Daily Bird Pictures volume 457

The baby Robins are growing fast so here are nine more pics before they "fly-the-coop".

And the rest.

#4...And suddenly they look like BIRDS! This little guy looks like he's seriously thinking about a solo flight.

Sweet pics, nuts. Baby birds are always precious.

Hack

This is the first Red-wing Blackbird for the year for me. He stayed on that platform feeder for a while.

Hack

Could someone ID these LBB's (little brown birds) for me? I had a flock of about 20 of them fly in at one time and stayed and played in the bird bath. I am sure them are common birds but the way they all flew in at one time was interesting.

Yes, it is a common bird that originally came from Europe, but were released here. House Sparrows.

HollyAnn, I've seen House Sparrows (your's look to be females) enjoy taking a dust bath, too. Look up male House Sparrow and you'll see what he looks like, so if you see one, you'll recognize it.

Hack

ugh I prefer the natives.

Thanks everyone.

We sure have a lot of bird activity right now. I counted yesterday 17 for sure nesting species on our property right now.

1. Brown Thrasher with a meal for the young. I tell you, I am always amazed at birds perching on barbed wire. Sometimes the barbs look too close for comfort.
2. Our duck with a case of the nerves. You cannot see in the photo, but she just appeared out of sorts with all those close by Barn Swallows. Most mornings, she hides in the yuccas. I wonder if this is why. Barn Swallows have been known to take feathers right from barnyard ducks.
3. Terrible picture, but I keep trying every year to get a good one of the Swallows right as they get a feather.

Great shots, Chillybean. I didn't realize Barn Swallows would take duck feathers like that.

So, they use them for nests? Hard to believe in those muddy things they make are soft feathers

Thank you Cville_gardener. I've heard of Titmice taking fur right off a dog, so I guess a bird desperate to lay eggs is not going to wait for shedding or moulting. :)

Mrs Ed, Barn Swallows line their nests with the feathers, they normally are hidden. A soft cushion for the babies. :) Here is the mess we've got above our front door. Normally, they are not like this. Maybe these are first time parents-to-be??

This message was edited Jun 17, 2014 10:44 AM

oh, that IS a pathetic nest. Poor thing.

Well here's a lifer. A shame about the focus, as this bird was really cooperative.

Black-billed Cuckoo. First time I've seen this at Nachusa Grasslands. This is the 5th summer I've been there for a butterfly monitoring project.

That it wonderful, Mrs_Ed!!! A Black-billed would be a life bird for us. We tried finding Cuckoos Saturday, but other than a brief possibility of hearing one, none were to be found. There have been more Cuckoos than normal around Iowa.

How are the butterfly numbers? We've seen a few Monarchs around home, and this is the first year we had the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on our property.

It was a thrill for me, especially with how he/she was showing off for me!

Butterfly numbers were not good (3!), but my route is more active in July anyway.

Tiger swallowtails are around here.

Took these a week ago and am just getting around to sharing.

1 - I have lots of jury Cardinals around here, here's one.

2- One of many Chickadees.

3- Male Gold Finch about to fly down to get something to eat.

4- A Robin sitting under my Snowball bush.

5- Tufted Titmouse feeding. Got to clean off the plates, seed starting to germinate.

Its thundering outside, appears to be about to rain - maybe it'll cool things down around here. I snapped a few more pics to share.

1- its not often that I see a big ole' dove on one of my feeder trays, usually they stay on the ground underneath the feeders. Over on the left as another one of my jury cardinals

2- The numbers of Gold Finches is increasing. I always have House Finches like this guy over on the right.

3- Here's a female HOFIN about to fly down to a feeder.

4- I guess this dove was thirsty - stayed a long while, but never got in for a bath.

5- Male HOFIN eating and I'm reminded to clean the grass off my wild bird seed feeders.

Hack

Hen cardinal has been chipping at me in the garden so there must be a nest nearby. I testily reminded her that we feed her all winter.

Ha, iris, they are sometimes unappreciative.

Hack

Really nice shots, everyone!