The birds need help too.
jd50ae
Posts: 7,900 ✭✭✭✭✭
With 3 inches of ice under the snow there is slim pickens for the birds so we set up some feeding areas (on top of our usual ones) and it took the blink of an eye for 100s of birds came to feed. Sorry for the quality of the photo.
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I do see that beautiful cardinal in the bottom right, spotted one in our yard the other day too. Love our cardinals...
Also saw our red-tailed hawk gliding high above the house over the weekend.
Can't wait for warmer temps and all the birds to return.
Lookin' good JD
* I have a new address as of 3/24/18 *
We visited a state park nature center in Indiana which had a dark room on the north side, with witness glass and a broad stone window sill. Seeds strewn on the sill. Terrific idea. came home, first thing I did was replace the garage window with that same type witness glass, mirror outside, see-thru inside. Them birdies come right up to the window two inches from your face. The cardinals get in heated discussions with the bird in the mirror.
Don't do this on the south side. You'll fry your neighbors' eyeballs.
Concerning the OP, I tried to get a similar picture, but couldn't get the right angle from out my door, and they all flew off when I opened it. Probably the same number of birds on far less property. I thought I was in a Hitchcock film.
I like Oliva and Quesada (including Regius) a lot. I will smoke anything, though.
We have feeders all year long and a lot of them. The ones I enjoy the most are the hummingbird feeders because those little critters are smart. They will actually tap at the window to let you know that the nectar needs filling. They have even woke me while I was on the porch for the same reason. There is one very territorial male that forced us to add and separate the feeders. Birds are just plain fun.
(Circled in red so it's easier to see.)
CLICK HERE for more pics.
I took the pics with my phone so they're not the best.....
We saw a very similar looking bird last year and my wife and I were 99% sure it was a red-tailed hawk. The one I saw yesterday though was a bit smaller so I'm thinking it's a juvenile because the pattern on it's wings was the same as the hawk we saw last year, and it looked just like the "juvenile red-tailed hawk" images I found on Google.
I need to snap some better pics or try to get video of it this summer.
But oh man, you guys probably think I'm crazy....but it was so cool.
I watched it dive bomb a group of mourning doves in our neighbors yard then it flew right above my head as it gained altitude and headed towards the open space (parking lot/field) across the street and avoided the houses/garage/trees that were between the doves and the open space.
Wish I could have got a close up shot as it flew above me....I'm not even kidding when I say that I could have stuck my arm up and touched it....it was that close to me. It was the coolest thing.....
* I have a new address as of 3/24/18 *
I've regularly got robins, finches, jays, blackbirds, and hummers. This new one has a crested head like a Jay but it's smaller - just a bit bigger than a finch - and a dusky grey/black in color.
I forgot, we also get mockingbirds and juncos around here. This new one is colored something like a junco except the junco's head is blacker than the rest of its grey body. This new ones head is the same grey/black as the rest of it's back.
Anybody got an idea what they might be?
Might it be a tufted titmouse? They have a crest like a bluejay but they're smaller. Heads and bodies are gray, with white underbellies. Near in size to finches. Except they're not native to the west coast as far I know but maybe our winter drove 'em west.
Other suggestion might be a slate-colored dark-eyed junco, which are a bit more uniform in upper coloring and the head looks a little more jay-like than the regular dark-eyes junco.
Good suggestions. According to the book, we don't have the tufted titmouse out here in California but we do have the plain titmouse. The coloring on the ones I'm seeing in my yard, though, shows less of a white *** than what the book shows. The ones in my yard are colored more like the dark-eyed junco but have the crested head feathers that the junco lacks. I dunno. I think you're pretty darned close... Thanks for the input... ??
(Can you believe this stupid HTML crappy format censored out the word 'b r e a s t' above but didn't bother with the **** mouse?)
I like Oliva and Quesada (including Regius) a lot. I will smoke anything, though.
They were four-plexes. Fun to build but lotsa manhours.....
I know, You're a big dog and I'm on the list.
Let's eat, GrandMa. / Let's eat GrandMa. -- Punctuation saves lives
It'll be fine once the swelling goes down.
I am going to move the humming bird feeders to my bedroom windows and add some of the witness glass so I can watch them all day.
A little off topic. A meal worm does not stand a chance around a hedgehog. Just one big slurping sound and it is over.
To your side note: I've always wanted a hedgehog, but with numerous dogs and cats around it's probably not a good idea.