Daily piccies vol 427

And so to Volume 427!

We came from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1234954/

A pair of Bewick's Swans to start the show, now over to everyone!

Resin

What's a lovely way to start anew, the swans are beautiful, thank you Resin. A couple of Canadian Geese overwinter in the South.

Beautiful ducks and swans. I can't imagine what it would be like to see swans outside of a zoo. Amazing.

Lovely start Resin!

Though it was bitter cold here on Monday, today we will be up in the 50's near 60!

Chilly, glad you're enjoying the robins.

Elphaba, your warbler is a cutie. Hope your camera wasn't damaged.

Resin, thank you for starting the new thread. The swans are just beautiful.

Lily, great photo of your geese.

Here's a male Brewer's Blackbird in the early morning light.

Glad it's warming up for you Nanny.

One of my Northern Flickers.

Beautiful swans and ducks Resin. Love the Canadian Geese Lily.

Gosh, what a beautiful Flicker Duc. Fed mine all summer and now they have disappeared! Darn it!!

Supposed to be near 50 degrees here today too Nanny. I sure hope so.

Here is a little Tufted Titmouse enjoying some peanuts.

A Downy readying for an attack on the suet.

Great shots Resin, Lily, Duc and GG!

Resin, Thanks for starting the new thread!

Chubby Red bellied Woodpecker enjoying the suet.

GG....you are doing fabulous with your new lens!!

Ditto! I was just going to say, DANG nice work from that pentax and lens. Grumble.

Thanks folks. It is not me, it is the lens, Mrs. Ed can attest to that!! LOL

Enjoyed the show with the Swans, Resin. Hope you have more to add to the show. ;) Thanks for a nice start.
Nice pair of geese Lily.
Duc your doing such a great job with the blackbird. love all the details your getting, and the flicker is a real beauty.
GG, I love the feeder with the peanuts and of course your sweet Titmouse. I heard through this grapevine, you got a new lens. Congratulation, great photos

A few Crows grabbing a bite.

This message was edited Jan 6, 2012 7:57 PM

Blue Jay on a windy day.

A Mourning Dove on the water bowl.

Thanks. Yep, new lens, same old bumbler trying to use it. Probably would get better results had I also replaced what is behind the camera. LOL

Love the Crows Burn. They are such a neat bird.

Great photos ! I like the crows too. They really stand out in the snow. What are the square chunks ?

Thanks GG, and countrymom.

GG, Your doing just fine. Please don't replace the old bumbler, she's too precious. Things won't be as fun anymore. ;)
Countrymom, I'm what you call a bird nut. I baked an oatmeal cake for my birds. lol I wanted to attrack the crows, close to the house for photos, and to steer the Starlings away from the suet for while, so the Woodpeckers and Chickadees could have their turn.

Nice start, Resin.

GG, you're irreplaceable. You're getting some good shots with the new gear.

Nothing much to photograph here, but I managed a distant shot of a Red-tailed Black Cockatoo in the big eucalyptus in our yard. I derive no pleasure from seeing these beautiful birds, because they are only here because they've been displaced from elsewhere due to habitat destruction.

An oatmeal cake! How wonderful. Crows are so intelligent.

Burn, not to worry, I fear that camera is stuck with the old bumbler! LOL

They sure are lovely birds Margaret. Like that shot.

This message was edited Jan 7, 2012 7:33 AM

Woo hoo! Life bird! Rufous Hummingbird at my feeder all morning. I've heard that sometimes they will winter here, although this area is not in their normal range and they are considered as casual or accidental visitors. There have been a lot of great western species in our area this fall/winter.

GrannyGrunt - how do you make your oatmeal cakes ?

Countrymom, Burn is the one that made the cakes. I, too, would like to have that recipe.

Congratulations Missy!

Congrats to Missy!

May have to try an oatmeal cake!!

GG is the bestest old bumbler there is! :)

We have had loads of Downy Woodpeckers...sometimes all the suet feeders are occupied with Downy's!

how is this for rare, my hubby has seen a Cedar Waxwing here a couple of times, he has not got his camera but he says they are here, I don't know why, we don't have any berry bushes near our place. Unless it is the apple suet cake, that is attracting him, my hubby got two more sunflower suet cakes today, but with the warm weather, not much is eating from them except the downy and chickadee. I did get this picture of a squirrel on one side and a chickadee on the other, took it just before my camera batteries ran out, but they are now recharged and ready to take some more pictures. As you can see, the squirrel is upside down on the round feeder, he can't get a lot of seed so I just let them have what they can get on the ground and the little tray on the bottom of the feeder.

Thanks Nanny for making sure that "old" was included!! LOL.

Nice shot Nanny, geez, with all of those Downy's, where the heck are the Pilated's going to eat? Or do they need to eat from a different style suet feeder so their tails can prop?

Sorry this one is so far away, was trying to get up close and not scare it away, this was over at my neighbor's feeder and I thought I did ok, thankfully it will be enlarged when it is posted. They are here, just not at ours yet, I decided to go out and try to find some different birds than sparrows, I had a starling get on the upside down feeder and get some suet but I rattled the doorknob and he took off. Have not seen any Juncos yet, I think it is too warm not sure though. The birds take stages, one winter you won't be able to keep seed in the feeder for the birds and the next winter you won't have that problem. This has been a weird winter, not much snow(thank goodness) and not very cold temps. The poor birds are confused too, I put in a application for a full time job where I am currently a temp, and if I get it the first thing I am going to get is another suet cake holder and a case of hot pepper suet and put it on the tree.

I searched and found lots of great recipes posted. Thanks everyone for sharing ! I have a question - can I used fat from cooking, let's say potroast, for suet ? I throw lots of fat away.

I tried a peanutbutter, oatmeal and cornmeal mix, and just spread it on the fence posts. The starlings devoured it and wanted more. Plus, the treat kept them out of the feeders the sparrows eat at.

Today, I put out a suet cake. Nothing fancy. Just inexpensive grocery store stuff. The starlings like that too ! Here is a picture of one.

Hey GG.....we know ...never mind....I will just keep digging a bigger hole! lol But they all take turns at the suet and the pileateds usually come in the morning first thing and then are gone.

teddy....CW not rare they stay all winter. You just maybe don't see them as often. I hear them more than I see them in the winter. They are just like all birds looking for food...could be the apple suet attracting them. I have never seen apple suet, would like to find some and try it!

I had 2 Brown-headed Cowbirds this morning!!

This message was edited Jan 8, 2012 3:28 PM

The Brown-headed Cowbirds with a Blue Jay on the platform.

I had a pair of Brown Creepers out here today!! Of course I could only get one in the shot. I really did try several times to catch both!

I got behind but I enjoyed all the photos everyone.

Missy congrats on the Rufous!

The House Finches are enjoying the berries on the trees. This one must have gotten full.

The robins and cedar waxwings are everywhere which draws the hawks to my garden. Here's a photo of my newest visitor, a Red-tailed.

Here's one of my Robins.

I've taken over 600 pictures in the last two days-you may get sick of seeing my robins and cedar waxwings, but they're only here for such a short time.

Great shots guys!

Nanny, Congrats on getting the 2 Brown Creepers!

Duc, Love that shot of the Robin in mid catch of the berry!

If I get another suet cake feeder and put it on the Cottonwood tree in front with hot pepper suet in it, will that attract the pileated woodpecker?

Wonderful shots folks.