"birding" fun

[Don Boose]

Today, the first catbird of the year arrived. I have been unable to capture an image of the creature at the feeder, but managed one fuzzy snapshot of it hiding in the Japanese maple.

I also managed a fairly clear shot of a pair of Carolina wrens at the suet, with a fuzzy partial rear view of a black-capped chickadee.

Yesterday, the first redheaded woodpecker of the year arrived.

The winter white-throated sparrows are still hanging around, but the juncos (snowbirds) seemed to have made their annual migration back to Canada.

Here is today's count so far (1:30 PM): song sparrow, white-throated sparrows, house sparrow, nuthatches, tufted titmice, black-capped chickadees, mourning doves, robins, grackles, red-bellied woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, redheaded woodpecker, blue jays, red-winged blackbirds, catbird.

[Kevin WS]

Wow. What a variety of different birds in your garden!

We may have some colourful birds here, but they are very limited in any one spot in terms of species, being very habitat specific.

[SCEtoAUX]

Nice pice of the birds.
Those wrens can make a loud noise for being so small.

[birder]

Don those are cool pictures the wrens are quite nice and the interesting colors of the Catbird photo. It's sunny today and the Violet -Green Swallows are very happy chasing each other about, despite having taken so many pictures of them previous years, I can't help trying to get more... I was trying to get a Rufous hummer pic and the swallows were watching me from the roof, and the boxes are a busy swirl of swallows, in the sun the color is so super compared to the shade.

[birder]

Originally Posted by Kevin WS

Wow. What a variety of different birds in your garden!

We may have some colourful birds here, but they are very limited in any one spot in terms of species, being very habitat specific.

Kevin I guess we get accustomed to the birds we see often, but the pictures you share are really something for us in North America...fun to see such exotics

[Don Boose]

Magnificent eagle!

And I like the swallows. Are they tree swallows, or a west-coast species?

Our across-the-street neighbors had a family of tree swallows living in their front-yard bluebird box.

I am waiting for the chimney swifts who nest in the other across-the-street neighbors' chimney. They swoop around overhead all summer long like stubby cigars with wings.

After a week of overcast, the skies cleared last night, so we had a grand view of the bright silver "Pink" moon. Pink moon is the Native American name because it appears when the Moss Pink plox flowers bloom in the American Northeast.

Don

[birder]

Hi Don we have had a flock of coots nearby recently and coots are "eagle food" ha, although not so pleasant to watch but everybody's got to eat.
In recent years the Eagles like to nest at Liberty which is nice. The swallows are Violet Greens, the white extends up the front of the eye to easily tell from Trees, which also usually nest at our boxes, although it is a competition between swallows every year for their favorite spot.

[MOD]

BIRDING INDOORS – I’m truly impressed with the models of Diana Beltran Herrera and Johan Scherft. Absolutely beautiful and inspiring – forever spring indoors.

[Don Boose]

Yes. Glen (Birder), who initiated this thread, has built and posted threads on a number of Johan Scherft models. One of his recent ones was the modification of Scherft's firecrest model into a black-capped chickadee: Black Capped Chickadee. You can see his other bird (and other) builds here: http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/s...archid=4458628

Don

[Michael Mash]

This thread has become a "must" read.
It has a huge amount of content and is a treasure trove of "avion" images.
All the North American species are complimented by Kevin's great photos of those exotic African birds. I'll keep watching.
Mike