Hummers are getting ready to go south!

Yesterday we were holding the feeder in our hand and they were still coming to it and sometimes several were swarming around our heads.

Today I've been photographing them through the kitchen window.  Seven on a feeder at the same time happens only just before migration when they don't attack one another.

Another shot through the kitchen window.

We learned a little bit about American Goldfinches today

We should have realized this sooner but we consider American Goldfinches to be migratory around here.  They look like the photograph just above, they show up in the fall and hang around until March or April.  So when we saw a bright yellow bird this morning we weren't sure what it was.  It was like the illustration at the top of the post - so it's an American Goldfinch!  The deal is that they have a summer plumage and a winter plumage!  They're also considered to be non-migratory but, around here, they are - at least the population we see decreases dramatically in the spring and summer. They are very striking in their summer plumage - and that's the answer to the question "Why do our goldfinches look different from the pictures in the books?". 

A couple signs of Spring!

The nest in the chapel now has a couple eggs

A sorta new resident on the road to the Nature Preserve!

Yesterday was a good day for bird pictures

Several male House Finches on one of the feeders.
The stick hanging out is for picture taking. In many of the shots
below, the bird is perched on this stick.

A couple female House Finches

A male House Finch - I like his quizzical look!

A female House Finch in a nice pose

I saw this one down by the Treehouse.  It's a new one for us and I believe
it's an Eastern Towee.  There are now 54 species on our property bird list.

Not sure what it is but I like the picture - taken by the Orange Trail East Bridge

Cardinals and Finches at one of the feeders

I just keep photographing Cardinals!

For some reason it's been hard to get a good picture of an American Goldfinch - but got a couple yesterday!

And got a better picture of the Brown-headed Cowbird.

And then came a huge flock of Red-winged Blackbirds!

Snow day!

We had about 5-1/2 inches of snow when we woke up this morning - an accumulation of four or five hours of tiny flakes,  It had stopped for a while but started again about half an hour ago - larger flakes now.  We've got 30-40 birds at a time in and around the feeder.  Several Brown-headed Cowbirds showed up today.  We haven't seen one of those in a long time.

The ruler has a quarter of an inch at the end before the scale starts

There are over twenty birds in this picture

Not a good picture - but this is the Brown-headed Cowbird

A few more bird pictures today

The Tufted Titmouse moves very fast so I consider myself lucky to have gotten two good ones today plus a couple that were good subject-wise but not so good on focus.

Birds at the feeder on a snow day

female House Finch

Chipping Sparrow

male House Finch

Song Sparrow ?

Black-capped Chickadee

male Northern Cardinal

American Goldfinch

Dark-eyed Junco

Tufted Titmouse

female Northern Cardinal

A couple days ago I stuck a small branch into one of the suet cages on the bird feeder so I could take pictures that look like they're in a natural setting rather than at a feeder. It's worked out very well! These were taken in two sessions of about fifteen minutes each - once when it was still snowing, the other, the next morning.

Duck blind

Still working on photographing the Wood Ducks. I've built this blind (near the BOD for those familiar with the area). I can walk up to this from the trail without the ducks seeing me. At first I was trying to photograph over it but that exposed too much and they'd fly away. So I reworked it with a hole to shoot through. I was able to observe them for 5-10 minutes once but did not have the camera with me. So far, not successful! Either no ducks there or they were in an area I can't photograph from here.

From the ducks side it looks like this. Very well concealed!

Supplement to my last post

Here's one of my pictures of one of the Wood Ducks in our pond. There were still some twigs, leaves, etc. that messed up the foreground but the dozen or so of these flew away after this shot. Now I guess I need to go back with a short tripod and a cover to keep me out of sight until I can get a good picture.

A new entry on the Wildernest Property Bird List

It's been awhile since we got to make a new entry on the Wildernest Property Bird List. There are 53 species on the list now and it's very infrequent that we see a bird that we haven't seen before. There have been some ducks on the pond recently but they always see us before we see them and they are gone in a flash. The times I do try to sneak up on them - either I fail or there's been nothing there. This morning I was finally successful and for a minute or two got to observe a small flock of about a dozen birds. At first I thought the males were Mallards (didn't have my glasses on) but then saw the distinctive way the head feathers sweep to the rear - Wood Ducks! Pretty exciting! Then Shadow came bounding up and they all flew away. I wish that was my picture above but it came from the internet. (Yesterday we saw the first Cedar Waxwings and Goldfinch of the season on the birdbath along with 6-8 beautiful Bluebirds - a pretty sight!)

Not my picture but . . .

wanted you to see what this is and we've only seen one of these three times and I've yet to even try to get a picture. This is a Pileated Woodpecker and they are really big birds compared to most of what you see flying around. We were having breakfast on the deck and heard a loud woodpecker thumping from the tree that has the swing on it. Eventually I saw him fly off to another tree. They are impressive! (Vicki has one living in a tree near their house.)

It's looking and feeling like Spring

. . . except for those darn winds! We've got a bunch of viola's in the flower garden that have been with us all winter - the yellow flowers in the picture - and they are happy now with the coldest weather behind us. Our favorite early spring shrub is the other yellow in the picture. It's a Lime Mound Spirea and later it will be a lime color but first it's yellow. I'm moving a few other things out of the greenhouse and into their assigned spaces. And we saw our first hummingbird yesterday. A male Ruby Throat stopped at the feeder for a few minutes. Non-gardening tasks are still centered on the chapel. It now has sheetrock and I'll finish the taping tomorrow. I spent several hours working in the greenhouse this morning and have decided that I'm too tired to do any more work this Sunday! One more thing - how do you like the new blog template?

Even bigger herd-a-birds

Today they filled up all of the space we can see from the deck - from the hammock all the way down to and including the meadow to the edge of the woods. Just the sound of them flying was loud enough to make you look for some other source - like an airplane maybe!

A LARGE herd-a-birds

These guys came flying in a bit ago and Glynda was seeing them out the front windows as I was seeing them out the back. A larger flock by far than anything I've seen here before! There were so many they made the ground (or the trees) look almost black. In the picture that has the three birds in it, each bird has an acorn in its' beak. (I lightened the pictures a bit to make the birds show up better.) Although they don't exactly match the pictures on the websites I checked I'm pretty sure they're Common Grackles.

Another "Favorite" picture

I just uploaded this picture that I took this morning. I thought it was special when I took it - and it is. It's got one of those things you can't plan for at all when you're shooting. The little bird landed on a tree right outside the window when I was taking some other shots. Look how the bird and the background are the same colors. And he's in a neat pose too. I like this one!

The woods have been full of birds recently

and also around the house. Many Robins and Northern Flickers, some Bluebirds and seasonal Cedar Waxwings and Juncos. I've also seen more woodpeckers than usual - several kinds - and many of our normal neighbors like Cardinals and Chickadees.

Ruby-throat Fall Migration

We've got a lot more hummers right now and I think it must be from the start of the fall migration. It's not unusual to see a dozen or more and they're emptying a feeder a day. I went out this morning and stood where Glynda is in this picture - actually a little closer - and after a few minutes the hummers just ignore you. I did this last year but it was an even more incredible experience this time! More of them closer at the same time and you feel the air from their little wings on your face and arms as another one goes eye-to-eye six inches in front of you. It's almost scary!