So, the great mealworm production problem is over (apparently there was a worldwide mealworm production problem for the last 5 months of 2008). My wife and I are back to feeding the birds.
This is a new bird at our feeder this year, but not really uncommon. He is a Tufted Titmouse. Not the greatest picture though. He is a little skittish and I have problems catching him when he is at the feeder.
The Carolina Chickadees and the Black-crested Titmice seem to be buddies at my feeder and show up at about the same time. I agree that the titmice are a bit skittish whereas the chickadees aren’t at all.
Thanks - flickers in winter, way cool - we don’t get many in my are of Virginia - a couple a summer - I was used to seeing them all the time in Central Ontario.
You are doing a good job with the bluebirds. Saw about 6 on my run yesterday. We have a pretty good standing crop around here.
Will try to get you a shot of the red-bellied woodpecker that has been coming around our feeder. He is pretty common when the weather warms up - just have to be there at the right time with my camera.
Nice Flicker,
I was looking at the feeder in my front yard and saw a flicker eating the seeds, and thinking that is the first time I’ve ever seen a flicker at a feeder. Now here is another one.
wow, wow, wow! i don’t think i’ve ever had a flicker here at my feeder, but we do have one int he neighborhood now. the bluebirds are so pretty, i used to see them on the bike trail here!
The strangest bird sightings I’ve seen in my yard are a family of Gray (Hungarian) Partridges and a Bald Eagle (eating a squirrel while sitting on my pergola). The day the eagle was in the yard we had a friend from Dallas staying at our place who was amazed to see an eagle in the city. We get Canada Geese in the fall flying between our house and the neighbor’s below the roofline (there’s a large pond on the golf course behind our house that the geese use while migrating in the fall)
Thanks. If you think you have the bluebirds and you want to get them to your feeders, try the mealworms. They are like crack cocaine. You have to be vigilant that the other birds don’t eat them though. My wife feeds the bluebirds at the same time every day near the bird bath. They seem to like the schedule.
I took an OK picture of a downy woodpecker. I’ll try to get it up soon.
The other day while I was running, I chuckled because there was a hawk (one of the smaller one’s that I don’t know) that was flying right towards me. It was flying low and then I saw why, he had a blue jay that wasn’t much smaller than the hawk in his talons. He couldn’t get the height he needed to evade me so when he got close he dropped the jay and immediately turned vertical. The jay landed about 2 feet in front of me in my running path. Nice aim for a hawk!
Excellent!! I have had Harriers and Red Tails knoshing on the odd starling in my yard - but a bald eagle - where are you at you could get that?
Calgary, Canada. We are 30 miles from the Rockies and have a fair number of nesting pairs in town every summer. I remember a run where there were 4 Bald Eagles in a tree right next to the trail and a pair of coyotes standing under the tree watching them. Hard to believe we were in a city of a million.
these pics were taken in my back yard in Appleton, WI, on the Fox River. Always kind of blows me away to look out the window and see bald eagles flying past and fighting over fish. It is awesome. FWIW, Appleton is about 80,000 people.
seven of them in this pic… look close
And here is a juvenile cardinal. Just a few weeks ago, this guy was sitting on my patio cheeping at mommy and daddy to feed him. Now, he is feeding himself.
fantastic! i have never seen a bald eagle in person, but i dream about them all the time. that must have been out of sight, very cool!
I saw both a loon and an eagle on my run Friday. I am in Rochester, MN and this is hundreds of miles south of anywhere I’ve ever seen a loon so that was very surprising. Eagles are much more common. When I lived 75 miles east here and drove along the Mississippi River to work every day I’d see eagles 2 or 3 days per week, but there is still something very special about it.
I see them now. I like the squirrel pics. A couple of years ago I posted some pics of squirrels at our feeders. It was hilarious because we had a black squirrel, a red squirrel, and a grey squirrel all hanging upside down on different feedrs at the same time.
I had a heron fly over the back yard on Sunday early in the morning. It was breathtaking. I didn’t have my camera anywhere near by as it was really early in the morning.
I had a heron fly over the back yard on Sunday early in the morning. It was breathtaking. I didn’t have my camera anywhere near by as it was really early in the morning.
Just a beautiful bird!
I agree. They are amazing to watch. We have them nearby and occasionally they fly over the house. I just haven’t had the camera out at the right times. We also have the sand hill cranes which are about the same size and seem to fly in a similar way. The sand hill cranes have a really weird call.
