DAILY PICS vol. 12

We don't have feeders, so they come to our trees/plants close to the house - but mostly the fountain. They are so cute waiting in line and "chatting." We have another water feature in front of the house so I can watch from the kitchen. We have lots of CA natives planted and they love the berries.

I love your finches indiana lily! They are so clean and bright looking. Great job!

Thanks much lilyfan. The finches here love the birdbath my neighbor has, and they hang out with the "big" birds. :)
Just took these pictures out my window. Didn't realize woodpeckers were ground feeders as well....

and another one.... I love his markings

one more...

Oh indiana lucky you with a Flicker!!!

Lilyfan!
You have outdone yourself! The Swallows are so sweet! You really captured the moment!
IndianaLily~ Very nice Woodpecker and Goldfinch pics!

I went out in the rain to take something to my SIL, and when I pulled away from her house I spotted a familiar face.. From the street a concrete drain runs through to the back of the houses. There by the creek stood a Yellow Crested Night Heron.. about 2 1/2' tall. Striking bird with a handsome black mask and bright red-orange eyes. The "yellow crest" on the head is a small golden feather plume, which was not so visible from 30 yards away. I was still able to snap a shot of him perusing the creek for crustaceans.

Having photographed these birds before, I saw that he was about to take flight and snaped another pic.. This time I caught an image of the wings beginning to span for lift-off..
What a lovely creature!! My daughter with me was so pleased, she had only seen them in my pics until today!

:-Deb

Oh, he's awesome, Deb!! Great shots!

Very nice deb!!! They are such a handsome bird.

Thanks pell and lily :-)

Hi Resin! That is great info on Flickers.. how many people kill ants in their yard, then wonder where all the interresting birds are? humm
Talking to my neighbor, he was surprised that we don't have fire ants.. We have several different kinds of ants, and I don't use anything on them... I guess a lot of ppl do not realize how benificial ants can be.


Deb

Resin,
I did just read that a little bit ago, and I never knew that. :) That's a great thing because I have tons of ant hills all over my yard. Mr. Flicker should be very happy here, indeed. And, now I know what he sounds like, too!! I listened to a recording and am very glad to know what that sound was, because for a few minutes, I would feel as though I was in a jungle when I heard the Flicker's song.

While I was sitting out back briefly after I got home from work today I did see the Great Crested Flycatcher land on the power line, then swoop down and land on the Firebush...and when he took off was clearly holding some kind of insect in his beak. This time of year there are not that many birds to see, typically woodpeckers and jays, cardinals, doves.....during the winter is when we get such a wonderful variety of birds here. This time of year it is way too hot to spend much time out birdwatching.

I hear ya Gardenpom. It seemed hot here too (high 80's) but I'm sure it is hotter in Fla. I will look forward to seeing your great variety again when we lose ours.

Love your flicker pics indiana! I don't see them very often here but they were around all the time when I was growing up on Long Island. We had a row of pine trees taken out by the electric company here in Tn a while back. About 3 years after the trees were gone a pileated came by and spent time at each stump slurping up bugs. It was like watching a dinosaur hoping around the yard!

I love your heron debnes. I need to spend some time down at our river in town. I tend to take just yard pics. I really enjoy seeing your water birds.

Today I noticed the brown thrasher eating from one of the feeders. I thought that was unusual as he is always scouting the ground and leaf litter for goodies.

I have been lurking and enjoying all the wonderful photos. Those Cedar waxwings were just awesome!! I have never seen a better photo!
The Cardinal is simply stunning and the narration for the teal colored birds was wonderful!
Too many photos for me to comment on them all!!
I haven't been paying much attention to the birds, been to busy with the yard work and gardens. Last night while watering my plants I heard someone singing to me from the apple tree. This is who I was blessed to be seranaded by.

Aww Pixie!!
Definatly blessed! What a beautiful Baltimore Oriole! What a lovely picture of him there in the Apple Tree!

:-D

Oh, he's gorgeous, Pixie!! I've not seen one here. Lily, that is odd with the brown thrasher in the feeder. I've never seen mine do that. Mourning doves, yes, thrashers, no. I've never really appreciated the birds until last year, and this year has been great because I did get to see a Rose Crested Grosbeak, and others that I normally don't get to see. I guess seeing these birds makes you appreciate nature that much more.

Thats great pixie!! Congratulations!

beautiful Pixie! I have never seen one of those at my house.

We have a male city friend visiting this weekend. Yesterday the weather was so nice and spent a few hours on the deck. The friend was delighted at the show. He saw so many different birds he has never seen including rose breasted grosebeak, baltimore oriole, woodpeckers. A large group of swans did a flyover, as well as geese and ducks, a blue heron put on a fishing show and then a large eagle flew and sat in a tree hunting.
We could not have been more pleased at the action yesterday, was like we cued it up for him.
The favorite for me, was the return (finally) of the hummingbird. That buzzed DH's red shirt, before finding the feeder.
What a great day. (they are of course not all like that)
Aren't we all lucky, to see and admire such creatures!

I used to see a Brown Thrasher all the time when I lived closer to the beach....since moving here I have not seen any. I love their pretty brown coloring, and used to enjoy seeing them throwing mulch and leaves looking for insects.

I've been away from my computer for a couple days, involved in a plant sale at my friend's house - what a delight to sit down and find all these incredible photos waiting for me! I am truly in awe. Hope to have something to post again one of these days!

cardinal eating pretzel crumbs.

mmmm that makes me hungry lol!

I have been taking care of my neighbor's annuals that they planted just before leaving for the Florida Keys. We are having a drought right now so I have to go over there more often than normal - and GUESS WHAT?!... this is where the swallow house is. (grin grin) I woke up very early this morning and decided to go water at about 7:00am. The light was just perfect (better than evening) and I took a few more pictures. I also did some looking on the internet and the brownish bird is a first year breeding female. Next year she will have the same colors as the male. This web site had a lot of good information and now I think I have figured out what is going on. She has been busy inside the box nest building and egg laying. His job apparently is to sit on the top of the box and protect her. So this morning I go to take more photos and he is in his lookout spot on top of the box...



This message was edited May 27, 2007 5:23 PM

I tip toe over to the entry to see if I can hear any babies cheeping or making noise. (I don't think there are babies yet because the parents haven't been making lots of trips with insects yet) Anyway, Martha Stewart swallow pops her head out and glares at me.

So she flies out of the box and starts swooping over my head while hubby stays on the box and PREENS HIS FEATHERS lol. He seems totally unconcerned with my presence and acts like he's combing his hair for the camera.

Well she really gets mad at lands next to him on top of the box and yells at him. It was like watching a little sitcom.

Great pics Susan!! I love the way they open their mouths so wide to talk or yell.

How close were you able to get to them?

This message was edited May 27, 2007 6:21 PM

amazingly close - I'm guessing maybe 6 feet away. The male couldn't have cared less. It was almost as if he was thinking, "Oh good - it is SO boring up here with nothing going on... here comes the camera lady"

Ducks are the CRAZIEST peoples!!!!

If you were a duck, why would you want to hang out in a front yard when there is a river down a few blocks away? This lovely couple has been in the neighbor's yard for a couple days.

2 Bald Eagles having a 'conversation' at the Jacksonville Zoo. The eagles have injuries that prevent them from being rehabilitated and released.

Mrs Ed, Nice pics of the Mallards; they are so pretty!

bsharf, very nice pics of the eagles! Thats ashame they were so injured that they couldn't have been able to be rehabilitated. You can really see how bad the injury was to the eagle on the right but at least they have each other.

Yeah pelle that's so sweet the eagles have each other to keep company..

Ed I love the mallard couple, I should go down to check on the ones at Bear Creek soon...

Lilyfan~~ Those swallows are so animated.. they really come through the camera!! Reminds me of seeing a baby mockingbird stand his ground at the feeder the other day.. Really bold! Usually the Mocks scare each other away, the first aggressor wins most times... and gets control of the feeder for minute. This little Mocker just kept bering his open beak at an adult who wasn't about to feed him. Robin babies are learning to fend for themselves pretty well too. I'm so proud of them for not taking any bullying off of the other ones!!

Susan, your pictures are awesome!! "Martha Stewart swallow," LOL!! The swallows are great! And your commentary is great as well. You definitely have a knack. :)

That is so sad about the Eagles, bsharf. But, I understand they are making a comeback, so that's a great thing.

Sandhill Crane

immature Whooping Crane

Great Egret

immature flamingo. By the way, I learned that flamingos need beta-carotine to have orange feathers. Captive flamingos are fed carrots in their bird chow.

Very nice pics b!!