Sunshine and no snow....

We finally succeeded in getting to Tucson late Monday night. I spent my first morning on my sister's patio taking photos of the birds that came to her backyard.

 Mourning Dove.  Just like at home, but it was willing to sit for the camera.

 Lesser Goldfinch

Several of the Goldfinches flitted in and out of the trees all morning. 

Saw both the female and male Gila Woodpecker. 

The female has no red on its head. 

The male has that little red circle on the top of its head.  Sharing the suet with a House Sparrow. 

 Can you tell I like woodpeckers :-)  They were posing so nicely.

 Out here there are many House Finches that have this yellow/orange color instead of the red back home.

The female Phainopepla above....gray..... and the male below....black. 

I wish I could catch them in flight.  They have beautiful white wing patches. 

Gambel's Quail.

I saw a few other birds but didn't get good photos.  

It is WARM here....feels so good!  

I'm looking forward to forgetting about winter for at least a week.

This extreme cold brings out all the birds....

The low temps and ice and dusting of snow are really bringing out all the local birds hoping for food.  When I can keep the small band of Starlings and other blackbirds chased away long enough for the smaller birds to come in, I get a nice mixture of birds at the feeders.

 Cute little sparrow.....American Tree Sparrow, I think.

 A male Cardinal with a few male and female Red-winged Blackbirds.

 I had a couple of Bluebirds stop by.  I'm betting they wish they had not come this far north yet!  Normally the temps would be fine and not so cold.

 One of the Bluebirds looking very cold.

 A sparrow and Mr. Cardinal.  Lots of Cardinals.  Junco on the edge of the photo.

 Mr. and Mrs C.

I find if I throw a bunch of the seed into the bushes at the end of the drive that the Starlings and other blackbirds don't go in after it.  That lets the Cardinals, sparrows, Towhee, and Juncos have a chance to get some of it at least. 

A group of mostly Cowbirds around the feeding pole. 

Downy male 

Downy female 

 Mockingbird trying real hard to get low to eat the suet.  He could sit on the other end of the stick and not have to do all that bending.

 Mr. Red-bellied Woodpecker

 Mr. Red-wing with 3 females.

Two of the many male Cardinals and a sparrow again. 

I even took a couple of shots of the Starlings.  I don't mind 1 or 2, but when there are a dozen, nobody else gets any food.  I was hoping to save some of the suet for the Downy and the Wren by putting it in this feeder that they can hang underneath of if they have to.  I've seen the Downy hanging there.

Towhee male. 

Carolina Wren and something else on the back side, maybe a Titmouse.

Looking cold and blustery.

Welcome bit of sunshine.

I saw most of my favorite birds except the Chickadees and Titmice.  They eat at the feeders out on the deck mostly and it is harder to get photos of them there.

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Well, hopefully my next post will have cactus in it instead of snow!

I feel badly about leaving my home birds without food in this cold weather.  With any luck this may be the last of the real cold spells for this winter.  We've certainly had plenty of unseasonably cold weather so far.  Enough is enough!  I'm ready for spring or at least normal temps for awhile.

I'm suppose to be in Tucson, but since I'm not.....

We were suppose to fly to Tucson yesterday, but an ice storm came through Evansville that kept our plane on the ground.  At least we are safe, so I'm not sorry the pilot cancelled the flight!  No flights today either or tomorrow.....so, we are now scheduled to fly out next week....I hope!  I sure was looking forward to the sunshine and warmth of Tucson!  We have never had this much cold weather in Evansville in one winter. 

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So, while I wait for my chance to escape the cold one more time, I will post a few photos we took last week over in Henderson.  We went over to see if the Snow Geese were still there.....didn't find any.  They either moved on or were out of sight.  (If they were smart, they went further south looking for warmer temps!)

This Downy Woodpecker was exploring some trees along the road.

 There was a mixed swarm of blackbirds flying around the whole area.   I could see the blue/green heads of Grackles and the red flash of the Red-winged Blackbirds.  They stopped at this corn field looking for some food.

We finally spotted a group of ducks on a distant field that was partly flooded.  All the flooded areas are frozen as you can see here.

Mike went part way up a very cold metal ladder that led to an observation platform to get these few shots.  I decided I'd rather stay down below.

You can see the foot of the metal ladder in the above shot and at the base of it was a hole that was lined with bird feathers.  I couldn't help but wonder what creature lived there!  Something had definitely been dragging birds into that lair!

 High in a tree that hangs out over the road was a rather sleeping looking hawk.  It was a very cold day and I think he was enjoying the sunshine between meals.

 A Kestrel that didn't realize we were there and fly away.  I can't decide what is at the bottom of the bird....looks bloody?  Part of something it had caught?  We saw it fly in and land, and I don't think it was carrying anything and it is not eating.

 A couple of Rock Doves (Feral Pigeons)  I always find them pretty and like looking at the various color combinations.

 This very tattered and forlorn looking flag was flying at an abandoned river camp along the Ohio River.  It should have been taken down and properly disposed of, but it made an interesting addition to the photo.

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Well.....maybe my NEXT post will be from Tucson.  We'll see if winter is ready to cooperate next week.