Who names these birds, anyway???

When I looked at Mike Fenney's beautiful picture of the European Goldfinch (see link to his site at right, because I don't know how to put it in the post) , my first thought was....Goldfinch??? It has a bright red face and very little gold! Now our Goldfinch is at least bright yellow in the summer time! I always think the black forehead makes him look like "Moe" from the Three Stooges.

And I wish someone would show me some purple on the Purple Finch!

I'm sorry...it is Raspberry colored...that's PINK ....not purple! It is a Raspberry Finch.

If the Goldfinch is gold and the Purple Finch is purple (or raspberry) why is our lovely red finch called a House Finch?? Why not a Red Finch?

When you look at a Red-Bellied Woodpecker......is that the description that comes to your mind?? WHAT red belly?? How often do we even notice the tiny little bit of red on its lower belly,....or even get a chance to see it??? I searched my photo files and this was the best one I could find showing it (and it is too dark)......right below the limb he is on.

At least when I look at a Grosbeak, I can understand the name.....that is one "Gros"....Beak! I think I remember enough German to know that Gros=Large. I think it looks even larger on the female than the male.

The Catbird has whiskers, the Mockingbird mocks.......but a Titmouse???? What does that mean?? It is too pretty to be thought of as "mousy"! (Maybe someone who named one of her cats "Mouse" should delete this one .)Why is a Downy....downy

and a Hairy.....hairy?? They are identical except in size!

OK......I give up. Somebody in the "Department of Names" must have had a reason for all of this! .......and obviously I have nothing worth posting today :-)

Here today...gone tomorrow...or maybe even today!

Tuesday night late it snowed......Wednesday afternoon it was in the 40's and the snow is gone. It's that time of year when you don't know what to expect! I went out Sunday after church to take pictures of the snow and ice we had at that time......which was quickly receeding......but I decided not to post any. Maybe I should call this post "My farewell salute to winter.....I HOPE!" I'll just stick in a last misc. winter jumble of pics that I like for one reason or another.....with or without snow.

I liked this Cardinal sitting on the post with the snow swirling around him. For some reason I have trouble getting good Cardinal pictures......there always seems to be some bit that is slightly unfocused....like my camera doesn't like red or something. So this one pleased me!
I call this picture: "Send them back to England!" My salute to the English Sparrow aka. the House Sparrow. I mean really.......if you were looking at all of these on your deck eating all the food, and chasing away the other birds and taking all the best nesting places, you would want to get rid of them, too! I'll keep the little White-Crowned Sparrow in the upper left corner.....even if he is hanging out with bad company.
I liked this little gal.....she looks like she needs a good back scratcher! I guess it is tough when you have no hands or fingernails.
My pretty little Song Sparrow almost never gets featured in pictures because she blends into the mess of seeds that she is usually digging around in. Here on the deck, she shows up a bit better.

My favorite wren looking like she is auditioning for a musical and getting ready to sing her first number and maybe throw in a tap-dance! "Tomorrow, tomorrow....."
Another little guy I don't get many pictures of......my White-Breasted Nuthatch (who missed out the day I counted for the GBBC!)

I always enjoy the tangle of the Forsythia bushes and no matter what the season, I can count on them being full of birds.

I didn't get any good "snowball dome" pictures this year, but I liked the differences in this shot where some things are totally snowed over and others totally clear! It personifies this current weather! I'm cheering for the unsnowed areas to take over!!

The picture doesn't always tell the whole story...

OK....yesterday I was walking into the family room eating a bowl of cereal and realized that the Red-Bellied Woodpecker was on the post! So while balancing the cereal in one hand and trying to move closer where I could set the bowl down, I grabbed up the camera with the other and began fumbling one-handedly for the lever to turn it on and pushing the zoom button to get it ready. Just about the time I raised it to my eye......the battery case on the bottom flew open and the batteries all dropped out! I had changed batteries earlier and apparently didn't get it closed properally! Akkkkkk! I finally got it back together and the woodpecker had patiently waited for me to take a couple shots. Of course the camera was now reading something strange as I looked through it, and it wasn't until I took the pics that I realized I had shoved the lever to M.....(I'm embarassed to say that I don't even know what the M setting on my camera is).....so I wasn't sure if the shots would look like anything or not! The trials of trying to be a nature photographer :-)

Hey.....they turned out pretty good! (a bit dark) Maybe I'd better find out what that M stands for on my camera and use it more often!!

He came back this morning and the pics are a bit lighter.

Looking for love in all the wrong places....

"I can never love you, sir.....my parents would never understand."

So she continues to sit alone......hoping 'Mr. Right' will come along soon.

"The bar scene is so dreary, "she sighs.

"Maybe him?"....I don't know...he looks like the "too much beer and too much TV" type to me.

"This one looks better.....don't make eye contact.....let him make the first move....."

(only time will tell us the end of this story.....let's leave them alone now)

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the bar.........

"This guy is just TOO close....I wish he would move down a bar stool!"

"That's better! I think his name is Norm.....I've seen him at Cheers!"

Chick-a-dee-dee-dee.....

Games that birds play....How many finches....

........can crowd onto one feeder (if no one fights) during an ice storm?? Eleven....11.....anybody else?????

(I wonder if they have ever tried stuffing a VW Beetle or a phone booth??)

Brief moments of beauty....poetry on the wing

There are some birds that I don't get very many photos of. They either stop in only occasionally, or they are too jumpy and move too much when they do stop. The Red-Bellied Woodpecker is one of them. So this morning when the male stopped at the suet feeder closest to the door, and I was able to sneak the camera up for a couple of shots, I was very pleased! I never noticed how much red there was around the bill before, until he gave me these close-up shots of his head. A beautiful bird from head to toe! I love his bold feather mix of white and black and red.

If God was a quilter....
Are these the fabrics He'd choose
Carefully searching his stash
To find the perfect hue?
To make a brilliant woodpecker
That would capture and dazzle our eye
Each time it stopped to visit us
Or we glimpsed it passing by?

Squirrels are out..

It's snowing again this morning.....lightly. The squirrel in the Oak tree out front was having a good time exploring the ground once he came down off of his alert pose. There is only the slightest bit of snow to hamper his searching yesterday.




Out back on the deck it looks like a different world! Heavy ice on everything and the squirrels scrambling around on the deck looking for seeds that aren't encased in ice.

Squirrel #2 says, "Give me a hand up there, will you? Scoot over!"



They all agreed to share......even the Downy.

Being a squirrel in winter is not all "fun and games". This poor little guy has been showing up off and on and has a bad skin problem.....balding in spots. I had squirrels with this problem before. He always looks a bit pathetic, but the day of the ice storm was the worst.......he had to be very cold and his poor little tail was totally encased with ice. I looked for him today, and didn't see him, but I'm praying that he'll show up again in a few days.