Wonderful shots, everyone. Burn, that's a lovely shot of the mourning doves all lined up there.
Went to Pelican Point on the Swan River this morning. First, a black swan coming in for a landing on the marsh behind me, then a Caspian tern (the largest of all terns), a white-faced heron and a hoary-headed grebe
Pied oystercatchers. Little black cormorants and silver gulls working the river.
Red-capped plover, crested tern and then a pied oystercatcher with red-capped plover in front to show size difference and a not-too-crash-hot photo of an osprey with a fish.
Last, a great egret, which was cooperative for a change.
Great shots everyone.
Margaret, love the great egret having breakfast. Great shots.
Thanks, GG.
Mrs Ed, love your little yellow-throat.
Chillybean, your little bobolink sure looks happy.
Iris, glad you hear a flicker. They do love the bugs.
Burn, how lucky you are to see the p.siskin fledges. Congrats on the new arrival and the bunting.
Margaret, great photos of all your birds, especially that egret.
I found a bushtit, some wood ducks, a pied-billed grebe and a western grebe.
Excellent shots guys!
Margaret, Love the Oystercatchers and Egret!
Duc, Beautiful Western Grebe!
Great pics. everyone, Duc I like all your birds, but especially like the Wood Ducks, terrific photos Margaret. When I saw this Egret, I thought of you and your birds. Burn, how nice to have the Rose Grosbeak! Chillybean, I have not seen a Bobolink in person. IrisMA, I didn't know Northern Flicker will go after ants. Will they eat the ants or just their eggs?
I think that they will eat the actual ants.
Lily, love your beautiful egret-it looks so natural just sitting and enjoying the view.
Our male brewer's blackbirds are so pretty when they're showing off for the females.
Next is a pair of house finches, a lesser goldfinch, a bullock's oriole and then a hooded oriole.
Great shots guys! Duc, Love the Blackbird and the rest.
Well, I thought I saw a quail in here!
We finally have hummingbirds!! Besides being first of the year, they were in our yard!! I assume these are Ruby-throated. We had the male the two days before.
And they have wings! LOL Because my first pictures were taken on a cloudy evening, you couldn't see the wings.
The first picture, I was standing maybe 4-5 feet away giving myself warbler neck when I hear a low-pitched bzzzz. I thought it was a massive wasp at the feeder and I was ready to bolt. I hesitantly turn around and got a nice surprise.
This little miss had no fear of me at all. Was she fed by someone down south?
The second one was taken a little further away. I tried the setting that takes 8 pics in a second. This was my favorite of that set.
Hope that the quail chicks hatch all right.
The little quail will be fine, I had a nest about three feet from this location last year in a large scented geranium.
I put the leaves back in place after I took the picture. I could hear the mom in there this evening when I went out to water my flower
garden. She couldn't have picked a better spot, it's the one plant out there that the sprinkler doesn't hit. I have no problem letting the ditch
lillies languish until the little chicks are out!
I found another nest today in a hanging bromeliad. I think these are finches. The mom was having a fit when I came over to hang another plant
next to hers. They have nested in there before too. There is going to be lots of baby birds in my yard!
Chillybean, congrats on the new hummers.
Domehomedee, it sounds like you'll have lots of chicks running around.
Here's one of my younger scrub jays, a couple of the mallards, and an oak titmouse that lost the tail feathers but is doing fine without them.
Beautiful shots guys!
Duc, Love that Scrub Jay!
Chilly, Congrats on the hummers!
All these bird pics inspired me to get out the old hummingbird feeder. I had three juveniles buzzing me yesterday in the yard and one that was sitting in a bush closeby bathing himself in some water held by a leaf. They seemed like nest mates to me the way they were playing. I wonder if they will find the feeder this year, they never found it last year. So I decided to hang it near a cardinal climber seedling that will eventually grow up and make a good natural feeder for them.
I love your waterbirds, duc. The male wood ducks are fabulous. Nice catch of your western grebe.
Lovely shot of your egret, Kim.
I have a few shots from this morning to add. First off, a couple of shots of a rainbow lorikeet, then an Australian pelican, and a couple of a red wattlebird.
White-cheeked honeyeater and a fairy-wren. I'm not certain which one it is, but I think it's a male red-winged fairy-wren that is just starting to get its breeding plumage.
I finally managed to get some shots of the red-tailed black cockatoo. Look closely, you're seeing a bird that is rapidly progressing to extinction in the wild because of habitat destruction. It's heartbreaking to be seeing them where we are, in the city. They're here because they are starving and there is not enough food for them in their natural habitat. Nothing sadder than seeing these beautiful big cockatoos feeding on the seeds of the Cape lilac, a tree introduced from South Africa. Developers and governments have a lot to answer to.
First shot is of the female, then the male, then the two together, followed by the male leaving his perch and last, the male in another tree close by.
Wonderful shots Margaret!
That is so sad about the red-tailed black cockatoo.
Duc, love the oak titmouse that lost its tail. Adorable.
Beautiful birds, Margaret. The Pelican certainly has a wry expression on its face. LOL
The Red-tailed Black Cockatoo is gorgeous. So sad about what is happening to it. Chalk up another one for humans.
That is terrible about the habitat loss. It is happening everywhere and we see it just outside our windows. We are trying to do what we can on our little place, but it's so overwhelming!
Thank you on the congratulations about the hummies. We sure are enjoying them. Yesterday they were testing out the Orioles' jelly. The Orioles prefer the oranges. We have double the Orioles this year, so need to keep those oranges stocked up!
OK, this picture does not show a bird, but it's bird related. We had our first bird death in about 3 years from a window crash a couple weeks ago. A Tennessee Warbler of all things. The bird's been passed on to a local school to use for study, but boy! We hated that it happened because of our windows. So we bought this American Bird Conservancy bird tape and put it on the most prone windows. I feel like a caged bird, but we'll get used to it. The coverage is a lot more than we had before. I was watching out a window as a truck roared by and an Oriole was coming right at the window, when he put on the brakes and flew in another direction.
Margaret, love your photos. I'm so sorry to hear about the gorgeous red-tailed black cockatoos. It's too bad the government won't do something to help the species. You should send your photos to your local newspaper with a paragraph on them-bet they'd print it.
Chillybean, glad that tape is working.
I think this is a bushtit enjoying the bath, a couple of mourning doves and a lesser goldfinch.
I was using a pie pan for the birdbath and decided to switch to something a little bigger and not so shiny, we had a old clothes basket that was falling apart, so my hubby cut the bottom out. Do we need to make the edges smoother, or is that alright the way it is? I thought I would just see what happens with it the way it is, any suggestions would be helpful.
teddy, I've seen birds stand on all manner of things and especially with the rock in the middle, that should be ok. I'd like to see how this works for you, can you post an update? That is a great way to reuse something.
Here is our Mourning Dove, falling asleep, facing the correct direction. They usually have their back ends facing into the water.
Lily, I want to thank you for finally sending that Red-headed Woodpecker my way. He arrived last week and in good condition. Two birds have eluded me for some time, the Red-headed Woodpecker and the Prothonotary Warbler. And, as luck would have it, I captured both of them last week.
Everyone has been posting some really nice photos. I have been keeping rather busy and only getting out about once a week. And, I am still waiting for my pre-ordered Nikon D800 to be delivered. I ordered on February 8th ..... and still waiting. I keep telling myself that it's only a "camera". But .....
I'll post some more photos later but just wanted to let Lily know that it arrived. Here's the proof.
Spectacular! So good of Lilly_Love to share!
Teddy, we even use the saucer trays for our pots as baths. I don't think the birds will care about the sides of your bath as long as you keep one or more rocks in it and the water isn't higher than 1 1/2 inches deep. That's a great way to recycle.
Chillybean, your little dove is beautiful.
Linth, love, love, love your red-headed. Babies to follow hopefully.
Here' one of my mourning doves after pulling out a lose feather, a bald eagle flying to its usual tree to enjoy a fish breakfast, a few Canada geese and a California towhee.
Some incredible shots Margaret. It's so awful, that the Red-tailed Black Cockatoos are starving. All because of greed. They will have a lot to answer too when they are gone.
Chilli, I so enjoy seeing the Bobolink in the wild. I would so much want, to have a close up shot of one.
Duc , awesome shots of your birds.
Domehomedee, glad you found the Quails eggs, and happy, she returned to her eggs.
Now Lily if you can send Linth a Red-headed WP, what are the odds of you, sending me some.
Lovely shot Linth and congrats on the 2 visitors.
A few from the last couple of days.
This Crow didn't let the harassing Grackles, from him figuring out, how to get into the suet cage. He emptied it in no time at all.
Female Purple Finch, calling it's mate.
This Evening Grosbeak looks as if, he has a thing or two to say to me.
No more room for Siskens on this feeder.
and a tireless Yellow Warbler, looking for bugs.
Wow Linth, fantastic shot.
Duc, all great shots. I have sooooooooo many doves here. Small, medium, and large, with more on the way by the romantic encounters I witnessed the past few days. In fact, I have so many doves that I am going to have to go to the feed mill and purchase some corn for them. I just cannot keep them supplied with sufficient amounts of BOSS or the striped sunflower seeds. Fantastic having them here, no matter how much they eat.
Hey Burn, we were posting at the same time. Great shots of a gorgeous collection of birds.
Oh if anyone else has an extra Red-headed Woodpecker I would love one too!! I have seen one before but have no photos!! lol
I had been hearing the Indigo Buntings but hadn't seen any until today....then they were every where! Same for the Brown Thrashers! Last is a Blue Bird fledgling.
I shared everyone's sentiment about the Redtailed Cockatoos lost of habitat, love all the birds you have shared everyone. I sure can't take credit on sending Linth the Redheaded Woodpecker. lol, congrats Linth on both rare sightings of the woodpecker and the warbler.
Here is a Carolina Wren and two male Nothern Cardinals do what they do best. lol
Mourning Dove with a Do.
I knew that people on this forum would be outraged at the threat to the red-tailed black. How many more tiny birds, animals and plants are lost for the same reason without ever having been discovered.
Great shots, everyone. Linth, I look forward to seeing the results you achieve with the D800.
From Herdsman's Lake yesterday: Australian hobby, yellow-billed spoonbill, little pied cormorant, black swan and an extreme close-up of a purple swamphen.
Wow so many great shots!
Linth, Congrats on the Red-headed Woodpecker!
Burn, Nice ones and I love seeing the Evening Grosbeak!
Nice one of the Indigo Bunting nanny!
Margaret you've outdone yourself with the beautiful close ups. Love the Pied Cormorant and the funny catch of the Yellow-billed Spoonbill.
Sweet pics Lily and adel!
I'll be starting a new thread soon but will give some time for some more comments.
