Faith, Fabric and Photos

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Is it variety if it's the same every day??....

Yes and no, I guess. I never can complain about variety of birds.

My regulars are very faithful, coming every day.

One of the White-Throated Sparrows

Carolina Wren trying the big suet block

Carolina Wren just watching from the maple tree.

I was looking at what birds were in this photo...dove, sparrows....and almost didn't see the dove sleeping in the leaves just above the snow. They enjoyed the bits of sunshine yesterday. Still very cold all day.

Nuthatch on the maple in the afternoon sun.

A Mockingbird showed up to eat a few bites. He is a very jumpy bird and spooks very easily. Of course, while they were all eating a hawk swooped through scaring them in all directions, so I guess he has reason to be jumpy! The hawk caught me by surprise and I didn't get a photo.

A Junco. I don't seem to take many photos of Juncos. They never seem to be in focus when I do take one. That pale pink bill doesn't show up well against the snow or in the seeds where they normally sit. I have a dozen or more of them around every day.

Chickadee resting.

Fat and fluffy!

Cardinals always like to come in the late afternoon to clean up what's left in the drive.

The Mrs. was out there, too........along with several more pairs.

I really like these American Tree Sparrows!

Lots of Cowbirds still.........maybe this weekend they will go away when it hits 50 degrees.

I guess I hope they stick around for the GBBC after being here for so long.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

A Blustery day.....

The wind yesterday was very cold and biting. This poor Titmouse has really blowing in the wind.

Look how his feathers are blowing and he barely has that seed in his grip!

Almost lost it before he got it down to his toes.

He kept changing directions...they do that for some reason. His head is going north, but his wing and tail are heading east!

I'm always amazed by their concentration. They work so hard on their seed. It seems like such a small reward for the work it takes to get it open!

"Corn?....is that all you've got left?"

Some aren't as grateful as the Titmouse.

The American Tree Sparrows are still hanging around. I think I counted 5 of them.

This pretty pair was a nice surprise! I thought the male was a House Finch, until I saw that female right beside him.....Purple Finch for sure!

I think she is a very sweet and beautiful little bird. One of the most attractive females that come to my feeders. This one has so many shades of brown in her feathers.

The female Red-Bellied still hanging around and in some sunlight for a change.

Checking all directions before settling at the suet.

An uneasy pair. The Wren sneaks in for a bite occasionally. I was surprised that the squirrel let the Starlings chase it away later. I didn't think "Star" was afraid of any bird!
The wind blew all day long and as Winnie the Pooh would say "It was a very blustery day!"

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

February bird counting....

This seems to be a month to count birds! With both the Great Backyard Bird Count coming up and Northwest Nature Nut's Great Bird Count of February, I'm paying a lot of attention to my birds.

I was happy to have the American Tree Sparrow show up because it is not a bird that I see most of the year.

It is a pretty little sparrow and has a lot of interesting color points.

I've been very disappointed to not see my Chickadees very often. I used to always have several, but this year I am lucky to see even one.

The grass is beginning to come back through the snow and the Cardinals and Sparrows are busy out there every morning and evening.

My first sight yesterday morning was about 10 doves.

A Blue Jay high in the tree pecking away at a seed.

Something missing here! Eve, at Sunny Side Up blog, had mentioned that the doves often lost their tails to ice. Sure enough, about half of the ones I saw yesterday morning were tailless!

Here is one that still has his long tail feathers.

Mrs. Cardinal always manages to be in the shadows and I don't get many good photos. All of the ground feeding birds cause me problems with getting their focus. Tree shots always seem easier.

Mr. Red-Bellied looking a bit testy at someone.

The ever happy Titmouse! They truly are one of my favorite birds just because they always look so cheerful!

Another Titmouse

The Towhee showed up to be counted! Great! A nice male, but not a very clear shot.

Another try from a greater distance.

The Wren preferred the sunshine of the deck most of the day.

Join one of the bird counts going on! Lots of fun for everyone!

Monday, February 2, 2009

Weekend wonders.....

Coming home from church Sunday, I spotted a group of deer in a field heading towards the road we were on. Mike could only find one place to pull off the road and had to shoot the photos between the crossbars of a fence!

There were 8 of them bounding towards the road where we sat.

They stopped when they got to us, but didn't feel too threatened since we stayed in the car. They appeared to be waiting for just the right moment to cross the road to the field on the other side.

Finally they took off! You guessed it.....they waited until there was a car coming from both directions before they chose to go! What amazed us was that one of the drivers almost hit the last one.......didn't he see the other 7 cross right in front of him??????

When I went out to fill the feeders this morning there were lots of strange tracks in the yard. That row in the middle was by far the strangest! Still haven't figure it out......

The only thing I could figure is a possum with its tail dragging on the right side. Strange!

I'm sure there are squirrel tracks, cat tracks and who knows what else in all of this mess!

I believe this is an American Tree Sparrow? I always have trouble with these.

The Downy eyeing the suet on the post.

Mrs. Red-Bellied Woodpecker showed up and I don't get many photos of her, so here are three.

Looking her in the eye out front

She checked out the suet out back, also.

This next pair of photos was a Mockingbird on the wire on the way to church.

I was trying to figure out what the spot on the chest is.....

....this really has me confused! It looks like stuff coming out of its chest!

Another "odd shot"

Notice that the iciles are going up and the snow is on the bottom! We finally figure out that the entire ring of ice must have spun around as it warmed up on the inside and became loose. It sure looked funny!

The "avalanches" of ice and snow falling off the house have been deafing, but I'm glad it is melting. It apparently continued to melt all night and many trees were free of ice this morning. I hope this is our only ice storm this year. Mike's parents finally got their power back this morning, but many are still without and as the ice falls, the branches spring back up and cause more line damage in some places. I think every yard in their neighborhood had tree limbs down. Lots of clean up work to be done!