Daily Bird Pictures volume 458

This immature Blue Bird visited us on our deck last night. He stayed around long enough to get a few shots.

Well, I have lots of Robins now.

#1- We had a hard soaking rain yesterday afternoon, I guess it brought the worms up.

#2 & #3- Robins on the yard.

#4- I counted 12 feeding at one time. Here are four.

Hack

This message was edited Aug 13, 2014 7:04 PM

yep, worm time in the yard.

longlens mentions 2 baby Great Blue Herons - they have disappeared from our lake and are a rare sighting in the sky. One of the people on the lake spotted a Bald Eagle taking one down many years ago. I miss them. It seems like Sand Hill cranes are filling the void, they don't wade in the lake but we hear them and see them flying by the lake.

The baby Loon is still alive, I saw the 2 parents, the visiting pair and the baby in the middle of the lake when I took in my hummingbird feeder last night.

Resin mentioned the Northern Pike, my Dad told us when he was up here at the lake many years ago saw a Bald Eagle drop down and latch onto a pike that was so big that it took the eagle almost under the water before it could release its claws. They found the huge pike dead the next day. We see our Mergansers, rarely, with a brood of near 20 hugging the shore, I guess with all the airborne and underwater predators they have to have so many.

Not much happening around here, too hot I guess.

1- Female Cardinal on a limb above feeders.

2- Female Ruby-throated hummer at my Cardinal Climber vines by bird bath.

3- Close-up of #2, in case you couldn't see the hummer in the center of the frame.

4- Here's another hummer at the feeder on my porch

5- Spied this Mockingbird off to the side.

We have only had one hummingbird which was investigating our bee balm. I think that it was too far along in bloom to have good necter.

Hack,

It is so nice you have hummingbirds. I had feeders out for awhile, but no takers. We have an abundance of Columbine and again, no takers. I am waiting for the Bee Balm to open up. Maybe they'll like that. :)

I was just thrilled to see these young Barn Swallows in town. Some how, some way the adults are finding nesting spots in a seemingly unfriendly place. They are at this strip mall every year.

Nice shots, Hack and longlens. How cute are those baby swallows.

Lovely photos of the babies

Thanks Margaret and wow, Chilly, the babies are just too cute!

Hack

When I saw three loons in the middle of the lake I hoped it was the parents and the youngster but it was 3 adults. One was much larger than the other 2 but all had adult foliage. Mother and youngster must have been down the lake.

No photo in the dark of night, but the barred owl is calling. Great to hear.

Yay for you, irisMA! We have Great Horned Owls here, so no other owl species.

Our hummingbirds have returned! At least one male and one female. The Baltimore Orioles are still around. I will have to go back to look at my bird journal, but I think this might be the latest we've seen them. One adult male and three imm./females. Also, a young/female Orchard has been seen recently.

Our orioles have left. I have never seen an orchard oriole.

1 Double-crested Cormorants. The dead branch hangs over the Arkansas river.
2 An Osprey, uncommon here. Not a great photo, but it was camera shy & I this was as close as I could get.
3 Black-chinned Hummingbird. Most common species in my back yard - they nest somewhere nearby, but I have never found a nest.

Great pix everyone, here is a lucky shot of an Osprey. pollengarden, when I visited Oakland Ca. I discovered those cormorants will build multiple nests on bare branches like the one you've got there. I took some pics. of those nests, will find them to share.

These little guys empty this feeder daily.

American Goldfinch enjoying the Echinacea seeds.

Love the pics, everyone!

Nanny, my Goldfinches are devouring my Echinacea seeds, too. In fact, I leave pretty much all my flower seed heads standing for the birds.

1 & 2 - Ring-billed Gull

3 - Goldfinch fledgling

4 - We have Goldfinches everywhere. There were about a dozen of them on this feeder when I took this shot through our kitchen window and we still have lots of babies begging for food.

In Nanny's photos they look like they are starting to molt.

You are right Iris. They are losing their summer breeding yellow and getting ready for winter here.

Same here.
Most of the females are already looking pretty pale. The males are in the process.

100 posts - a volunteer to start Vol. 459, please ;-)

Pic: juvenile Curlew Sandpiper

Resin

I started the new thread, Resin.

It is at: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1376922/

Hack