guess it's my blindside! And wow, the sparrows, there are so many variation on their patterns. Chipping, tree, White Crowned, White Throat, and now Red has the Lark Sparrow, they are all pretty in their own right. Red, I'm looking forward to see your pics. on the Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher. Nan the "territorial thing ..." does make good sense. I love to watch those bird interact with one another. Duc your Juvie Eagle pics.! I would be so pleased with my photography I could drop my camera. Do Eagles 'Glyde' much higher upon the sky compared to other raptors? gazergirl, your first Indigo Buntings, wow, I'm green with envy. What do you have in the feeder? Care to share?
Plantladylin, welcome back to the wonderful world of bird watching, like Iris has said it best "It's joyful".
Ahhhh, that's so wonderful that you've spotted the Goose nesting! Congrats Red.
Blue Jay is still busy collecting nesting materials.
This one would rather eat.
Here's the builder trying to break off some twigs from the Crepe Myrtle.
Still working on it.
Jays are beautiful.
The noisy little Catbird.
Final pic for now, Catbird again.
Red, I love the Canada Goose nesting and the Lark Sparrow!
Lily, So glad your Oriole is still there!
GP, Beautiful Blue Jay and love seeing the Catbird! I rarely see them here.
gardenpom: Are you still seeing the Painted Buntings? They are supposed to be here year round and I was seeing them every day for quite awhile this winter but it's been about two weeks since I've seen one at the feeders.
I love the sequence of the Jay with his/her nesting material! I'm hoping we have lots of Blue Jay nests in the backyard trees again this year. Last week I spotted what appeared to be an immature Jay perched on a branch but I'm thinking it might be a bit early for young ones? We had so many Jay babies last spring and early summer, I hope to see many again this year.
I'm so glad you shared the pictures of the Catbird! There were two here a couple of days ago and I wasn't sure what bird it was, so thanks for the ID! I was able to get this quick, not so great shot of one obscured by the leaf, before it flew off!
Great pics you all!
Yesterday was the first day I saw now juncos in the yard...but I may have just missed them. they are disappearing fast tho!
What seems to a rare shot...Dark-eyed Junco in a tree!
I am assuming that the Lark Sparrow has a western range. Enjoying all the pictures.
Our pretty female Red-bellied Woodpecker.
Love the little Junco! That's another cutie I don't see here although my Fla. bird book says they winter in the north and central part of the state. Beautiful little bird!
Great shot of that pretty female Red-bellied!
Thank You!
^_^ Love Cardinal's ... we have an abundance of them, one of my favorite birds. Some folks really love the male for that vivid color but the female is pretty too!
I was out back earlier this morning and this Grackle flew from the feeder to a banana tree stump, looks like he still has a mouthful of seed.
Great shots everyone. Saturday was a nice (rare) day but bird activity was slim. However, I did see my First-of-the- Year (FOY) Eastern Towhee.
Beautiful shots today everyone...love seeing all your lovely birds. It is a beautiful sunny day in the Ozarks and DH just told me 2 birds just landed on the farm pond. I am going to try and sneak up there and see what I can see!!
Our towhees no longer come. Very sad.
Oh, that Eastern Towhee is a beauty! I've only seen pictures of them ... love the colors!
The Northern Mockingbird is another common year-round bird here. I know a lot of folks don't like them and think they are bullies, but the only time I notice them being territorial is when they have young in the nest.
Wonderful shots guys!
Lin, I love the shots of the Catbird and Cardinal! Sweet Mockingbird too.
Nanny, Beautiful pic of the female Red-belled Woodpecker!!!!
Linth, Lovely shot of the male Eastern Towhee!
Rainy and dark here today but I spotted a Song Sparrow in the yard, haven't seen them for a while.
Another Mockingbird in the same tree. I think they have a nest in a scrub oak next to this hickory tree where they hang out. I'm going to carefully poke around later to see if I can spot a nest.
We're having a beautiful day today, sunny and warmer. It's supposed to be low 80's by the weekend. I really enjoy this time of year, before the awful high humidity hits! When the temp's are upper 80's and low 90's with humidity way up there is when I want to move north, LOL.
We have Red-bellied and Downy Woodpeckers here year round and they visit the feeders on a daily basis this time of year. Here's a Red-bellied at a feeder:
Another of a Red-bellied Woodpecker eating peanut suet
This time he grabbed a peanut nugget from the seed mix
Showing the back side and his vivid colors
A female Red-bellied came for breakfast yesterday morning
Here a Downy and Red-bellied came for suet at the same time. I thought for sure the larger Red-bellied would scare off the little one but nope, the little Downy ran off the large woodpecker! No problems though, the Red-bellied just went to a different suet feeder.
Linth...that is a gorgeous shot of the Towhee...haven't seen one in our area for ages..
Lin...goodness you sure get the birds...nice shots!
There wasn't anything on the pond but the Red-winged Blackbirds are being very protective of their area.
Beautiful photos everyone. Linth, congrats on the first gorgeous towhee.
This Brewers Blackbird was showing off for the female.
Then the female had to puff up for him.
One of our many squirrels made a jump for the seed feeder and didn't make it, but he did manage to spill some seed on the ground for the other critters.
This White Pelican flew over the house yesterday morning.
It sure looked large as it kept circling over my head.
