Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Snow Day for me and the Birds

Here is the red bellied that comes to my yard on holidays and snow days. I have not seen her since the last snow storm and have been on the lookout for her ever since. She is here every time it snows and showed up on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. I have been worried about her and am glad she has survived the winter thus far.
This coopers hawk made a pit stop in my yard to see what was happening. I was lucky to get three photos of him before he flew off. Edited to add: Is this a sharp skinned hawk?
The song sparrow waking up this morning from its slumber to see what was for breakfast.



This Carolina wren has taken a deep liking to my bird bath and has spent much of the day here.


The tufted titmouse is wondering how come I have not filled up the coconut yet. I don't fill them when it's snowing because they just get covered in snow. I make sure my other feeders with shelter are plenty full though, but they always go back to the coconut. She is also wondering how I am going to get the dried bird poop off the branches and I can't think of any other method at this point than a chisel.

12 comments:

NCmountainwoman said...

Love that titmouse. All the other feeders...but he wants THAT one.

Deborah Godin said...

We don't have chickadees or titmice here yet; they're all around but just not in this local spot. Someday I hope they will expand.

Andy said...

Aah, the age old question...Sharp-shinned or Coopers?

From my experience:

If it is big..Coopers
If it is small...Sharpie

Also, from what I have read, most of these sightings turn up to be Coopers.

They are difficult to tell apart.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Great snow day for you to see the birds, Kallen... AND--I sent Petunia (my Red-bellied) up to see you today. Wasn't that nice of me???? ha ha

Hugs,
Betsy

Kim said...

NC, all of the birds are obsessed with this feeder besides the wood peckers. It is very odd.

Andy, I agree that it is really confusing. This hawk appeared smaller to me than the coopers and that is why I thought sharp skinned. The problem is that all birds appear smaller today because they are all wet! HA

Deborah, I will send some of them your way!

Betsy, thank you for telling Petunia to visit me. It made my day! ;o)

troutbirder said...

I CANNOT get a decent picture of this guy the T.T. He darts in and out so quick its impossible. Great shot!!!

Richard said...

Going out on a limb here since I'm not that great on raptor IDs. I think it is a juvenile Sharpie. Not a lot of ID features in the picture but based on two things...Sharpie's have a small rounded head with eyes centrally placed and a Cooper's has a crown darker then back. But this is probably a juvenile so don't know if the second thing counts. Since I never see them at the same time, I go by tail feathers....Sharpie has a square tail and Coopers rounded.

I'm probably wrong on the ID...lol.

Anonymous said...

What a busy day int the yard. I looked at the wren and thought, "Hey that looks like a Carolina Wren" and read the text. This was an old friend from Tennessee. I didn't realize they came this far north. We didn't have them in Vermont "back in the day."

Snowbabies said...

Love the Wren and the Coopers Hawk :-)

Seen the USA snow on the news here in the UK this morning, looks like we may be getting our share next week.

Paul.

Raymonty said...

I sure would like to know what they are thinking?

Larry said...

Looks like you're having a blast with that camera. I don't actually enjoy photographing birds but a blog would be much less interesting without photos.

Susan Gets Native said...

Help for your hawk ID:

Cooper vs. Sharpie isn't as hard as everyone thinks, if you get a good look at the bird in question.
Let me tell you what the differences are:
Sharpie: squared off tail, dark "hood", unbelievably thin legs. Small.
Coop: Rounded tail, dark "cap". Larger.

Now. This hawk in the picture is an immature bird. So the cap versus hood argument is moot. And it is the middle of winter, so everyone's feathers are ragged. The tail could look either rounded or squared off.
Size is a fairly good indicator, but it's not bullet-proof. A female Sharpie can be the same size as a male Coop. Generally, Sharpie's are jay-sized and Coop's are crow-sized.
So if you are not the anal-retentive type, you can just say, "Hey, that's an Accipiter".
My guess for your bird is a Coop, because of the thickness of the legs, and a Coop is the most likely candidate.

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