Daily Piccies Vol. 462

I'll have to check out the "Test" forum. Thanks again - all.

Hello everyone. I've been MIA for ages. Extremely busy with a project and not much bird watching until yesterday when I was alerted to a family of four Tawny Frogmouths in a local native park and botanic gardens. Lighting was challenging as they are nocturnal and were roosting in deep shade. Nevertheless, I was thrilled to see them.

Merry Christmas and happy 2016 to you all.

Those are amazing photos Margaret! Nice to see your beautiful pics again.

Have a wonderful holiday!

Oh, those are so cute! I tried photographing one at the zoo some years ago, but it was in their Kingdom of the Night area that had minimal lighting. They are such a neat bird!

Great to see a photo of elusive birds.

Thanks. I was thrilled to see them. We've heard them here at home with their oom oom oom sound and have seen them in silhouette, but I've never been able to photograph them before.

So enjoyed seeing your pictures Margaret. Thanks for sharing.

Here are some swans that are overwintering in my area.

They really seem to be enjoying themselves, Brenda!
Is that a lake or a river?

Nice, Brenda. I hope to see some later this season.

Around home, it's just the usuals, except we saw three Morning Doves yesterday. They are normally gone during the cold months. We got maybe 4 or more inches of snow the 24th and the temps stayed around 30 yesterday. A White day!

#1. It was warm enough at 33 degrees for this Harris's Sparrow to bathe.
#2. Oregon Junco... Birds chew with their mouths open too. :)

Cute pics and congrats on your White Christmas! I was hoping ours would be white, but all it did was rain. :o(

This is from last winter. This Dove was really comfy all puffed up and perched on top of one of our snow stakes.

This is my last year snow dove picture. This one is puffed up, too. Must be their nature.

The only white this christmas here was the Hawthorn flowers . . . totally crazy!

Resin

While all birds tend to puff up to keep warm, I've noticed Doves tend to enjoy "lounging" more often than most birds...in all seasons...but they don't puff up in warm weather.

Resin, beautiful blooms! I didn't realize your temps are so warm at this time of year.

It's very cold here today and the wind is really blowing. We have a touch of snow on the ground with light freezing rain and the possibility of more snow later on.

Too warm here also, today it is cold with a mixture of snow & ice. Tube feeder filled at a am & seed mainly gone by 3 pm. Mourning Doves & juncos cleaning up the ground.

We've had pretty warm weather, too. It turned cold a couple of days ago and it snowed yesterday. No white Christmas, but at least we should have a white New Year. Strange weather everywhere.

Lots of birds here. I wish more of the Juncos, Sparrows and Doves would go to the feeders. Some do, but not too many. Even though I put out food for the Squirrels, they still eat some of the seed I put on the ground for the birds. They don't bother the hanging feeders. My husband made big galvanized steel baffles years ago that work great and he replaces them with new ones every few years.

I've taken some pics recently that I haven't uploaded yet. Maybe I'll get a chance in the next few days.

Looking forward to your pictures.

Thanks Brenda, that's sweet of you!

These are some birds-in-the-snow pics.

My vacation in Southern California:
1 Brown Pelican trying to ignore the tourists
2 Willet at Sunset
3 Snowy Egret, Oceanside in background
4 Black-necked Stilt reflected in settling pond of water treatment plant
5 White-faced Ibis - no white faces in winter, but their brown feathers showed iridescent copper, bronze, green, gold

Pollengarden, beautiful pictures. I especially like the Stilt.

A Cooper's Hawk came to visit and it ended up "alerting" us to another hawk in need of help, a Red-tailed Hawk was on the ground in our back yard. When my husband picked him up, he didn't put up any kind of a fight and we quickly got him taken to a rehabilitator. Found out the Red-tailed was starving and the rehabber believes if we didn't find him when we did, he wouldn't have lasted very long. He is doing much better now. When it warms up, he will be put in the flight pen to exercise his wings before release.

Yes, another Harris's Sparrow. I think these little "guys" are incredibly cute.

So glad that you rescued the hawk.

Yes, interesting about the red tail.

This guys was on an old maple tree out in the back yard today. He blends in really well. I almost missed seeing him. Yellow-bellied sapsucker. . .

My daughter in central Washington state says that the Audubon Society has been around their house with cameras as a sapsucker has been around & it is unusual in their area.

Bushtits - Not a very showy bird, but I like them because busy behavior makes them entertaining to watch and a challenge to photograph.

Interesting bushtits.

Look who is feasting on a cardinal just out from my window. Geeeesh! The Cooper's Hawk sure made the red feathers fly. . . . . .

1. American Goldfinch. I am not sure I've ever seen a male with his black cap this time of year before. It looks odd with the black bill. I'd say we see about 20-25 goldfinches most days. Some winters, we have very few.
2. Kessie.
3. Canada Geese. We've been enjoying them in the neighboring field.

Sandhill Cranes are on the move!
They've been coming in waves. They're always too high to get decent pics and sometimes they're so high I can barely see them...but I can always hear them. Always a sound that says spring is on it's way. :o)

These are the best shots I was able to get.

great I saw a flock on the ground a couple years ago west of Madison WI.

That's really cool, iris! I've never even seen one on the ground.

& of course they are not here New England

One of these days I would love to go to Horicon Marsh in Wisconsin. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the Sandhills that fly over my house in early spring are headed there since they do frequent Horicon.

There are all kinds of waterfowl, songbirds and other wildlife there and they're known to have rare and endangered species as well.

In the 1950s DH did research on coot in Horicon. Full of birds then also. It would be worth the trip.

[quote="nutsaboutnature"]Sandhill Cranes are on the move!
They've been coming in waves. They're always too high to get decent pics and sometimes they're so high I can barely see them...but I can always hear them. Always a sound that says spring is on it's way. :o)

These are the best shots I was able to get.

I so enjoyed the pictures of the Sandhills! Thanks for sharing.

You're welcome, Brenda!
The fly-overs keep my hope alive that some day I'll get to see some close up.

I just came across this pic I thought was interesting. One of my Sandhill Crane shots actually had an airplane in the pic (upper left-hand corner).

edited to say: Oh well, I didn't realize my DG copyright printing would be right on top of the airplane.

This message was edited Mar 25, 2016 11:38 AM

had to enlarge to see the airplane. I don't think counts a bird ☺

And it looked so good without the copyright stuff on top. But you're probably right about it not counting as a bird. I thought maybe I discovered a new species. :o)

That was a nice catch NAN. :)

Took my first trip to the mountains this year. I saw some Turkeys.