Daily Photo Volume 306

What a cute nuthatch gazergirl!

I had a pair of Downy Woodpeckers dinning together one day last week.

This message was edited Apr 9, 2010 10:37 PM

I don't usually photograph doves, but these two caught my eye. First, they laid down on the ground with their feathers splayed out.

And then they began some vigorous grooming. I was thinking a courtship ritual, perhaps.

Nanny, that is a cute pair of Downys. I've only seen one at a time at my suet. I did see my pair of Indigo Buntings, flitting around in some coral colored azaleas. The contrast was beautiful, but I never got "the picture."

Nice ones Lily, GG and Nanny!

GG, Your right that is a Brown-headed Nuthatch. Your Myrtle Warbler (Yellow-rumped Warbler) looks exactly like the one I have. Love the Doves spreading their wings!

Hi Nanny, It's been chilly here the last 2 days but I think my Junco's are gone too. It's so nice to see a pair of Woodpeckers come in together!

I suspect my juncos are gone as well. I was down to a hand full when I left 10 days ago. On the bright side, the Scissor-tails and hummers should be there when I return. I saw no buntings in SW TX. Talked to one of the local experts and he said they were late this year. So it's going to be awhile before they get to OK.

Doves are notoriously poor nest builders. Here is a pic of a White-wing egg in the flimsiest of nests. Can you see it? The sun is shining through it.

Wow that is flimsy!!

Another Vermilion Flycatcher from SW TX.

Another Roadrunner.

Smorgesbord breakfast.

Elphaba, what a fabulous photo of your Hooded Warbler. The "hooded" on your bird fits better than the "hooded" on my oriole. Love the waxwing too. Gee, I wouldn't know where to point the camera either. Glad you were fortunate enough to get both birds.

Lin, I just love that red-bellied of yours and you get such great shots of them. Your Catbird seems to stand with the wing down like the Robins do. Love your Thrasher too.

Gazergirl, great photo of your little nuthatch and the warbler is so pretty. Your doves are just beautiful.

Nanny, great timing on your Downys.

Red, gee, the poor dove baby will have to be careful where it steps. That Vermillion is such a pretty bird, glad we get to see your photos of them.

Here's an American Coot I got a couple days ago.

I haven't noticed until now that the Coots walk on water to take off like the Cormorants do.

This Crow looked handsome by the water.

A White crowned Sparrow.

And lastly, an Oak Titmouse.

Red, Love those birds!!! Especially the Vermilion Flycatcher.

Duc, Wonderful shot of the Coot!!! Love the Titmouse.

reddirtretiree - your pics of the Summer Tanager and Vermilion Flycatcher are great.

plantladylin - Quote, "Hack: Great pic's of the Brown-headed Cowbirds! We had passels of them all winter but they are gone now. I only saw a female on a couple of occasions, it was mostly males that hung around here. Really cute shot of the female diving into the bath! Most of the Red-winged Blackbirds are gone from this area now too but there have been a couple of males still hanging around and filling up at the feeders every day. I could listen to their song/call all day!" -------------------- I'm still seeing about as many female B-h Cowbirds as males. But for the one I saw earlier, my R-w Blackbirds are gone. My bird bath is drawing birds, but I'm having to clean pollen out of it twice a day.

Lily_love - Quote, "Hacks, many a nice pics. as usual. I wished I knew the answers to some of your questions on the Orioles. I had a female overwinter here and has frequented my backyard grains feeder. Then on Easter Sunday, she didn't show up, gone was she the next 3-4 days. Then yesterday I saw one with a dark facial feather - Baltimore Oriole-like bird. Hmmm, she's changed? lol, I'm awaiting for I.D. of the mystery bird on the ID forum." -------------------- Thanks Lily. I got my Oriole feeder hung, clear sugar water inside (no orange half, yet) and am still waiting for an Oriole. ---------------- AND my male N Cardinals are chasing each other from limb to limb, too. Makes it hard to get a pic. You did good to get yours.

Mrs_Ed - Quote. "Hack, no, you don't have to put orange water out for them. regular sugar water is fine. Various kinds of jelly will work, by at my mom's house, they go gaga over the grape. That's good because you can find LARGE jars of that in places like the generic aisle, bread outlets, etc. Don't forget to put out the orange halves. I think you can put them next to the hummers as long as your hummers don't get too aggressive with them. At my mom's house they share the HB feeders anyway." ------------------- Thanks for the advice, Mrs_Ed. I put some of my Hummer sugar solution in the Oriole feeder, but like I told Lily, I haven't been to the store yet to get any oranges. I did put some grape jelly in the little holders on the feeder,though.

pelletory - Quote, "Hack, Nice shots of the Cowbirds, Red-winged and Red-bellied!" ----------------- Thanks pelle, I never knew how much fun snapping pics of birds could be. In fact, I have expanded, I bought me another 40D body and a Canon 100mm Macro lens and am taking pics of insects. So far, I've only gotten Honeybees, Carpenter bees and one Bark louse. I had to use DG's Insect ID Forum to name the Bark louse. Someone called suunto is to the insect ID forum as Resin is to the bird ID forum.

nanny_56 - Quote, "Hack...funny cowbird in the bath!!" ------------------ Yep, it was a real hoot to watch her. ----------- AND your Brown Thrasher is a nice one.

plantladylin - sweet shots of the female Red-bellied Woodpecker! --------------- AND seeing your Gray Catbird reminded me that mine haven't been around since last year.

gardenpom - you posted a lot of great pics, but for me, the Blue Ribbon has got to go to the Painted Bunting pic. ------------ Oh yeah, the next time you cut off a branch, you may want to move your sandal-clad foot first, just a suggestion. :-)

ducbucln - wow, your Hooded Oriole shots are super! ----------------- AND I didn't know Coots took off like that, either. Whenever I see them, they're just swimming around.

Elphaba - All my Cedar Waxwings are gone, but I sure enjoyed seeing yours.

gazergirl - Yep, that's a Brown-Headed Nuthatch - is it a Lifer for you?. They were regulars here a while ago, but I haven't seen one lately. Nice shot of your, too. ----------------- AND congrats on your Lifer, the Yellow-rumped Warbler (AKA Myrtle Warbler), - looks like one of mine. Good photo.

Before the 40D and I go outside, I wanted to post three snaps from yesterday. They were all taken from my porch, a distance of about 25 yards, with the Sigma 150-500 lens - the "Bigmos". The wind was blowing the feeders and I should have used a faster shutter speed to reduce blur. Oh, well, live and learn.

This first one is a composite of three different Grackles. I'd read earlier that the "looking-up" posture was a courtship thing. If this the behavior I'm seeing in these pics? Would these three be males, if so?

Hack

This message was edited Apr 10, 2010 1:00 PM

My Goldfinches are slower getting "yellower".

Hack

This male House Finch sure is a pretty red color.

Hack

Gee, I had a long post here and all of a sudden my server went down and I lost everything I'd typed ... Grrr!

Lily: I've been posting to the "Awful" photo thread too! I have more awful photo's than I do good ones, LOL.

Love everyone's beautiful little birdies!

gazergirl: That really is interesting seeing those Mourning Doves with their wings spread like that. I've read about their courtship ritual but never heard of anything like that.

reddirttree: Love the Roadrunner and that is really a great shot of the smorgasbord breakfast. I love seeing so many birds gathered in one spot!

duc: Neat shots of the American Coot! That's one I've never seen before and a cool looking bird. That really is a neat shot of the Crow ... looks like he's daydreaming as he's gazing there by the water. Cute little Sparrow, love how he's perched! And, I've never even heard of an Oak Titmouse .... what a pretty little bird!!

Hack: I love the collages you make with your photo's! Love the Grackle's ... I don't know about the "looking up" thing as the only time I noticed Grackle's looking up was when two were in a tree looking up and watching a hawk flying low in the vicinity! Pretty little Goldfinch, I missed them stopping here this year, hopefully next spring I will spot a few! Lovely House Finch!

I was out early this morning taking a few pic's.

Little Blue Jay perched in a tree

This one was searching the ground for stray peanuts:

Another Jay

Little Cardinal getting ready to take off from a birdbath

Switching to Gray Catbird ... finally was able to get a couple of clearer photo's of this one!

I'm hoping they are getting a bit more used to me being out in the yard. Here it looked like it was watching something in the shrubbery. There have been two around together so maybe it's mate was hiding in there.

Now the Red-bellied Woodpecker. Both the male & female were out together early this morning. Here the female stopped for a drink.

And the male

This is kind of blurry but a female Red-bellied and Cardinal startled each other by being at the water pipe at the same time. They didn't hang there very long, the WP took off in one direction and the Cardinal in another!

We still have a few Red-winged Blackbirds hanging out. This one stopped by for breakfast:

From photo's in my bird book, this looks to be an immature male Red-winged Blackbird.

Singing loudly ... sounded so sweet!

And, can anyone tell me ... is this a female Red-winged Blackbird, or some other bird? I had a female RW Blackbird identified for me awhile back but lost my pictures when my computer crashed. I'm thinking it looked like this one but not real sure. The females look so different than the males.

Brown Thrasher stopping for a drink this morning.

A Brown Thrasher blending in to the leaves and debris

Ruffled Mourning Dove, perched on cable wire.

That's it for me ... I will be out of town all next week so will catch up on everyone's feathered friends upon returning Monday the 19th.

Have a great weekend and coming week everyone!

Nice shots Hack and Lin!

Hack, fantastic composite of the Grackles! Both of your finches are really colorful.

Lin, my Scrub Jays just sent an invitation to your Blue Jays to come visit us anytime! Feel free to also send your cardinals and catbirds.LOL Your birds sure are pretty. I got a kick out of the cardinal and red-bellied photo-cute! Love those red-winged! That does look like a female red-winged, but hopefully someone here will know for sure. Have a good trip.

I've been away, only a day and I don't believe I can catch up on every's pic. Here is a few questions and comments. Red, the buffet-style breakfast. Are those Purple Finches among the Doves. Please say so, I want to know if I finally able to differentiate those purdy birds from the pretty Housefinches. lol. Everyone picture are great. But those Hooded Warblers and the Vermillion Flycatcher really got to me -- sorta. lol. So pretty and brightly colored little birds. Oh yes, the mute colored Oak Titmouse, she/he is so so cute.

I'm debating whether I should post this pic. here or the 'Awful Bird Pics. thread'. With the distance, we can't see the Eagle very clear, but the scenery is pretty. DH and I was able to see two eagles on the nest. Then the mature one flew down to the creek below. Soon there after we saw other two mature Eagles flying in the area. A nice way to call off a beautiful sunny day.

Lin wishing you a nice trip. Thank you for sharing those very nice pictures of your birds in the backyard. Look like we've the same bird baths. I do enjoy those cast Irons garden's accessories.