Daily Bird Pictures #377

Common Redpoll on the water bowl.

A Black-capped Chickadee on the rope.

Man, this is some popular thread. I hope I got this in the correct thread. Right before a storm, the interesting birds attack the feeder & gorge themselves. Here's a red-bellied woodpecker. Love the way they cling upside down on the feeder.

Can't get the cardinal to hold still. They are such a jumpy bird.

Think I should make my pix smaller. The DG logo covers them up. I crop them to get a larger pix.

Pictures look great to me.

Buttoneer, your pictures should actually be larger and not cropped so close. it's really the file size you need to look at. maybe something in the 800 x 600 pixel category. That's about twice as big as what you have now.

Love that girl woodpecker!!!

Burn, send me some Redpolls.

Now is that a lady woodpecker? No wonder I couldn't tell in my audubon book.

Yep, that's a little lady Red-Bellied Woodpecker. The males have red all the way down to their beak. I have a girl here once a day. Haven't seen the male for many weeks.

I see the female red-bellied wp every once in awhile, the male does not come over very often at all, here is another pic that my hubby took that one day, I tweaked it and he is gorgeous, he just glows. I have to learn how to crop pics, sorry about cutting off part of his beak.

I just love everyone's photos on this and the two previous threads. It's been so hot here I haven't been doing any bird photography. Soon, I hope.

Thanks for the osprey shots, Al. That was a nice surprise.

Gosh, these pictures are all great, just wonderful.

Nice shots, all. I have a few more to share.

Here is a Myrtle version of the Yellow-rumped Warbler. I didn't know I snapped it until I loaded the pic on the computer and saw the yellow rump.

Hack

Male House Finch

Another of my Pine Warblers.

My last one is of a Carolina Wren.

Bye,
Hack

Great photos everyone! I do hope that the snow and cold weather will soon let up so you can all get outdoors soon.

My crows were sure busy yesterday. They kept flying back and forth over the lake but I didn't see what they were chasing (probably a hawk).

Here's a female House Finch from a few days ago.

Our Lesser Goldfinches are busy searching for bugs in the neighbors' yard.

This male Calif. Quail was standing guard over his brood on top of a bush. I think they're pretty smart birds because there's always a lookout.

Here's a Red-breasted Nuthatch.

Here's a Song Sparrow.

The quail is so handsome duc!

Had a visitor yesterday that hadn't been around for awhile.....a female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker!!!

The female Hairy Woodpecker was back again too!

From the day before .....Pileated Woodpecker

He is back to coming everyday again now. He was late yesterday because the Cooper's Hawk was around all morning. So didn't come until afternoon instead of in the morning.

This message was edited Jan 28, 2011 11:32 AM

2 Chickadees! lol

Blurry.... but a Downy Woodpecker on the right & a Hairy on the left.

All---great photos!

How do you entice a Pileated Woodpecker to your yard? I was thinking of taking down the shelf that is on the tree, I put it up there to feed the birds that don't normally go to the regular feeder, but the squirrels have taken it over, do you think that some of the birds that came and ate off the platform will stop coming if I take it down? I think I have too much of a selection, or maybe it is my location. I will post a pic of our front yard and maybe some one will have a suggestion. The squirrels are eating all the seeds from the birds, the hot sauce helps but that gets expensive. I need help, I am going to have to start putting sunflower seeds in the Squirrel Stumper, I did not want to, but ran out of mixed seed. It lives up to its name, two squirrels tried different times the other day to get to the seed, and all they got was a little from the tray. They try to chew through the metal, but they have not even made a scratch on it. Any help would be useful.

This is my Carolina Wren, eating a snack.

How to entice the Pileateds? Don't think there is a real clear answer to that one!

I feed the the suet, they eventually found it and now they come on a fairly regular basis. This has been over a period of 4 years since we moved here in 2007. They are shy birds and don't like it when the yard is busy. This one usually comes between 8:15 & 9 AM. before the rush of other birds. And again later in ther day....sometimes early evening. This past Monday it hung around all day!

But you will need the suet feeder attached to a tree or provide one with a long paddle tail prop for them. Due to their size they require a larger clinging area.

Just keeping the food supply out and be patient and wait to see if they show up. Good Luck!

http://www.duncraft.com/index/page/product/product_id/2542/category_id/35/category_chain/19,35/product_name/Eco-Strong+Tail+Prop+Suet+Feeder+

This message was edited Jan 28, 2011 7:52 PM

LOL, wouldn't it be nice if there was an easy answer to that? I would love to have them.

Thanks for the advice nanny, I am going to see if I can fix a board on the suet feeder that I already have, I would like to buy one, but money is too tight right now. I found out the secret to luring my red-bellied woodpecker here, I put some sunflower seeds in the Squirrel Stumper feeder and well, look for yourself. The squirrels can't get to that seed, so the birds actually get it. Unfortunately so do the sparrows.

Sorry guys, here comes another question, you are going to get tired of me asking all these questions, you will ask me to leave. But here goes, I have the suet cake hanging free on the shepherds hook as you all have seen. Do you think the wp would come more often if I take it and wire it to the straight part of the hook? That way the wp would have a place to put his tail. The Pileated Woodpecker could rest his tail on the shepherds hook and it would not be swaying in the wind. Here is the straight part of the shepherds hook, its not very wide, but is it wide enough?

I don't think that would work. Pileated's are close to 2 feet tall and their feet are very large. Until you see one up close it is hard to realize how large they are! They also like to move around some will eating, watching for other birds etc. They are attacked by hawks. So the presence of your hawk might be discouraging it We have noticed while watching them move up & down the tree how much effort they have to use to move. Much harder for them than the smaller birds.

This shows a Pileated along with a Starling in the shot.....

Not a good shot...but compare the Red-bellied Woodpecker's size to the Pileated in the back ground....

Thanks for reminding me about the hawk, it stays in the neighbor's tree quite often. I may try to find a suet feeder like you have if I can afford it. It is a interesting design, I may have an idea, I wil let you know how it works out.

We have the suet feeder with the extra long tailboard just in case. Red-bellied wp have used it. Have not seen the piliated since the tall birch stump with their holes in it collapsed several yrs ago. I think that we were on the edge of his territory.

Thanks Al for a wonderful new thread. I'm on the look out for Kestrel, boys those raptors are more colorful than I imagined them. Terrific pix everyone, Duc, I love your Flicker shot.

Yesterday I spotted this Great Blue Heron peacefully sharing a quiet time with a pair of Mallards;

They hung out like these for hours;