Daily Pics. Vol. 317

Really cute shot of the Woodpeckers, Red.

awww....Red, your momma & youngster is so cute! Jealous of you and rose seeing Dickcissels! I saw a phoebeb last week but no Kingbirds yet. But I am watching for them!

Not sure I put the new platform in a good place for photos....Baltimore Oriole.

Good one nanny!

Here are 2 more of a Tufted Titmouse not on a feeder.

He spots me!

A very sweet looking male Downy Woodpecker

Borders, what a great group of photos you've shown us. The egret babies are adorable and the rookery is amazing. I wonder if the nest being down close to the ground invites predators more often. We don't see that here. Excellent photos of the Night Heron and the Anhinga!

Lily, it's obvious you're enjoying your finch family. That's wonderful.

GP, your baby Mockingbird is so adorable!

Adel, congrats on the new oriole. You'll be enjoying the babies soon too! I checked my pictures from last year and my first babies were here in June. I'm so anxious to see them.

Dave, your bb babies are so sweet. I'm sorry to hear you're missing one though. It's sad to think something happened to it. Excellent photos of the heron, mocker, titmouse. That bb family photo is "priceless".

Nanny, your Pileated is gorgeous!! You're so lucky to be able to photograph them so often! Your oriole is sure a beauty too.

Red, your wps are so cute!! That Dickcissel is gorgeous! Love the Kingbird too. You're lucky to get both species there.

Pelle, great job with your titmouse and the Downy Woodpecker.

Margaret, my Ash-throated Flycatcher found something good in that opening of the pipe, but first he kept looking at me.

I'm guessing he found some left over rain water down there because he kept dipping into it. He could have just jumped down to my larger birdbath, but I guess he thought this looked better.

I found this female Mallard fun to watch along the lake the other day.

What a look I got!

Guess she thought she'd show off for me here.

Here's one of our immature Bald Eagles flying by.

And an older one.

Excellent shots duc! The Ash-throated Flycatcher is adorable and the Mallard is beautiful! The Eagles are really handsome. Your area is awesome for birds!

Oh, no, another thread almost got by me, well ......

dellrose - the pic you used to start the thread, of a Harris' Sparrow, is SUPER! AND gracious, that close-up of
female Downy Woodpecker is to die for.

reddirtretiree - good look at the Chipping Sparrow, I have lots around here. AND great shots of the woodpeckers, but I believe yours is a Downy Wp and fledgling. Look at the dots on the tail feathers.

nanny_56 - When you said, "I hate it when I am driving and see what I know would have been a new bird and don't have the camera or even if you did you can't just stop!" I know what you mean. Yesterday, I was on the Harley and saw a big ole Hawk sitting atop a dead tree stub - and all I could do was look - no camera. AND I like you pic of the .Baltimore Oriole.

GrannyGrunt - Donald the Conqueror, more elegant than Donald Duck. :-)

ducbucln - your pic of the Ash-throated Flycatcher is great. Lots of detail. AND that second shot of the female Mallard is really good. AND I'm so jealous of you Bald Eagle pics, wow.

bordersandjacks - I don't think I've seen your pics before. Lots of great stuff. The Baby Egrets pic is my favorite.

Lily_love - Nice capture of the House Finch family.

gardenpom - that young Mockingbird baby is precious.

adelbertcat - I sure like your pic of the female Bullock's Oriole.

2dCousinDave - What can you do about that Mocker bullying the BB?

pelletory - good pics of the Tufted Titmouse and male Downy. I snapped a pic of a male Downy today, but have not seen any Titmouse in a while.

Hack

I snapped some pics today.

Clumsy me knocked my tripod mounted 40d over in the laundry room and it hit 150-500 lens first. Broke my lens hood, but it seemed to have absorbed the impact of the fall and everything else is good. I took these pics, minus the lens hood. (I've already ordered another)

male Downy Woodpecker at the suet feeder.

Hack

I liked the red of the male House Finch.

Hack

These three female House finches were scattering seed as they ate.

Hack

female House Sparrow hogging a feeder. I saw her run off a chipping sparrow.

Hack

This male Cardinal stopped by.

Hack

I can easily echo what Pelle's said. Great pics. Duc. I'm having the best of time. Thank you.

The Carolina Wrens are accustomed to the mealworms feeder. I offer some treat in early morning, and late in the evening before bed time. They're a joy to watch.

Finally, Goldfinches are back and in good numbers too.

I'm about ready to stop buying lots of thistle seed, they seem to like Black Oil Sunflower, fine.

Hack

Of course, they ate at the thistle feeder. It is in the shade. I think I'm move it out into the sunlight.

Hack

Hey, Lily_love - getting some "dead" mealworms to put out. What kind do you use?

Hack

Sorry to hear about the tripod incidence, Hack. I've those nijer seeds for the goldfinches, but apparently they are long gone from here. Sniff sniff.

I use the live ones. Geez they gulp those wiggling things down in no time flat. lol.

A nice variety to look at everyone.
Has anyone heard that it wasn't a good idea to serve suet in the summer, because it sticks to the bird feather and it's hard for the bird to clean it?
I was surprised by the Baltimore Oriole today. What a gorgeous bird!

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Beautiful shots Burn!!!

Thanks, Lily-love - I'm gonna try the dead ones - so my DW won't have to share the refrigerator with live ones.

burn_2007 - no, I haven't heard that about serving suet in the summer. In fact, the suet I buy is called "No-Melt" - I guess for the hot summer days. Oh, and your Oriole pics are real nice, too.

Hack

I thought to give a little 'extra' supplement feed with the suet feeder, Burn. But my squirrels took care of that for me. They couldn't get to the grains feeder, so they decided to take off with the suet.

The Baltimore Oriole is a gorgeous bird. I miss them here too. They've traveled a long, long way. ^_^

Love all the pics, especially the baby birds!

Someone asked about the nest being so low to the ground and what about predators. These nests are all in fresh water swamps, usually on islands. In addition to the egrets, there were lots of heron nests in the same trees. Very cool. Anyways, fresh water swamps around here mean alligators. Occasionally they will eat a baby that falls out of the nest, but they also munch on the raccoons that are big predators if they try and swim out to the egret nests.

All I can say is...WOW!!!!!!!!! I'm stunned, so many awesome shots by everyone!!!

bordersandjacks - okay, I'm curious, did someone build that ramp the gator is laying on, for gators to lay on?

Hack

Hack, yep. All the pictures I posted are from the Audubon swamp at Magnolia Plantation in Charleston, SC. When you have a people walking a board walk and old rice dams you don't really want the alligators basking on them! We saw lots of turtles using them, too, like yellow-bellied sliders.

Congrats on your oriole, burn. I have the grape jelly out-- still waiting. I had a female Painted Bunting a few days ago and a male showed up Sat. The cowbirds immediately ran him off the feeder, but he was back yesterday and I got some shots even though it was really a low light day and my little camera doesn't perform so well. Interesting observation. I've photo'd Painted Buntings on my feeders for the past 5 years and every shot shows that they have a grain of white millet in their mouth. Tells me what I need to put out for them. Going to find a feeder with a cage today to keep the cowbirds off the finch/bunting feeder.

This message was edited May 10, 2010 6:28 AM

Yes, I discovered a long time ago white proso millet is their favorite food. It's worth getting an open-bottom caged feeder with millet to attract these little beauties. Don't get a feeder with a bottom tray, since food collects there and attracts other birds and squirrels. Wire only on the bottom. I learned that the hard way.

A few of the 20 or so Goldfinches in the yard daily.

Red, Nice shots of the Bunting and Goldfinch!

This fella is lost and wandering about ...