DAILY PICS vol 309

You guys are the greatest, mama is doing better and better. I went to visit her today and asked her if she'd ever heard of a song titled, "I am Blessed" - I'll say, she song it to me - yep, things are looking up. So, get ready, here it comes - GROUP HUG!!! Thanks for all the well wishes.

I have no pics to share but I wanted to comment on the excellent ones I've seen on this thread.

-----------------------------

sallyg - nice start to the new thread and congrats on the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Good pic

rockminer - I like the pic of the Black-headed Grosbeak of the year. AND my Juncos are gone.

Lily_love - that Great Blue Heron posed nicely for you. Good shot.

chris8796 - Wow, great capture of the American Woodcock.

nanny_56 - go ahead and pat yourself on the back, because that pic of the Pileated Woodpecker taking flight is super awesome! AND quit hogging' the Blue Jays.

adelbertcat - Frank's Creek must be a bird magnet. Wonderful photos.

VA_Wild_Rose - I enjoyed the eagle pics, but my favorite was the heron in flight shot.

reddirtretiree - that leucistic Collared Dove is prettier than speckled pup. AND congrats on the youngsters'. AND that Lark Sparrow really got my attention - nice.

Mrs_Ed - what kind of bird in that at the water's edge, the bird with the blue looking head and neck. It's pretty

gardenpom - nice Gray Catbird shots. I photographed one around here a few days ago. It's a few threads back. AND I really like the way you framed the Red-bellied Woodpecker in the Strawberry Guava bush

tigerlily - that Bandtail Pigeon sure is flexible, wow. Nice looking bird, too.

ducbucln - the Hooded and the Bullock's Orioles on that one shot are gorgeous! AND I like your table-top fountain, do you run a water tube to it? Where did you get it?

Elphaba - "How sad is it when a beautiful little bird comes to your feeder for the first time in a long time and it's empty!" I feel for you - 'course, I've never done that :-). But, that is a handsome male House Finch, though. He'll be back.

burn_2007 - of all you pics, I think my favorite is Mr. Hairy at the suet. I saw my first one a little while back and have been awaiting a return visit, and am still waiting.

pelletory - No one can deny the meanness of a E. Starling, but they can't deny its beauty, either. It is a pretty bird, I just hate its behavior.

Bye, bye
Hack

Been a busy day... just got home from work.

Hack... hugs back! Glad Mama is doing better!

Just wanted to comment to Lily_love... I love Loons! I've not seen one in person yet, but I bought a beautiful book with CD last summer. Their vocalizations are some of my very favorite nature sounds! I even loaded the hour-long CD to my iPod and listen to it at work sometimes! Look forward to some nice photos from you this summer!

Hey Rockminer! This Black-headed Grosbeak dropped by this AM. Did you send him? He has an identity problem...........

He thinks he's a Goldfinch.

Aww what a cute Grosbeak!! Nice pics adel!

VA, I love the Loons vocal's too!

Adel, I laughed so hard at your Grosbeak's identity crisis. Nice capture and the pictures tell all. lol. Wild Rose, that was a few time I saw the Common Loon, I wish I can hear its call. Please someone tell me, that's the bird in its breeding plummage right?

Hack I'm so glad you're back and that your mother is doing better, thank you for the update. I'd love to hear the song you've mentioned.

Nan, that's the most Blue Jays anyone wish to see at one setting. lol. I just love it. Thank you for sharing.

A Brown Thrasher hunting nearby its nest. I also saw an Eastern Phoebe revisited the old nest (that was built last year -- right under the eave of the building shown), but no activity seen afterward. (I was so hoping to have an encore of Phoebes nesting nearby).

A pair of white brested nuthatches are hanging around the feeder. I hope that they are nesting nearby.

Iris, I hope the Nuthatch are nesting near you. I love them.

Lily and All, Check out this ADORABLE shot of a Common Loon with it's baby hitching a ride on it's back. TOOO Sweet!

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/common-loon/

Hack, welcome back. I'm glad your mum is recovering well. Even so, ageing parents are such a worry. I love the birdbath pictures.

Nanny and GP, what a Blue Jay feast you're both having.

Red, that photo of the brand new life is utterly gorgeous. How wonderful to see the signs on the other eggs as well. Keep us posted on progress, won't you?

Duc, the Tree Swallow pics are so lovely and great shot of the Oriole enjoying a bath.

Lily, lucky you, seeing ospreys. I wish I was. Amazing how long the Loon can remain underwater.

Burn, like the chimney shot and of course I have osprey envy.

Reddirt, how AMAZING! How is it that you could look in there and the parents weren't dive-bombing you?
Lily_love, I just LOVE that nest building shot of the swallows. I've never seen the nests at that stage before.
Nanny, I feel your pain about swallow pics. Love all those blue jays.
Adel, the buntings thought they were finches too but maybe the big birds weren't letting them eat at the other feeders.
Duc, I have the same problem with the grackles not letting the other birds bathe. I already hate grackles so now I'm really frustrated by them.

Here's a pic of the much hated grackles although I do think they are pretty.

Here's a White-winged Dove after I cleaned the windows.

I was so mad at myself for not cleaning the windows earlier and then this morning a warbler flew into the clean window. She was OK just stunned. I think she was a Wilson's Warbler but hard to tell with females especially since it was still pretty dark outside.
Margaret weren't you the one saying that clean windows were just a bird hazard? -- so true!

Elphaba, I'll be sure to keep up with the Cliff Swallows' building progress. What strikes me funny is that I fancy that a C. Swallow will sit in the craddle-like newly built structure for the others to bring the mud and build the nest around it(them) for size. Sort of like providing a 'mold' for sizing for the new structure. I find it very interesting.

Agreed, that velvety blue on the grackles are 'purdy' to me too. lol. Who is that little fella on the background (of your Grackle's pic.). A sparrow?

Margaret, every time I see Ospreys, I thought of 'Ausey'. Have you not seen their nesting lately?

Pelle, thank you for the National Geo.'s site. The C. Loon and its baby hitching a ride. Too, too sweet for words.

Fishing Crow?

Good memory, Elphaba. I did say that and still like to use it as an excuse. Nice shot of the dove sunning itself.

Lily, there's very little going on with our ospreys at the moment. They're still around but it's a very peaceful time of year for them. Madame X saw Harmony on the nest about a week and a half ago with a live fish. I went to the nest this afternoon on the off-chance that someone might arrive, but alas, no. I did get a couple of shots of a Rainbow Lorikeet on one of the nest branches but they're still in the camera.

On the 1st of this month I saw four ospreys. By the sound, I'd say harmony was one of them. I'm assuming two of the others were Dad and Big Hook. Who the fourth one was I don' know. Maybe Aussie? Here's a shot of two of them together.

Elphaba, Nice shot of the Dove sunning and the iridescent Grackle!

Lily, Lovely shot! Sorry I can't help with the bird.

Wonderful catch of the Ospreys Margaret!

Elphaba will be starting the new Daily Pics thread soon.

I'm on it Pelle!

Lily_love, that's a female Red-winged Blackbird in the background. I haven't seen any males in a while, but lots of females.

Here's the new thread: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1088804/

On the post I made above #7714911 of the unknown black bird. The post immediately above MargaretK's twin Ospreys picture of "Dad and Big Hook". Its identity is Fish Crow; a subspecies of American crows that is commonly found in the US East Coast. Credit goes to Kim (duckmother) who helped I.D. the bird.


http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Fish_Crow/id

A welcome visitor to our yard this week.

And I think these guys were a little confused.
My back porch is about a thousand miles away from any significant body of water.
I can't imagine why they thought it was a good resting spot.

What nice visitors you have Robin. :-)

Oooops editted to correct my hickcups. lol

This message was edited Apr 25, 2010 9:03 AM

Those are both nice shots Robin...I would be thrilled to have them visit my yard. Those ducks are adorable!

We have a new thread going and here is a link http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1090229/ .