Daily Pics #7

Some Mourning Doves stopped by this morning while it was still quite chilly.

I used to have many of them, and all year long. Now there's just an occasional visit from a few. I don't know what happened to them, and it concerns me.

Tigerlily, I doubt he is really smiling, but I bet you were. You captured a fabulous picture. I'm envious, you have flowers for a background - I have ice and snow for a background.

Sorry gras. ;-( Bet you are looking forward to warmer days too.

I heard ducks at Elk Creek across the highway today, but I couldn't locate them through the brush over there. I did see a merganser a couple weeks ago, but of course the camera was in the house.

Hope your temps continue to climb. Cold gets old really quickly.

The last shot is especially wonderful. They are such adorable creatures. Everyone who are able to enjoy these in their yards are so lucky.

The wood ducks have been swimming around just too far for the camera. There were 11 males and 1 female. She must be some hot mama. Everytime she would swim, the guys would surround her looking like secret service wearing darth vader hats on their heads.
Watching the manerisms of the birds, esp in spring, is just as fun as seeing them. The blue jays are already finding "presents" for their mates to impress them, and I have seen a few feeding their mates.
Great show. That is why we all watch, right?

Tigerlily,
Amazing shots!!! The Hummers haven't returned here yet another week or so and we should start seeing them. Some interesting facts, here at least, is that in the past couple of years there have been sighting of the Rufus hummers here in NC. Some have managed to get pic's which were in our local paper with the story of how they are expanding eastward. Normally we only have the Rubythroated Hummers. I have not seen a Rufus but I'm waiting for the day!!!!

Gary

I am sooooo jealous of all of you lucky enough to have them grace your gardens! Such great photos of the little darlings!

Beckygardener I don't live far from you and I still have plenty of goldfinches in my yard. Taken just a few days ago.


Marilyn

This message was edited Mar 31, 2007 9:02 AM

Thanks, Marilyn! I saw 3 at my feeders briefly this morning. So you are right, they are still here. I just haven't seen the "group" of them that I usually do. I kind of figured that they had all started heading north. Glad to see some still around. :-) :-) They are such charming little birds!

I know they can sure eat a lot of seeds. By the way I live in Fellsmere.

Mr Cardinal on alert.

Wonderful hummers shots tigerlily! There has been a rufous hummingbird staying at someone's house in Bristol Tn. year round! I wento to a bluebird society meeting here in town and a talk was given by Fred Alsop who teaches ornithology at a local school and also wrote the Smithsonsian birds guide (of N. America). He went to observe the hummer at this woman's house. He told us while he was waiting for it to show up he saw more blue birds at a feeder than he had ever seen before. He asked her what she was feeding them and she said she cooks up a big pan of corn bread and adds a lot of extra oil to the recipe. Fred said the bbs were going crazy over it!

I have had a chickadee who has started visiting the meal worm feeder. It looks like it has been trying to figure out what the Carolina wrens are making such a big deal about. First it just came and looked around. Then it started tasting the oatmeal and spit that out. Then it picked up a worm and spit that out and left. Today for the first time it has come and taken a worm and them flown away with it. I wonder if it has babies somewhere?

I have also had one male redwing bb take up residence in the river birch in the front yard. Every evening he is out there calling out to all the girls, "Hey girls! Here I am - come and get me!" I sure hope someone finds him soon lol!

Great photos every one. Our goldfinch population is less now but they're still around. I'm still seeing tons of cardinals and my same old mocking bird now has a friend....maybe a girl friend, I can't tell, it looks like a slimmer version of him.

Lilyfan - I wish I could get someone to try my meal worms because I'm just dying to buy that feeder, but can't justify the cost if I won't have any visitors :-(

This message was edited Mar 31, 2007 3:54 PM

I'm loving all the bird shots! Graasmussen our pair of regular mallards turned up on the garden, they come every year for a while, there is a water drain along the front garden.

They disappeared but are usually around, saw them a little later from the upstairs window at the water's edge.

The male was preening himself, for a start we didn't see the female. I went back to look again, they are always together. There she was next to him with her head tucked in her wing!

Nice pics Susan! Do you store the worms in oatmeal? Mine are in something like that but I just pick them out to put in the dish. Do they last longer if you dump them out with oatmeal?

wallaby, nice Mallard pics!

Hi Pell - I have been buying small ice cream sized cups of them at Petsmart and I think that is what they are stored in. I just dump the whole cup with the oatmeal in the dish in the feeder. I figure the oatmeal is good for the worms that aren't picked right away. It gies them something to borrow in. The Carolina wrens seem to like to look for the worms by flinging the oatmeal around with their beaks. When I put new ones in I just dump the old oatmeal in the garden. Very nice looking cardinal by the way!

sadie mae, it took a while for my birds to take them here too. I put the mealworm feeder near the other feeders and that did seem to help. I bet they will be discovered soon though.

Adorable ducks wallaby!

It's becoming more common to hear of birds out of place in this country. A Rufous overwintered in NY, where it wasn't supposed to be at all. For those of you that like the hummers, there are several stories by Arnette Heidcamp of hummers that spent the winters in her heated greenhouses. They're pleasant reading.

I want to thank you all for your contributions to this thread. I find myself checking it several times a day for something new! ;-)

Today I spent awhile sitting with my hummer friend, and got a few unusual shots, I think.

This one looks like a Bradford Exchange collector item.

Thought this one was especially cute!

This almost doesn't look real.

A little stretch.

Sorry this isn't sharper. They move sooo fast!

Wow tiger those are great pics! Thanks so much for posting them; he is such a cutie!

Tiger: All great pics! We haven't seen a single hummingbird here yet. I have 2 feeders out, but no takers - at least not while I've been watching. ;>
Deb

Stunning photos!!!!!! Those are simply Amazing.

Tigerlily, those are absolutely fabulous pictures. I've never seen one. There have been rare sightings in the area but we are at the outer edge of the range.

This is a Common Goldeneye at the outlet to Kenai Lake, Alaska this afternoon.

Gary

OMG tigerlily!! Those are fantastic. I am inspired to do some patient sitting when the hummers get to my place (which according to the map is now lol)

Tigerlily, your shots are out of this world. I got this shot of my Hummer this morning.

Tigerlily - How adorable your hummers are !!!! Such great photos! You must have a very good zoom lense on your camera! Great timing for the shots! Thanks for sharing those with all of us!!!! Just makes those little birds that much more endearing to us!!!

Thank you for all the wonderful compliments. I'm so glad you enjoyed these! I can't wait to show them to mom.

I was surprised when going through the images, that some where he was moving about and stretching did turn out. I expected them to be little more than a blur, and figured I was wasting my time. Thank goodness for digital!

Went for a drive and came across this guy, not sure if he's posing or trying to be scary.

Here's another one with a friend.

My offerings for the day. First up, a Woodpecker enjoying an orange.

Second shot, a Mockingbird.

Final shot is a Blackbird.

Marilyn, Nice shots!

Gp, nice pic of the Grackle and WP.

In Anchorage there is an old saying: Spring doesn't began, until the Ravens have left town for summer in the Mountains. If the saying is true, it sure will be a long cold summer. Because, with 18" of snow still on the ground, this pair of Ravens has been building a nest in the Chester Creek Green Belt park lands in down town. It is behind the community garden plots on C Street at 19Th. Street. The nest is about a 1000 feet down the hill and across the street, but in full view of my living room window. In the last few days they have created a bush pile about 3 feet across it the tree top.

Urban Ravens . . . very nice!

You'll have to name them Hugin and Munin. Can you understand what they're saying? ;-)

There's a few pairs of urban Ravens in Britain too, most famously a pair nesting on Chester Cathedral for the last 10 years.

Resin

Robin