Daily Bird Pictures, Vol. 449

Lily_love, Thanks for the comment on the brown headed nuthatch. The weeping mullberry is not grafted ~ All the birds love this tree especially the hummingbirds in the summer. I can tell different bird species apart usually, But, I do have a hard time when it comes to the sparrowy looking ones, I hoestly can't even tell you if those are chipping sparrows or not in your photo ( I think they are though) ~ I like the platform feeder you use.

BCH521, Thanks for sharring your photo of the partial albino northern cardinal, It's interesting!

Nanny, I would be lost without a nestbox here, I get a lot of activity with them and feel I would miss so much if I didn't have any. Wish we had cranes, We do get herons flying over once in a while though.

This is a cardnal in yesterdays snow sqwual ....

Hi everyone,
I can't believe how long it's been since I visited this thread (or anything else in DG, for that matter) other than a very quick visit!
It's so easy to get caught up in "this and that" and the next thing you know the months have gone by. I have an awful lot of catching up to do.

Wow, you guys have posted tons of GORGEOUS pictures. It's kind of amazing when you've been gone for a while to go back and really see the variety of birds everybody has taken pics of.

I haven't taken too many bird pics this Winter so far. Don't really know why since we have birds everywhere (I've taken lots of deer pics, though...posted a few in a thread I started a couple days ago in the Wildlife forum).

This pic isn't very good, but I thought it was fun because it showed a Male Cardinal, Male House Finch, Female Downy WP and the "rear end" of a Deer all in one picture.

Guess I got behind doing "this and that" too. Great photos, although I feel sorry for all of you in that cold snow.

It's got to be close to spring, even though we had a dusting of snow/hail yesterday. The mourning doves are really beginning to show their "stuff".
Here's a pair of purple finches.
A pair of canada geese.
an acorn woodpecker checking out his storage of acorns.

nutsaboutnature, Always extra special when there are deer added in!

ducbucln, Very nice! Love that first, Really looks like he's showing off!

Cool and overcast today, Looked like it was going snow! ~ Went out and got a few shots though ~ Mockingbird guarding his shrubs, RB woodpecker getting supply of nuts, Downy Woodpecker at the suet, Titmouse on the mullberry tree, 2-Titmouse on the mullberry tree

Chickadee on mullberry, Chickadeee on mullberry-2, Mourning Dove on feeder

And todays Bluebird shots ~

Fabulous shots all. Iris, love that Bluebird.

Here are a few of my suet piggies.

White Breasted Nuthatch and Carolina Wren.

I love to look at all these pictures. So many birds right now! Here are a couple of them that visit me each day. House finch and Pine sisken and a handsome cardinal.

I spent a little more time at Wheeler national wildlife refuge yesterday. I went looking for the sandhill and whooping cranes and found these guys. The cranes have moved out because of so much rain. The ducks really loved it though! haha

The mockers must have heard me the other day...was walking down to a neighbors and right there in front of me was a mockingbird! Have seen lots of killdeer in the fields last week out by the schools.

LOL, it was "mocking" you Nanny!

I agree with grannygrunt nanny ~ It was mocking you!! lol!! I see killdeer every once in a while in the summer, I enjoy watching them!
Grannygrunt .. " Suet Piggies" ~ Had to laugh at that one!!
JulieQ, Sometimes those cranes and C Geese look so regal in there own way.
Great photos all!!

Got on here a little late but heres a few of mine for today ... Mourning Dove flying to the feeder, Robins at the birdbath, Titmouse on the fence, chickadee at the birdbath.

Finch at birdbath .. The rst are the Bluebirds ..

Iris, your bird photos are adorable. Those bluebirds sure are beautiful.

GrannyG, love that little wren of yours. Looks like it could use a little low calorie suet-so sweet.

JulieQ, cute photos of your birds too. Sorry you missed the sandhill cranes.

Nanny, lol the mocker. Glad you are seeing killdeer.

We had four bald eagles flying around our home for several days now. The two juveniles love to wrestle in the air.
We've lived here 11 years and yesterday was only the second time that an eagle has landed just below our house. I got a nice closeup out of it.

Great shots of the bald eagles ( I would love to see them like that, Your so lucky!) Great close up shot indeed!!

N.A.N. It's so nice to see you posting again, GG, enjoyed your Wrens and titmouse savoring the home made suet cake. JulieQ, your residential birds are pretty same as mine, have you noticed Cardinals begun to feed one another? They sure are getting ready for nesting season! Nanny, lol about your 'mocker' that mocks. Duc, those are some awesome close up of the Eagles, wow!

I don't have much to share, but just one of the sparrows.

@Lily...I think we have pretty much the same birds except the water birds since I am not on a lake. I have not noticed them feeding each other, but they sure are singing a lot.

Lily, cute sparrows. That feeding tray sure is interesting.

The nuttall's woodpecker is continuing to come regularly for the peanut butter.

Thanks duc, the feeding tray was bought from one of the big box stores. It's designed so that the seeds are situated below the screen, thus birds can readily get to them, but chipmonks and squirrels can't reach the seeds as easily. I don't get to see the nuttall's woodpeckers down east, so it's a treat to see yours.

@JulieQ, yes birds are singing as if to say "Spring is here, spring is here". lol

Oh uh! My songbirds are having a tough time with this King of the garden today! This mockingbird apparently has discovered various feeders in the backyard and was chasing every single bird away from various feeders today! Here at the mealworm feeder, although it can't gain access to the mealies, but no one dares to get close while the mocker is standing guard. King for the day that's for sure!

Lily, that feeder sounds good, thanks. I feel sorry for your songbirds with that mocker around. Our mocker is still guarding the dried berries on one tree so my little birds are still safe. Cute photos.

Here's a couple purple finches.
A pine siskin.
My one rufous hummingbird that arrived two days ago.

Waxwing in the garden

Resin

Pouring rain last night & this morning. It has not stopped the hen cardinal from feasting on the dropped seed from the tube feeder.

We've had a couple of days of snow.
Trying to scatter food around for all the ground feeding birds & critters, but it's just impossible to fill everyone's belly...as it is, we buy 50lb bags of everything and stack them up in the garage. The feeders don't get used quite as much at this time of year. Even many of the feeder birds seem to spend more time on the ground...except for the Woodpeckers...they're constantly eating suet.

Amazing shots, everyone!!

Duc, I love all your pics...I don't know where to start, but the Dove with it's chest puffed out is pretty cool, the Eagles are fantastic and seeing a Hummer in Winter is really special!!

Wow, IRIS...so many wonderful pics! I Love that white suet feeder & your Bluebirds are beautiful, but I love every one of your bird shots!

GrannyGrunt...adorable suet shots!

JulieQ...Your birds are so pretty!

Nanny, those are the times when I wish I had a camera handy, but cool you got to see them.

Kim, cute shot of the Sparrows & fortunately the "Bully Birds" seem to come & go.

Beautiful Waxwing, Resin!

IrisMA, I wonder if by now you have our snowstorm.

None of these pics came out great. It was almost Dusk & I was shooting between the slats of the vertical blinds on our patio door so I wouldn't scare the birds. Some of the shots have shadows from the blinds that were too close to completely crop away.

1) Female Cardinal and a couple of friends
2) American Tree Sparrow
3 & 4) Dark-eyed Juncos
5) American Tree Sparrow


This message was edited Feb 28, 2013 2:53 PM

Lily_love, Nice pic of the sparrows, Interesting feeder, Gave me an idea to make one like that with a metal cage cover, I can't put food on the ground for the birds ( Though the woodpeckers seem to help out with dispersting the seeds sometimes) because there are too many squirrels here, So a feeder something like yours would help with that. The mocker here stands constant guard over a certain patch of berry shrubs, I was a bit surprised to see him actually try to scare off my dog the other day. The main feeders are about 20-25ft from where the mocker guards but the birds are not afraid to feed at that distance.

Ducbucin, Loved the photos, Especially the pic of the nuttall's woodpecker! We don't have those so it's a treat to see your photo

Resin, Nice pic of the waxwing! Love to see these particular birds! I know of a few places that they go and eat in abundance in the Spring, I'm hoping to get some good pic's of them this year!

nutsaboutnature, Thankyou for the nice compliment! ~ And I enjoyed your photos, You did pretty good for shooting at almost dusk and through vertical blinds!! Wish I could put food on the ground here, but, Can't do it with all the squirrels here, I think I'm going to make a feeder something like Lily-loves and then maybe I can put something at a lower level for them ( The Red bellied woodpecker usually makes sure that some seeds get scattered for the ground birds though as he chisels out the normal seeds to get to the nuts)

IRIS, we have tons of Squirrels, too, so I sometimes try to "time" the food (yes, I really said that!). Both the Squirrels and the birds come in "waves"... then the Deer eat any food that's left out overnight except suet and food in screen-type feeders or with small holes, like nyger seed for the Goldfinches. But we feed everybody so the birds, squirrels, deer, opossums and whoever else shows up, get at least some food. We try to not think about how much we're actually spending since it's way too much. Another good time to feed the birds is just before Dusk. By then most of the Sqirrels have "tucked" themselves in for the night.

I bought one of those dog crates a while back at a flea market for about $10.00 (I think they retail for about $40.00). I think the spaces between the bars are large enough for the small ground feeding birds, but I haven't tried it yet. It won't fit the larger birds like Cardinals & Doves, but those birds will also come to the hanging feeders.

Like you, I've thought about different ways to feed the ground-feeding birds. My husband is the one who builds any feeder ideas we have. He built a couple of Peanut feeders for the Squirrels last Autumn that hang on two large trees The Squirrels love them, but we only fill them as an occasional treat. As soon as one Squirrel discovers that they're full, every Squirrel in the neighborhood shows up and they're empty in about two hours!

We have squirrels eating spilled feed from our tube feeder & use suet with red pepper as well as seeds to keep the squirrels off. I don't mind them on the ground, but hate them on a feeder. We do have a round baffle over the feeder. they used to jump straight onto the feeder from the tree, but D H sawed off a couple tree projections & they are not able to jump from higher up.

Titmice & cardinals are beginning to call & don't pay as much attention to the feeder the last couple days.

Lots of birds again today. Cold weather brings them out.

nutsaboutnature wrote

and N.A.N, I can absolutely relate, our support of the wildlife surrounding our garden sure does add up. I'm glad you've mentioned of your creative idea of using the dog crate as a modified birds feeder. If the crate is made of weather resistance material, I think it would work well?
Agreed irisMA, those commercial made so called "baffles" only baffling those inventive squirrels just for a little while, eventually they'll figure their way around 'em. So placement of the feeders does help. Titmice and Cardinals down South are getting busy preparing themselves for nesting season, I think. I can't wait.

JulieQ, whoa! Is that snow that I'm seeing on your decking? We've but a few flurries here, that looks so pretty on your picture! And what a big flock of Goldfinches you have! I only saw a few here and there in the last couple weeks.
Mockingbird at the suet feeder and really enjoying it.

JulieQ, wonderful shot of all those birds! It looks like your Goldfinches are starting to change into their Spring feathers. Ours are still very pale, but we're pretty far north and are covered in snow.

Kim, cute pic of the Mocker! I don't know much about the commercial Squirrel baffles having never used them, but the baffles my husband made about 8 years ago have kept the Squirrels completely off our feeders. They're large and cone-shaped and since he's kept the template he can make new ones when they start looking crummy, but they last a really long time.

This Scrub Jay liked to get em 2 at a time..........He was in a hurry to get the last one because it was 5' from me.............upset because I wouldn't throw out anymore.

This message was edited Mar 3, 2013 2:11 PM

We had a light dusting of snow yesterday morning and today it's supposed to get up to 60F. Go figure. We put a rock on the deck table and sprinkled a little seed. It was fun to watch the goldies on the rock.

The cedar waxwings are migrating through. Saw these today.

nutsaboutnature, The squirrels and birds come in waves here too, I figure the groundfeeders get enough food with the seeds that get dropped, I surely do not encourage squirrels or other animals to be here, Love all nature, But, I live in a tight area of many homes now and people around here wouldn't appreciate my encouraging any other wildlife besides birds. I still get groundfeeding birds because of the dropped seeds, I was thinking of making a groundfeeder for them, but, Then again, I think it would add to the squirrel problem so I'm going to pass on it. Your lucky you live in an area that enables you the joy of so many.

irisMA, We have long white tubing on our feeder pole, The squirrels have a real hard time getting to the feeders with it, They make it once in a blue moon, But, Not often at all. We also put this tubing on our bluebird houses, It really helps so that the snakes and chippies can't climb the pole and get to the babies.

JulieQ, I really like the picture with the snow and so many finches!

Lily_love, nice pic of the mockingbird


adelbertcat, Enjoyed the pic's of the scrubjay, I think they are such pretty birds!

JulieQ, Enjoyed the pics, If the WW's are in your area they should be to mine sometime soon, I really look forward to seeing them again!!

At the feeders ... Bluebird - Male Cardnal, Female Cardnal and Titmouse, Starling, RB Woodpecker flying off with his nut.

Pair of Mourning Doves
Mourning Doves with Downy Woodpecker
Mourning Doves and sparrows ( Looks like there having a conversation)
Cardnal on a branch

Bluebirds enjoying there breakfast untill a robin dicovered the worms and started emensely guarding the bowl which brought on a major chase between the Bluebirds and Robin, While she would chase one or two, Others would come in a steal a worm or two, She made quite a ruckus about it which in turn attracted others to the mealie bowl, One being a finch.

While everyones distracted from all the vocals and chasing, A wren sneaks in to get his share of worms
Bluebird waiting patiently to get back to the mealie bowl
Robin waiting patiently to get back to the mealie bowl
Wren at bowl
Wren at bowl

Adel, I love your Western Jays. Eastern Jays are abundant here, but for some reason they don't usually hang around my garden as I wished they would. Love to see their antics. JulieQ, I'm delighted to learn the Cedar Waxwings are once again on the move, this time perhaps they're migrating back North? I need to keep my eyes peeled for them during their journey. IRIS love all those series of your back yard's birds. But I especially enjoyed the 'Doves and WP, and Sparrows having a conversation' lol. Them Doves are one of the most docile birds in the garden I've seen. I saw a mockingbird chasing a dove the other day. I couldn't believe it. In this case sizes doesn't matter when a mocker shows aggression toward Doves. Hah!

1. These pair of Northern friends the Canadian Geese are surely settling down south for the up coming breeding season I'm pretty sure of it. Soon I will see their babies in tow after momma and papa.
2. I'm watching the Cardinals and have noticed they begun to chase one another in the garden.
3. Purple Finch.
4. Redwinged Blackbirds are enroute on their Northern migratory journey, a few of them stopped by our backyard feeders to 'fuel up' during their trip.

Nice series Lily-love, I especially like the photo of the RW blackbird, Had one in the yard the other day but never got a picture of it.
The mockingbird actually tried chasing off my dog the other day when he was close to the shrubs he is guarding ( Smit bigger then a dove at 104lbs lol) Daring little souls they are!!

Does anyone know when the Hummingbirds will show up in Ohio? I want to hang my feeder out but don't want it to freeze.

Last I saw they were still in FL.