DAILY PICS vol. 12

here is a goldfinch looking nice and fresh in his summer plumage.

Beautiful goldfinch, lilyfantn! :)

I love the goldfinches lilyfan! Yet I don't get many of them here...only an occasional fly through.

Here is one of 2 baby Robins that have been left here to fend for themselves now. Mom and Dad come by to eat, the babies flap their wings at them, and they fly away. Probably working on the next brood already. Since the whole cherries are so hard to gulp down, I put them in a processor with fresh grapes for a few chops.. then top it in a cup with some nice fresh mealies. They come every morning for this, and take turns with Mocks and each other.

Here papa Cardinal is lerking through my sunflowers for caterpillars... Since my yard is full of larval hosts, I see this a lot.. and save the caterpillars that I can. We still end up releasing quite a few butterflies and everyone is happy....

Here's one more of him as he moved along to the fence to look back...


:-Deb

Great pictures to start the day!

Thank you Grandmaggie!

Debnes, I'm clapping here for you for taking such good care of those adorable young robins! I'll be watching for more pictures. :-) Great cardinal pictures too - I have such a hard time getting good pictures of the males. Yours are spot on!

While out gardening this morning I decided to toddle over to my neighbors to see if I could get anymore shots of the nesting tree swallows. On my way I heard a familiar squeeky wheel cound comming from my serviceberry shrub (which doesn't have berries yet) When I turned to look there were a few waxwings in it! I plopped my camera down and got all set while the waxwings nicely waited and posed for me. I took lots of pictures but only had time now to crop and size one. I'll post a few more later.

Lily, you couldn't possibly have taken a better photo - wow!!!!!! My DH told me about a bird he saw the other day and I finally had him go through the bird book - I was pretty sure from his description that it was a CW, but I hadn't seen any around here so wanted him to i.d. it. Sure enough - the person who rarely watches the bird activity got to see one!!!

My service berry bush was stripped of its fruit in about five days by Cedar Waxwings. The odd thing about it is that a Bluejay stood guard and dive bombed any person or animal that neared the bush. I tried standing in the bedroom window (open), but I had to leave because of was afraid the Bluejay would tear up my screen. He obviously knew I was there.

Well thanks lilyfan! And your right murmur, what a great shot that is of CWWs!!! Looks like ya caught them in the middle of a conversation, surely taking bets on when the fruit will come on that tree..lol!

:-D

Beautiful cardinals and the waxwings are so great looking also with their masks on! :)

LIly, Thats a tremendous shot of waxwings!

deb, nice pics of the robins and cardinal!

Lily, WOWEEE! Beautiful picture of the waxwings. I don't recall, have you shared what camera/lens you are using?

I had CWs come through about 5 years back for about a week. They were enjoying the berries on the privet off our deck. I felt very lucky to have seen them. Never saw them there again, and now we've moved. :(

All the shots so far are wonderful, but I agree, the Ceadar Waxwing shot is outstanding!

Yay, I'm back - dinner and dishes are done and spread a few more bags of mulch. I've been looking forward to working on more of the Cedar Waxwing pics. Thanks everyone for the nice comments! It was one of those situations where you happen to be in the right place at the right time AND with your camera on its tripod slung over your shoulder lol. How often does THAT happen?!

Hi kyjoy - that sounds pretty intense! When my serviceberry blooms it gets eaten up pretty quick too. My robins usually get in on the action. Its funny to see the bush quiver all by itself from a distance. Last year I cut it way back and it didn't have much of a fruit season. This year the frost did some damage to it so I don't know how the fruit will be this year either. It hasn't even flowered yet but has lots of beautiful leaves. I'm hoping...

Hi Mrs. Ed. I use a Nikon D70 and a 55 - 200 mm lens on that one. I also have an 18 - 70 mm lens for window sill pics. I do still hae lots to learn - this camera makes everything so easy! :-)

When I first saw the waxwings while marching over to my neighbor's house I stopped dead in my tracks. At first I just saw one pair.

I clicked madly away while hyperventilating (attracting the attention of the waxwings - I was glad they didn't fly away)

Then I noticed there were actually THREE of them (be still my heart)

which makes sense as they seem to travel in groups all the time!

Outstanding Susan!!

And then after the waxwings flew off I continued on to my neighbor's house to see what the tree swallows were up to. I saw that "somebody" was poking its head out of the house.

Thanks Pell, its been an amazing birding day! I'm still floating on air lol.

So the male flies out and this other bird joins it on top of the box. At first I thought it was a young bird but then I changed my mind because it could fly so well and would go in and out of the box. So then I wondered if it was a female but the birds I originally saw checking out the box were both bright teal blue. But anyway... they sat on the top of the box and started talking to each other...

actually this looked more like a heated domestic arguement

oops - posted the same pic twice. I meant to post this one.

at first I wondered if this was begging behavior but the browner one didn't flutter its wings and the bright one "spoke" right back instead of feeding it.

edited to say ACCKK I did it again! sorry!!



This message was edited May 25, 2007 9:56 PM

they finally settled down and got quiet.

They even watched while I moved the tripod around for a different angle.

then they started "talking" again.

after eyeballing me one more time the browner one took off.

the bluer one (male?) stayed on the house a bit longer.

the browner one (female?) came back and clung to the entry while the bluer one took off.

then she (so I'm thinking) moved to the top of the house again. You can see the colors better in this picture. I left at that point. I'm thinking this must be male and female. I'll check back in a week or so to see if there are any new developements.

Oh my goodness Lilyfan--what beautiful pictures! Time for me to get a new camera and look into the Nikon you have. Can you give me any suggestions for what I can do to attract cedar waxwings? I've had quite an assortment visiting my feeders and our yard in general but I've yet to see a cedar waxwing.

What a wonderful series of pictures!

Great pics Susan! I'll bet you are floating on air; I would be too! Thanks for posting all of them!

My GOOOOOOOODNESS!!! My mouth hung open as I opened up each photo. I've never seen such awesome photos! I was right there beside you! :-)

What a wonderful time you had!!! Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us.

Janet

Funny how with so many bird species, you can tell male and female apart.....but not with the Cedar Waxwings! They are such beautiful birds....always a thrill to see them.

This message was edited May 26, 2007 6:34 PM

Good morning guys! Niere, I think I am lucky in the way my house is situated. I live on the top of a ridge line which I have found out is good for bird watching as birds tend to migrate along ridge lines. I am also a hop skip and a jump away from farmland with wide open spaces and a creek. But the biggest attraction here for the waxwings is lots of fruiting trees and shrubs. When we moved here there was a mountain ash that drew flocks every year while fruiting. It is now overgrown and doesn't seem to get fruit anymore. My nextdoor neighbors all have crab apples and cherry trees that attract them too. I have planted lots of stuff in the last 10 years that gets fruit. I have pictures of them in this link:

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/682674/

I wish you guys could all be here with me while galavanting around in the yards like a crazy lady lol. I also wish you all a great biding weekend!

Gardenpom... I have been missing seeing all of the beautiful exotic birds you get. I'm sure its getting hot in Fla. now though.

Pell, I hope your marauding hordes of blackbirds moves on soon. I have been loving your bath thime pictures though! Mine for some reason aren't using the bath pans much. Maybe I'll raise one like yours is. :-)

Thanks again Janaet and kperc, its time to go outside and spread more mulch and see what today brings!

This message was edited May 26, 2007 8:46 AM

Wow, Lilyfan!!! Those are the most incredibly clear, gorgeous pictures I've seen!! I just bought a new camera yesterday, but now I'm wondering if I bought the wrong one.... here are my finches this morning...

I don't know, that's a pretty clear picture, too! Love those finches.

Thanks, kaperc. Aren't the finches fun? I love to hear them chirp and argue over the feeders. :)