Wild Bird Wednesday - Mean Girls

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Who would think this sweet-faced mourning dove deserves to be called a "mean girl"?!  For sure, I didn't know until recently.  They have been visiting the yard for a while--since I started scattering feed for the ground foragers.  A lot visited, but they were very calm and non-aggressive.

Then last week, in preparations for the ice, snow and bitter temps we're experiencing right now, I set up this platform feeder and supplied it with some bird delites like peanuts and nutty suet.  Wow!  what a bunch of bullies--especially when a half dozen tried to crowd on the feeder at one time.  Lots of pecking and wing flapping going on.  So far, they've managed to intimidate a lot of the birds--and squirrels.  That is except for the tufted titmouse and blue jay.  Both of them can stand up to the mean girls! In the meantime, I'm cancelling the post titled "Peace Conference" that was planning. . .

Linking to: Wild Bird Wednesday .

Wild Bird Wednesday - November Yardbirds

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This past month I've tried to keep a record of all the different birds that have visited the bird buffet or just roosted in the now bare trees just long enough for me to get some not so great photos.  The tufted titmouse is a frequent visitor and doesn't stay still for picture-taking.  Maybe should be renamed the blurred titmouse!

Here are others spotted in the yard in November:

Clockwise:  northern male cardinal and house sparrows, cardinal, blue jay ( first snow of the season)

 

Clockwise: mourning dove, cardinal, hawk (no idea which kind), the black-eared Chetbird, Carolina wren, Carolina chickadee

 

Clockwise: male house or purple finch, trapeze artist, juvenile European starling, dark-eyed junco, mourning dove, northern mockingbird

Clockwise:  brown creeper or downy woodpecker, another woodpecker - hairy or ladder back?, hawk, white-breasted nuthatch, American crow, red-bellied woodpecker

I'm still learning about how to ID the birds that visit--get right maybe 50% of the time.  Just wish I'd started with this interest a long time ago.  Could spend hours watching them out the window--and sometimes do!

Linking to: Wild Bird Wednesday .

Wild Bird Wednesday -the Red Head

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Red-bellied Woodpecker - visited the bird buffet a couple of days ago.  A most welcome customer.  Understand that he likes dried meal worms which were on the breakfast menu that day.  I'm most happy to hold my nose and put more out if he'll visit again!

Here are a few more views, including a shot of his bell (second row left) so you can kind of see where he gets his name.

 Linking to: Wild Bird Wednesday .

Wild Bird Wednesday - Raspberry Dipped

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First time visitor to the deck railing feeding station a few days ago.  He only showed up once and was flying solo.  As far as ID, I'm going with male Purple Finch.  One bird book said that the male looked like he had been dipped in raspberry juice!  I can see that in these photos which have not been color edited at all.  The purple finch is similar to the male house finch, but its coloring is more crimson, compared to the orange-red of the house finch.  The purple finch has a notched tail (see the photo of him on the grass stem) while the house finch has a longer squared tail.  Migrates through Kentucky looking for food as it gets colder.  Has a liking for the black oil sunflower seeds that are offered on the Summit Musings bird buffet!

Here are a few other shots of the raspberry dipped beauty.  Hope to see more of them this winter.

 Linking to: Wild Bird Wednesday .

Wild Bird Wednesday - Meet Jane

A few weeks ago "Jane" showed up in the front yard looking for a snack from around the bird feeding stations that I've set up to try to attract some different birds for the winter. I was thrilled to see a hawk so close up--especially those piercing eyes. But it was the "leggings" that cracked me up and earned this one the name of "Jane". Remember Jane Fonda and her workout leggings in all those exercise videos? Feel the burn!

 

And then yesterday I heard this terrible racket in the backyard and, after looking and looking, spotted "Jane" in the tiptop branches of a tree.  She obligingly stayed around long enough for me to get this not so great photo.

 

 

Identifying "Jane" has been a puzzle.  According to my Kentucky bird books, we're supposed to have sharp-shinned, red-shouldered, red-tailed, and cooper's hawks.  I've studied the pics of each and none fit "Jane" exactly.  Either missing the "leggings", tail shaped differently with different color bars.  My best guess is sharp-shinned, but a couple of Facebook birders say she might be a juvenile goshawk migrating or a rough-legged.  Whatever!  I'm thrilled that she stops by.

Linking to: Wild Bird Wednesday .

Wild Bird Wednesday - Chick ID

This little charmer visited the bird buffet for the first time over the weekend. Now those of you who check out my WBW posts know that I'm often wrong about bird IDs, but I'm pretty sure that this cutie is a Carolina Chickadee.

I've only recently become interested in learning about birds, photographing them, and attracting to my yard. My bird ID skills were almost nil except for robins, cardinals, and blue jays! :-) So, I recently ordered several books on Kentucky birds which should up my ID scores considerably. Like using each of them for different reasons--drawings as opposed to photos, different ways to ID, etc. Here's a sampling of how the books are organized:

Comparing the chickadee entries in the three guides, I went with Carolina over Black-capped because his markings were black all the way down neck instead of "capped". Here are a few more shots just because they're so dang cute!

Now, despite all my studying, if I got this "chick ID" wrong, don't hesitate to correct me. I won't be offended at all since I'm just beginning birder education! :-)

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday .

Wild Bird Wednesday - Blue Boy

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This blue boy was a first sighting for me yesterday on the deck railing where I scatter birdseed and peanuts daily. I'm thinking this is a juvenile blue jay because the adult jays are my best customers. They love those peanuts! Two things make me doubt my ID -- the missing black markings on throat and his tail seems rather long. Maybe he will develop the black markings and grow into his tail as he gets older? Regardless of his ID, loved that little topknot, round babyish head, and fluffy body.

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday .

Wild Bird Wednesday - the Acrobat

A red-bellied woodpecker that hangs out--literally--in a tree in the front yard. He even lit on the step railing to check out the bird buffet, but I was too slow in grabbing the camera.

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday .

Wild Bird Wednesday - Good Omen

This little sweetie the color of happiness landed outside my kitchen window this morning. I'm calling it a good omen because right afterwards I successfully installed a new modem on my computer without any geek squad assistance. Hopefully this will resolve several weeks of DSL/Internet connection problems that I've been having. Sorry I haven't been able to get around to visit you lately. Will remedy that real soon if computer problems remain fixed. Oh, about bird ID - this is the first time I've seen this beauty since starting to notice and try to photograph birds. Haven't spent a lot of time trying to ID "Sunshine", but will guess American Goldfinch? Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday .

Wild Bird Wednesday - a Singer

This beauty is serenading from the trees in the front yard and feasting on the berries of the viburnum next to the house.  I hear its distinctive song and grab the camera, mostly only to see a flash of white tail feathers as it flies away.  Its back is a soft grey-brown and undercarriage a grey-white.  A rather large bird, but not quite as big as a mourning dove. Wings are short in contrast to the tail; beak is short and dark.  The examples of song birds that I saw on the Cornell University all about birds website didn't have didn't have the prominent dark markings on the head as this one does.  Anyhoo!  I'm thinking a Northern Mockingbird?  What say you?

Here are the viburnum berries that the birds are loving right now:

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday .

Wild Bird Wednesday - Shiny Brites

Nothing very exciting in bird sightings around here lately except for these guys.  I think they're Brewer's Blackbirds according to the description: "liquid combo of black, midnight blue head, turning metallic green along back.  Staring yellow eye.  Females staid brown w/o yellow eye."  First noticed shiny black flashes in the trees in local park a few weeks ago.  Then they started visiting my neighbor's feeder in flocks--mostly ground foraging.  According to the map, they're in this area right now on their migration path.  Migration should not be a challenge for them because they're fast--as you can tell by these blurred photos!

Yesterday I found this feather in the yard and am wondering if it belonged to a Brewer?  In a perch their tail widens and the feather tips are rounded:

A few more shots:

Clockwise-rare shot on feeder--clumsy, prefers ground feeding; sleek profile of male; three females and a male

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday .

Wild Bird Wednesday - Fluff Dry Cycle

A Kentucky Cardinal drying out after a really heavy rain storm.  Could just as easily title this post "angry bird" , based on his look. :-)

Bonus photo: not a very good one, but just happened to catch this sweet couple sitting on my neighbor's fence. 

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday .

Wild Bird Wednesday - Prepare for Liftoff

The city of Anchorage near Louisville has several old stone bridges like this one over Owl Creek on Bellewood Road.  I spotted this male mallard and pulled off the road to try to get a few shots without causing a big traffic snarl.  Here you can see his handsome silver gray sides and brown breast.

Mallard male in profile to better show off that iridescent green head and bright blue wing pattern.

And finally, he gets fed up with being camera stalked and goes into liftoff mode--all the better to see his black hind end with curled tail and white tail feathers.

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday .

Wild Bird Wednesday - the Canadians

Canadians - of the geese variety, that is.  This handsome couple enjoys the recreation area for my sister's senior citizen's community.  The residents like having them around because they are so calm and friendly.

A few more shots of them variously occupied:

And finally, for just a little fun:

A white chin strap, cute goose butt, making goosey eyes, prefer neck or wing?

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday .

Wild Bird Wednesday - Red-bellied Woodpecker

On a rainy evening just around dusk I caught a flash of red in the trees in the front yard.  An exciting spotting for me--the Red-bellied Woodpecker.  Often worry about the decline of mature trees in my landscape, but if rotting wood and insects under the bark attract these unusual birds guess it's a pretty good compromise.

And here are a few more views, but regretfully never got one of its red belly:

And finally, a couple of shots at my neighbor's feeder the next day:

In most of these photos I noticed that the woodpecker's red "helmet" was blurred.  Must have been really getting down to business pecking out some goodies!

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday .

Wild Bird Wednesday - the Dandy

Rose-breasted Grosbeak Male- spotted this dandy with his rosy cravat at my neighbor's "squirrel" feeder.  In contrast, the females and juveniles are brown striped. I think I got a couple of not so good photos of them as well, but decided not to post and let this one take center stage.  

Blurred because they're quite camera wary, but you can see his fabulous rosy breast.

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday .

Wild Bird Wednesday - Hawks in the 'Burbs

Last January I was just pulling in the driveway when these two beauties lit in a tree in my suburban backyard.  They very obligingly stayed around long enough for me to run inside to grab a camera.  So exciting--first hawks I've seen this close to home and first photos of them.  Wasn't sure whether they were sharp shinned or Cooper's, but thought sharpies based on the squared off tails.  A birder friend confirmed that ID.  Are we right?

Here are a couple more views:

And then a little serendipity--I'm always on the lookout for feathers when out walking and have found some interesting ones.  But nothing to compare with this big hawk feather that I spotted in the front yard not long after getting these photos of the real thing.

Again, I'm not sure if this feather belonged to a sharpie or Cooper--what do you think?

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday .