Daily Bird Pictures, Volume 459

11. Purple Swamphen
12 & 13. Black-wiinged Stilt

Wow, those are BEAUTIFUL, GORGEOUS pics, Margaret!! What a treat. Thanks so much for coming along during a photo drought and posting your Awesome shots!

Thanks, nuts. I hope to be able to go searching for birds within the next week or so. I've been virtually housebound for the past 5 weeks, hand rearing a baby Zebra Finch (15 feeds a day on average).

Just a note....saw my first Painted Bunting so far this Fall, a female. Soon to be followed by others I hope. I usually have a dozen or so around in the winter.

Yes, VERY cool birds which we'll never see here in the USA, Margaret. I've never seen a Painted Bunting, either gardenpom. Only an Indigo 2 years ago. I wish he/she would come back.

Beautiful Black-winged Stilt, Margaret!!

Not much going on here at all. But the Goldfinch are still busy on the Echinaceas. I have put out suet now. I think I can afford to feed suet all winter now. Maybe buy extra treat now and then to put out.

Congrats on the Zebra Finch, Margaret! Another beautiful bird we'll never see here (in the wild).
I just checked BirdFiles and there are only two pics. Would you consider posting some pics of yours?

Gardenpom - How lucky you are! I've never seen a Painted Bunting except in pictures and video. I would have thought they'd go further south across the Gulf. That's so cool!

Sallie - If you recognized your Indigo Bunting by the bright blue it was a male. The "pale olive-colored" females look so much like "just another Sparrow" they're hard to spot. We get Indigo's every year in early spring, but they usually move on pretty quickly since we're right by forest preserves and a river.

Thanks! I'll have to look up the female so I know what to look for. My next door neighbor said she had a "beautiful blue bird" at her feeder this spring. I think she stole my Indigo :-(

Nuts, our Zebra Finches are aviary birds, not wild. They come from mid-Western Australia northward. I'll see how I go getting a couple of photos in the aviary. (All our birds are other people's rejects).

Hi Nanny. Nice Goldfinches.

Nanny - Your Goldfinch pics are adorable! I forgot to mention that in my last post. Mine still visit the Echinacea sometimes, but I think they've already eaten most of the seeds.

Margaret - I just learned today that Zebra Finches are commonly kept as pets. It's so kind of you to take in unwanted birds. It's a shame so many people get pets that they can't commit to? Those birds are lucky to have found a loving home in your aviary.

Was pleased to see a batch of Painted Buntings at the feeder yesterday morning, at least two were the brightly colored males. Seems they may have been just passing through since I have not seen them since. Lately the Buntings have been moving further South, I guess since we have had some bad freezes the last several years. I did see the single female again this morning.

I saw my first Dark-eyed Junco of the season on the 10th! I'm always amazed that they don't go further south since our winters can get pretty bad. I do what I can, but there are lots of them trying to survive in areas where no one feeds them.

Congratulations, Resin, on your winning bird picture in the photo contest. Well deserved.

Thanks!

I liked C_A_Ivy's Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.

Resin

Tufted Titmouse with a mouthful. haha

I assume that our titmice had a good nesting year. the garden seems full of them, more than I usually remember.

Our first Juncos arrived in the yard on the 5th. Spotted this Yellow-bellied Sapsucker the same day.

The Hairy Woodpecker is from last Sunday.

The suet went up a week ago when it got really cold. I don't know which the woodpeckers like better the peanuts in the shell feeder or the suet but I figured out a way to keep the peanuts out too. Downy Woodpecker yesterday.

Our tufted titmice work on the suet feeder as well. A red bellied woodpecker visited last week, but our customers are mainly downy wp.

Lots of Downy & red-bellieds here and a pair of flickers coming almost everyday now. Have had 1 Pileated so far. Plus Titmice, chickadees and juncos!

Our red bellied wp comes to the suet feeder. Purple finches have shown up.

I got a picture of another bird to add to my list of birds that I have gotten pictures of, this landed in the neighbor's yard and I ran out and got him in the neighbor's back yard in the tree, I do think it is a falcon, though what kind of falcon I don't know. Maybe some one on here can kind of clean up the photo a little bit and we can get a clearer shot of him.

Unfortunately, not enough to go on there. It could be a first-year Red-tailed Hawk, but that's far from definite.

Resin

Here is a better picture, I tried to brighten it up some but when I took it it was getting dark.

Thanks! Yep, that's a first-year Red-tailed Hawk.

Resin

Cardinal looking handsome in the tree.

Here are a few from the last couple of weeks. The flicker has started to enjoy the peanut feeder as much as the woodpeckers. My camera is in the shop so my winter pastime is over with for a while. Now I can just fill the feeders and watch. Happy New Year to all bird lovers!!

1 - Cassin's finch male on top of feeder, Cassin's female lower center facing left. I never noticed them before, and I don't know if they are new visitors or if I just never looked close enough at the plentiful House Finches (left and right)
2 - Canyon Towhee - last winter they only came to the feeder on the bitterest cold days. This winter, one has become a regular fat visitor.
3 - Immature White-crowned sparrow. I had a little trouble figuring out what it was because it didn't have a white crown.

They understand good handouts.

Ball of Meadowlark, Western Specifically.

This was the first time any of the meadowlarks came to a feeder. They have always eaten off the ground, but this one came to see if the Blue Jays left anything behind. There are other photos, but they were not very good.

I used to see the eastern type in Wisconsin, but that area is now filled with houses built after WW II.

Hello everyone. Long time since posted, but I've lurked. Here are a couple images of the Redhead.

great!

I love how the birds get all puffed up during the cold.

Red bellied woodpeckers have been visiting the suet feeder, bless their hearts. Snow is up to the tailboard on the feeder which lets squirrels reach it & we were not able to get the suet with pepper imbedded. So will have to retrain them to stay away.

The hot pepper suet cakes are hard to find here and in Bellefontaine, and when you do find them they are expensive! I have several woodpecker suet cakes that my hubby bought for me and I put them in the ones on the tree, and the flavored ones in the upside down feeder, although I do have a sort of soft spot for the squirrels, its true that they get into EVERYTHING, but sometimes they are so funny when they chase each other around. I am VERY impatient for the hummers to come back this spring!!!!

This was at a bird blind in Des Moines. I got a kick out of the big Hairy woodpecker eating from the finch feeder. My timing was off getting a picture of the Downy landing on it.

I asked someone what is in the feeder to attract the woodpeckers and they said it is Nyjer mixed with sunflower chips. The woodpeckers really like those chips.

About squirrels, we enjoy them, but then they do not come here very often. The last time was this summer when the Grackles and Swallows dive bombed the thing during nesting season. We can see them now and again at the various bird blinds in town. The people are pretty diligent about baffles and such, but seed always gets knocked to the ground, so the critters have something to eat.

I don't mind them at the seeds on the ground, but not on seed feeder or suet feeder. The later attracts the woodpeckers, downy, Hairy & best of all the red bellied.

Hi everyone, I finally got some time to pull out the camera, here are some pics. to share.

1. Carolina Wren
2. A fine gathering of the Eastern Blue Birds
3. & 4 Wren and Baltimore Oriole
5. Unsure of the type of Grebe from a distance

Nice ones, Kim. It looks as if you have buds appearing on your vine. Spring can't be too far away.