Daily Pictures Volume # 199

Dirt - been meaning to tell ya. I really enjoy reading your posts; you have great
sense of humor. Keep it up!

The best sure sign that spring is here is the annual visit by the Cedar Waxwings. I only see these birds at this time of year. I tried to get a few pics late yesterday. Those all ended up in the recycle bin. I was afraid they would be gone this morning but they are still here. The weather was beautiful this morning. No clouds even though we were expecting rain anytime. I spent the morning stalking Cedar Waxwings. I got a few good pics. Good thing too because it is raining now.

They come in a flock and always show up when the new oak leaves are half grown. They seem to be feeding on a type of scale or insect that infest some twigs on the oak trees.

Beautiful C.W.!!!

They perch and then search.

Nice ones Frank! Can't wait to see them here.

The bluebird was jealous of me spending so much time with the Cedar Waxwings and kept getting between me and them and showing out.

Even the Blue Jay was curious as to what I was doing.

Gorgeoussssss!!! It's I that turned blue with envy. lol

LOL Lilly! It was a fun morning getting pics of birds I only see a couple of days out of the whole year.

Lily, Resin in correct. The Crows chase every larger raptor including hawks, osprey and the eagles away from this area. And, they do this all year long. I've read that they're just protecting their nests, but think it's more like they're protecting their territory. I have photos of them ganging up and diving at all these raptors and it's amazing to witness.

Chis, your Waxwings are beautiful and I love the Bluebird photo. The Waxwings are here just a couple of months and devouring the berries on our trees and I know how hard they are to photograph. Great job.

Wonderful cedar waxwing pics, Frank. They are around here in the summer, but are most noticable when an unknown berry tree I have in my front yard (serviceberry?) has ripe berries on it. I mostly detect them by listening.

Thanks Resin and Duc for more info. on crows' antics. They're tough! LOL. I absolutely love those Cedar Waxwings. I learned that they love Mahonia berries, but tend to get drunk on certain ripe berries?

American coots still linger here while visiting/migrating over winter here:

Okay, okay let's zoom in a bit.

Pretty quiet around here today. High winds and a cold front coming through. Birds seem to be staying out of the wind.

OK, Lily. Let's zoom in on the coots. :) Speaking of coots, I noticed the male eagle up at Sooner Lake is having a banner day on them. He has 4 coots and 2 large-mouth bass laid out in a smorgesbord for Mama.

http://www.suttoncenter.org/eaglecam.html



This message was edited Apr 2, 2009 3:31 PM

Wow, that's webcam is awesome RDretiree!

Someone help me identify the animal on the right side of the nest. You can right click on the image and make it full screen. Its legs look too long to be a rabbit, almost looks like a cat. I like eagles even better if they eat cats.:)

This message was edited Apr 2, 2009 4:33 PM

Awesome pics from everybody!!

I'm on a mac, I don't know how to make the pic bigger. What are all those grey things around her?

I think those gray things are food.

The gray things are coots.

LOL, oh my.

Not a good pic but here is an American Goldfinch getting a lot more of his bright yellow.

As the number of Junco's are declining I notice a lot more House Finch coming in.

I think these are Common Merganser.

An American Crow

Female Pine Grosbeak

I thought you bird lovers might appreciate this ice sculpture from the Fairbanks Ice Festival.

This is called "Surfacing Kingfisher".....

Here is another one called "Invitation"

Beautiful ice sculptors "The Invitation" is my favorite poem..

very pretty

Burn, the shot of the crow is fabulous. It looks like a painting.

duc, the Oriole is a stunner.

This is a male Splendid Fairy-wren in non-breeding plumage. It was in bushland which is part of the wildlife park I visited a couple of days ago.

In the breeding season, the males are an intense, all-over blue.

The female Splendid Fairy-wren.

Nice pics burn!

Ava, I love those Ice Sculptures!

Margaret, Beautiful pics of the Fairy Wren!

What a splendid Splendid Fairy -wren!!!

Bad pic of the Red-shouldered Hawk....

This message was edited Apr 3, 2009 2:54 PM

Not many birds on my red hill the past few days. Have a few Lark Sparrows that feed with the doves.

I should have Scisssor-tails arriving soon. They always hang in the field behind the house. My dau says there are thousands in Dallas, so they are on their way.

Later.

Few birds, but nice morning light. I snapped a few of the doves. Maybe something will show up later.

Nice Lark Sparrow red!