Daily pictures, Volumn 80

Sorry tiger , You'll have to exclude some of us next time. :-)

Great pics everyone!

Nanny I had a lot of "tree huggers" yesterday due to the rain I believe!

Sunday when we got back from our great camping trip, we discovered we finally had an owl in our owl house! I had been wondering if we'd get one.

He was there, looking out of his house from 9am when I first saw him off and on all day while I was gardening out there. At three different times, I saw titmice, chickadees and another little bird I didn't know mobbing the house. One brave little titmouse even sat in the opening and fussed into the house. Unfortunately, I haven't seen him since that day. Do you think I ran him off taking pictures, and/or the birds ran him off, or do they come and go for a while before settling on a nest site?

The second question is will an owl run off the songbirds? I know they occasionally prey on them, but I didn't think they'd stay away from feeders in the daytime. The reason I ask is the first thing I noticed when we got home was that not as much food was eaten from the feeders as I expected, then we saw the owl, then the mobbing and I wondered if it was related.

This is not a great pic. I have better ones on my other camera, but I haven't taken them off the camera yet. I assume this is an Eastern Screech, but I haven't sat down to confirm the ID.

Oh! How cool to have an owl!

It sure might be related. The Western Screech Owl sometimes hunts during daylight, perhaps to feed young. One flew into my neighbors window one very bright day last spring.

When my songbirds all disappear, I figure there's a raptor somewhere nearby.

How neat is that to have an owl house! I took a lot of pics so far, but just wanted to upload a couple now. This is a long shot of the first Swallow-tailed Kite this year.

Just had a Hummingbird visitor.

White Ibis flyover out of focus :(

This message was edited Mar 19, 2008 12:52 PM

My first hummer of the year stopped by today.

Resin --Thanks for the duck ID. I had a feeling they might be domestic/farmyard escapees, since I couldn't find anything that looked like them.

Great pictures everyone! I am soooooo envious of everyone who has cardinals and bluejays. I sure wish I had a few of them here. At least, this little pyrrhuloxia is becoming a regular visitor at my feeder. It is very shy; so the only way I can get a picture of it through my diningroom window.

Jane

Aww he's so cute!!

I'll send you a Cardinal and Blue Jay if you send me 1 Roadrunner (beepbeep). :-)


Great pics everyone!

This message was edited Mar 19, 2008 3:57 PM

Nice pics all, I like the Bald Eagle shot tiger.

What a surprise to have the owl Peeper, at least you got shots of it.

Jane, great duck pics even if they are escapees, still sweet. I like the ruffled feathers!

Not much today, the sun shone but the birds were scarce. A male Chaffinch was high in the oaks singing, the first time I've heard one sing, quite a musical song.

I'm still on a quest to get a good photo of a hummer. This one was sleeping in half my pictures. Why on earth would she be sleeping or just perching in the middle of the day? It's windy and cold -- is she hybernating? It's supposed to be in the low 70s, but it sure doesn't feel like it. I'm starting to think that maybe this is a buff-bellied; no my book says that they have green throats. It's so hard to identify the females!

Great pics everyone!

Thanks for sharing!

Marilyn

Here's her pretty back.

She's beautiful Elphaba!!! Very nice shots!!

Thanks for posting them!

BTW, Tigerlily, if I ever have a photo of a bad eagle that is even half that good, I'm going to post it about 50 times!

Peeperkeeper, I would just die if I had an owl in a house like that! I've been meaning to hang an owl house for about three years - next winter for sure! Congrats on your new resident!

Boy all these hummer shots are making me antsy!!

Couple shots of American Goldfinch from earlier this week. Fianlly stopped raining around 4 this afternoon!

and...

We are finally getting a number of male Red Wings. I guess they start about the beginning of spring.

The weather here is too miserable for pictures. But I am enjoying all of your wonderful postings.

Hummers, how neat. Congrats. PeeperKeeper on having a resident owl!

Nice pics nanny! I can't wait to see more American Goldfinch around.

trois, thats one handsome male!

I got so many Bunting shots today I am going to start a separate thread for them, but here are a few other birds. Red-Bellied Woodpecker.

The Catbird is becoming more photogenic.

Catbird posing again.

Grackle.

Red-Bellied Woodpecker.

Swallow above.

Long distance Hawk. A pair were flying overhead, but could not get a decent shot. OK, just noticed this is the swallow again. I'll post the Hawk further on. Sorry. Too bad there isn't a way to edit pics.

This message was edited Mar 19, 2008 8:28 PM

Mockingbird.

Just caught a flock of Cedar Waxwings flying by.

Here's the Hawk.

Looks like the Goldfinch are putting on their breeding colors

=====

While the Juncos

and the Steller's Jays stay the same

Love your pics everyone. There's a lot of signs of Spring here, Hummers, golfinches, nesting Owl and green, envy here.


Some American Crows.

Tigerlily, great Eagle shot for the start of the thread. Thanks
Your bald Eagles looks so well groom compare to this fella, Resin told me he was a teen, must be why. :)

Bald Eagle.

Very nice pics everyone!

GP, Love the Gray Catbird and wow thats alot of Cedar Waxwings!

adel, I love that pic of the Stellers Jay.

burn, I love the teenage Bald Eagle!