Monday, April 6, 2009

This and That-April 6th

No adventures for me today. There was too much to get done at work and the weather was lousy.

I have a bunch of photos sitting in my web album that I have been meaning to post, but have been too busy. The first picture you see is of the female Mockingbird that has been in my yard the past couple of days. Her mate has made my backyard his home for well over a month now so she comes over here often to search for him. Her partner sits on top of the bird feeders and searches for birds that are invading his territory. He goes after all of them and while it is funny to watch, I feel bad for the ones who come to my feeders to eat, to only get chased away!

Here is a picture of a very wet goldfinch eating very wet bird seed that I had just put out. The rain is making feeding a bummer because everything gets so wet. I am going to stop feeding in the next couple of weeks and am kind of looking forward to it. I want to give the station a really good cleaning and get the area prepared for the hummingbirds that I will feed. I will keep fresh water available for the birds but that will be all until October.

A picture of an American Tree Sparrow I took three weeks ago. Such adorable birds that I will miss when they head up north for breeding.

A Red Tailed Hawk taken at the cemetery in Grafton this weekend. If you enlarge the photo you will see a twig in its talons for nesting.

The Great Blue Heron leaves her nest in search for lunch in the wetlands directly below her dwelling.

Black Capped Chickadees were plentiful there too. This one was taking materials from the Cattails and I am assuming its for the nest??


Last but not least is a blurry photo of a Hooded Merganser taken at the cemetery yesterday. One of my new birding friends said to keep an eye out for them as most will be leaving the area soon for breeding. I guess this one is taking its time though. I did not see a female with it.

Finally, I decided to save the best for last. Allow me to introduce you to a 12 year old boy who loves to bird. In fact, he loves it so much, he has started his own blog to share with us all. You can read all about his adventures and his bird quizzes at Bird Lovers 101. I love meeting birders at all ages, but there is something special about being introduced to a young birder. I started birding only recently and I wish I had discovered it at an earlier age as there is so much to see and learn about. The author of this blog has an enthusiasm for birding and learning and reminds me of the stories I have read on Roger Tory Peterson. To be young again!!! Anyway, do visit his blog and introduce yourself!


Cheers all!

24 comments:

Shelley said...

Your goldfinch still looked handsome even though he was drenched! Cute shot! Envious of your merganser spotting!

Deborah Godin said...

I just love those little Hoodies! There's have been several flotillas of mergansers going by on the lake - yesterday it was the red-breasted guys, and today a groups of about 8 Hooded pairs. Neat shot of the heron!!

Anonymous said...

I love all your photos tonight. Your blog header is looking great too. We've had rain and strong wind all day. I've missed the normal bird sightings out my window and the bird sounds today. Hope you enjoy the rest of the week.

Allison said...

Great pic of the Goldfinch, I have only seen one at my feeder twice, but the second time the plumage was so much more vibrant!

Ginnymo said...

Love your photos. Good shot of the hawk!! I have a lot of those Black-Capped Chickadees. They are so cute. Don't see many Gold Finches though. And never a Mockingbird. That is sad that they keep the others away from the feeders. Thanks for the comment on my squirrel...

Amy said...

That sparrow is a cutie. I'm going to miss the juncos when they move on, too. Why are going to stop feeding your backyard birds soon?

Kim said...

Amy, I stop feeding in the summer because the House Sparrows seem to take over my yard in my summer. I get so many of them that they draw all of the wondering cats into my yard and I have to chase them away.

I also seem to get less birds and more squirrels coming to feed and dump all of my bird seed on the ground (1 week last summer the house sparrows and squirrles dumped 5lbs on my lawn). Grrrr. It was so frustrating that I decided to feed the birds only when they need it most which is mid fall to mid spring.

Forty Two East said...

Beautiful birds!! We have some blue birds that are building a nest in a birdhouse.....it's fun watching them go in and out.

Ruth said...

Your pictures just keep getting better and better. Hope the sun shines for you again soon.

ShySongbird said...

Hi Kallen,
Lovely photos, particularly liked the Mockingbird and the Goldfinch. We have been advised in the UK to feed all year round and last nesting season they nearly ate me out of house and home!
Hope your weather improves soon, ours is set to go down hill this week.

Mary said...

You got some great shots! Love the mockingbird's expression and the cute chickadee. I had a merganser come by today, too! Our weather is awful right now.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Even though they were wet, those little birdies are so cute. We had snow all day long (flurries)--and the birds came to the feeders all day--like they usually do when the weather is bad.

Our male Goldfinches are really turning bright yellow now... Love 'em!!!!!

Stay dry--and have a good evening.
Hugs,
Betsy

Kelly said...

A very nice stockpile of photos!! I really like the Great Blue leaving the nest...cool photo.

Amy said...

Ah, okay. I've heard about those persistent House Sparrows! I don't know if they will be a 'problem' here so I'll just keep on feeding and wait & see! I know in the past it was thought to not feed birds over the summer so that's why I was wondering.

Rick (Ratty) said...

Seeing all of these different birds makes it tempting for me to concentrate more on birds myself. I guess I'm glad my camera isn't good enough to get consistently good shots, I could get even more obsessed with this otherwise.

Anonymous said...

Great photos, they keep getting better. Birdwatching in spring is so much fun. All the nesting and courtship behavior, truly amazing.

Jayne said...

What great photos you had waiting to be posted! :c) I know what you mean about seed getting wet just after putting it out. Grrrr. Love your Red-tail!

Anonymous said...

Nice photography. I was interested in the feeder from a coconut? Also went to the young boy's blog.

Chris said...

Hi.
I found the flight of the red tailed hawk fantastic. Nice to see that you also saw quite a lot of species anyway. Thse hooded merganser are so beautiful too. In all, a nice birding day.

Anonymous said...

I know you missed seeing the crow laying out those peanuts on the limb for the lookout crow to eat, so I went back and added that link to the original post. I hope you can find the time to return to My Birds Blog and see this.

Anonymous said...

At the bottom of the second paragraph there is a link and that takes you to the same crow laying out the seeds on the limb.

Femin Susan said...

Your goldfinch looks handsome though he was drenched. Awesome shots.
Cheers!

Steve said...

I've always wondered what a Mockingbird looked like and now I know. Much prettier than I expected. Your Goldfinchers are quite a bit different than ours. Excellent pictures by the way. Have a great week

Tina said...

Well, I can feel your pain with that bossy mocker..I will send you one cooper's hawk in trade for that mocker!! Very little shows up at my feeders and if they do its zip in grab and zip out!!

Love all your pics..that was a good pic of that hawk with a stick..neat that you caught it in nest building phase..

A blue heron and a nest..now that sounds very interesting..are you going to keep going back to see if you can catch some little heron shots??

Nice post, Kim!!

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