It was a good bird watching day

Hello everyone!

I'm pretty new to this forum, but I'm probably going to be a regular on here, lol. I've gone from just casually looking at the birds in our backyard to madly trying to snap photos of them. I missed the goldfinches, so I made dad buy some thistle and put the feeders up, again. That brought the little guys back quickly. Then, our neighbor got a HUGE birdfeeder. Seriously, this thing is immense - we filled it up for her and it took about 10 lbs of seed, lol. (And it's empty in 2 days!) So, needless to say, since the "superfeeder" arrived, we've been seeing many more birds than we did before. The usual gang consists of finches, sparrows, grackles, mourning doves, squirrels, and chipmunks. But yesterday was like "colorful bird day," lol. Which really makes me wish I had a better camera!

Started out with seeing a cardinal in the tree. Now, cardinals are common, but I'd been wanting to get a photo of one and finally did! Ü They had been hiding from me. Then the teenage blue jay came to the feeder again. I snapped a few okay pix of him when he flew onto our tall, skinny tree. They're not great, but better than my previous attempts. So, we have red and blue. Then, I spotted a Baltimore Oriole on another tall tree. Those pix didn't come out, but it's only the second time I've ever seen an oriole and they're gorgeous! Okay, so red, blue, and orange. Then, I noticed a Woodpecker (either a Hairy or a Downy) on the same tree with the Blue Jay. The funny thing was, though, that the Blue Jay just could not figure out what the heck the woodpecker was doing, LOL! He was pretty close to the woodpecker, with his head turned and his beak open like, "Whaaaaa?" LOL! He yelled at him to stop it and the woodpecker did, for a bit. So, now I saw red, blue, orange, and black & white.

Then, later in the day, I happened to glance out the window and saw what I thought was a big, white mourning dove on the garage roof. I thought it was an albino, but I got the binos and it had black on the back of it's neck. Looked it up and it's a white pigeon (rock dove). So, all and all, I'd say this was probably the most colorful birds I've seen in one day. I'll post my pix now, but they're not that great. I so wish I could've gotten a shot of the two orioles, when they perched on the wire right in front of our window, the other day. But we were too much in awe to go running for the camera! Oh yeah, and a few days before that, my dad and I saw a turkey vulture soaring over the house for the first time! It's a bird extravaganza, lol!

Here's my pix. (I'm saving up for a new camera as we speak, lol.)

Here's Mr. Elusive-Cardinal on the big feeder.

And here's the Blue Jay and (I think) the Hairy Woodpecker.

The Blue Jay trying to figure out what the heck the woodpecker is doing, while a grackle watches on, lol.

And the white pigeon (with a regular mourning dove in the background.)

Edited to say - hmmmmm, this one won't take. Lemme try it again.

This message was edited Jun 29, 2007 5:04 AM

Okay, white pigeon, take two.

~Kristy

Nice pics Iris!! Glad you'll be hanging out w/ us.Thanks for posting these!

You're welcome, pelletory. And thanks for the welcome. I have photo envy when I see some of the pix on here! Maybe I'll get better with practice. I'm only used to taking pix of flowers - it's MUCH harder with a moving target! (And a cheap camera, lol.)

~Kris

Kris, great to meet you and see your photos - looking forward to more.

Iris, congrats on getting 3 different kinds of birds in one shot. Now THAT's amazing. and I loved the tale about the ten pounds of seed in one feeder.

With that kind of bird numbers, it's no wonder you also have a turkey vulture in the wind.

Hi everybody, thanks for the welcome and kind words!

Resin - a Collared Dove, huh? Well, it did have a black crescent on the back of its neck. I'll have to look it up now! Thanks for the ID! Surprised you could tell from the pix! ;D

Well, I do have some more pix, but I have to resize them (and tinker with them, to make them look a little better) before I put them up. Guess I'll go do that! :D

~Kris

Okay, I resized a few of my nicer ones. Here's another pic of Mr. Cardinal. (And I hear him outside now.) ;)

A stupid Mourning Dove, lol.

I think this is a "teenage" Grackle. If not, then it's a "teenage" Brewer's Blackbird. Cause they follow the adults around begging for food. He was eating something out of the flowers near my windowsill.

Purple Finch, I believe. Little hard to tell from the pic.

Male and female Goldfinches. (They wait their turn on the plant hangers, lol.) Ü

And I think this guy is a House Sparrow, AKA English Sparrow (Passer domesticus). We have a bunch of them.

~Kris

Yep, last one is a House Sparrow.

Tough call on the finch, it needs a better pic to be sure!

Resin

Another busy day in your yard. a nice treat to go with my lunch.

Yea, I was right about the House Sparrow! Only sparrow I've identified, so far. Still trying to figure out all the "little brown birds," lol. I thought they were all sparrows, but when looking in my book, I noticed a lot of the finch females look similar to sparrows... so that just makes things even more complicated, lol.

~Kris

Hehe, thanks Blooms! Once the "superfeeder" is completely empty, though, we'll have a lot less activity, heh.

~Kris

Nice Pics Iris .
It's always nice to see what every one else gets in their garden .

Thanks Ginger. I like seeing the Australian wildlife, too! :D

~Kris

Great pics Iris! And I thought I was the only one that says "stupid mourning dove" :)

LOL! Thanks Grandmaggie. No, I always say that, lol. I have no use for them, hehe. And they're always so afraid, like if you get within 30 ft of them, they think you're going to kill them, lol.

~Kris

Stupid mourning dove. I thought that was their scientific name>?!>!>

ROTFL!

~Kris

I do love watching them walk, though. It's like they forget they can FLY and instead WALK the distance of my backyard.

Exactly right heyitsmejudy! They would rather walk all the way across the yard instead of flying..... henceforth the nickname of "stupid mourning dove" ! :)

Not so stupid . . . walking saves energy!

Resin

Based on the amount of seed they eat on a daily basis, they should have some energy stored up! Maybe they're too fat to fly!