After the Storm

The regulars are swarming the feeders!

The not-so-regulars are making an appearance as well.  When did the starlings come back?  There were at least a dozen fighting over food yesterday.

I am fond of Starlings, as blasphemous as that seems to real birders.  No one can deny that they are fun to watch, anyway!

Some White-throated Sparrows made an appearance, but I didn't get a decent photo.  I REALLY need to wash the windows around here!

This one's a cutie.

This guy and his cohorts are the bane of my back yard.  It's probably against the law to kill them, but if anyone is skilled with a slingshot, come on by!

Break for Backyard Beauties

I still have dozens of stories and photos of our trip out west, but I had to take a break to show off some of our local cuties.  This Downy Woodpecker caught in the act of taking flight, for example, is simply irresistible!

And what could be cuter than this sideways Red-bellied Woodpecker enjoyed his suet breakfast?

The House Finches are back with a vengeance, I've noticed.  This little guy is a colorful charmer.

I could stop snapping photos of all his curious facial expressions.

This is one eccentric looking Great Blue Heron.  He was one of about five that I saw around the Sudbury River yesterday. 

Baby Woodpecker

The baby Downy Woodpeckers are too adorable for words. (Sorry about the sentimentality!)


The freshly fledged Downys are tiny, which is apparent if you can reference them compared to an object with known dimensions, like this suet feeder.


Even these tender babes are forced to fight off the sparrows if they want to eat, however.


At first she was taken aback by the arrival of company at the suet feeder. Then she was attacked.


When the young woodpecker fought back, the sparrows retreated. She was able to get a few bites of food, anyway.

Windy Spring Day

Windy Spring afternoon Downy


Windy Spring afternoon Downy 2


Windy Spring afternoon finch


Windy Spring afternoon finch 2


Windy Spring afternoon Starling

Winter Woods Birds

Even the Sudbury River near Carmel Terrace was frozen on Saturday! We did manage to get some pretty active Downy woodpecker action in the woods on the steep river bank, though.


Not quite sure why he's going into the black hole. (Black hole! Pretty funny, huh?)


You don't see them like this everyday! He's flying straight up from one branch to another!


He is peeking at something through the branches. I love the black and white eye ring - it gives him such a sweet looking expression.


Tom managed to capture this White-breasted Nuthatch. He also snapped a shot of a Red-breasted Nuthatch, but it was too blurry to post. I never even saw the guy!

Birds from Bourne

We visited the Four Ponds Conservation Area in Pocasset when we were on vacation, and we found it to be a beautiful place with a variety of habitats and lots of trails to explore. This particular pond was graced with some lovely Mute Swans.


A winsome looking Downy Woodpecker made an appearance.


Our much beloved state bird of Massachusetts, the Black-capped Chickadee, was well represented in the woods.


It seems as if everywhere you go on Cape Cod the woods are full of crying Catbirds, and this area was no exception.


I was very pleased to get a recognizable picture of a juvenile American Robin. You could say I've been waiting a whole year for this image! I saw one of these last year and suspected it was a young robin, but I couldn't be sure. This year I got a very good look.

Downy Woodpecker and Tufted Titmice Seen on Saturday, Too

The strange and wonderful Saturday continued with a female Downy Woodpecker at the seed feeder.


That is not where I'm used to seeing woodpeckers, but she seemed quite content to be digging around for just the right sunflower seed.


She finds a good seed and holds it up to the light - probably enjoying the sensation of eating food that precisely matches her color scheme!


A perfectly lovely Tufted Titmouse was kind enough to pose for a portrait.


Note the yellow tint of the feathers under the wings. It is that coloring that makes me think the next image -


- is a photo of a Tufted Titmouse, also.

Northern Flicker, Downy Woodpecker, White-throated Sparrow, and more

Saturday, February 27. Less than 1 hour of sunshine between the snowflakes - but what an hour it was! I got tons of good pics, including this Flicker rooting around in the garden.


The Flicker from the back, showing it's distinctive red collar.


I managed to get quite a few great shots of animated Blue Jays in various poses. I really like this curious fellow, who was captured in the moments between snow and sun.


A White-throated Sparrow in the quickly melting snow. You can identify White-throated Sparrows by the yellow color between their eyes and beak.


This is the tan striped variety of White-throated Sparrow. There is a white striped version, as well.


A small female Northern Cardinal finds a sunflower seed beneath the snow.

Woodpeckers at the Sudbury River

Saturday I went to the Tennis club on Edgell Road around 9:00 AM. There was NO ONE THERE! That has never happened before - even at dawn! I snapped a picture of a Downy Woodpecker who seems VERY INTENT on his work based on his facial expression!


How do you like the look on his face? In a human it might be interpreted as anger. Frustration? Annoyance? Or just intensity?


This is a female Downy Woodpecker. Females lack the red patch at the nape.


Males have a red nape patch. Male Hairy Woodpeckers also have the red nape, but they are larger and have bigger bills.


I also saw Red-bellied Woodpeckers on the river bank. I believed this was a female Red-bellied woodpecker, based on the lack of red on the forehead.


This is a bad photo, but the lack of a red forehead is much more noticeable here. Definitely a female.

More Backyard Birds

Right behind the house (where the birdfeeders are), you'll see a lot of your more "domesticated" birds. Blue Jays are very frequent visitors, for example. There have been lots of Blue Jays this year - and they seem a lot shyer than I remember them being when I was a kid. They are just as noisy, but more easily spooked by humans.


Here are five of the approximately five hundred sparrows that live in my yard. Can you see all five? They are pretty well camoflauged this time of year.


At the back of the yard is a strip of woods that borders the Hultman aqueduct. It is actually a very steep hill back there; much steeper than it appears here. Walking back there can be dangerous because it is not only steep but VERY slippery when wet!


I was looking for warblers again. They were there, too. They were very, very high up and flitting quickly from tree to tree. There was absolutely no way I could even see one clearly, never mind take a picture. The smallest bird I photographed was a shy little Tufted Titmouse.


He did his level best to hide from the camera, but his big eyes and pointy head couldn't be disguised.


I saw more woodpeckers than anything else, probably because it is easy to track the pecking sounds. It doesn't hurt that they are often on dead or dying trees where they can't hide behind leaves, of course. I think this is a Downy Woodpecker, mostly because I think I see black and white feathers on the edge of the tail.


The major difference between Hairy woodpeckers and Downy woodpeckers is that Hairy woodpeckers are about 3 inches bigger than Downys. Size is difficult to judge without an actual comparison or a known reference point, however, and I had neither. Hairy woodpeckers also have proportionally larger beaks, but this one was so busy pecking that I never saw her face! The only other difference is the barred outer tailfeathers of the Downy woodpecker, which is the very questionable basis for my call on this bird.


There were a few Red-bellied woodpeckers around, too. They were pecking a lot, but they also yelled at me now and then for tresspassing in their woods. Red-bellied woodpeckers are not particularly shy.


I think Red-bellied woodpeckers are very appealling and attractive birds. (Actually, I think they are adorable, but I try to stay away from using such imprecise and emotional words in public. Sorry, Chris!)