For the Birds

You may have heard that we received 23 inches of snow last week . . . we did! And we also made sure to take good care of our feathered friends as the snow fell. Here is a glimpse of the visitors we had, over a period of a few short minutes:

Goldfinch

Downy Woodpecker

Carolina Wren and Junco

Female Cardinal

Nuthatch

Male Cardinal

House Sparrow

House Finch

I continue to be astounded by the beauty of this little corner of the world. And although these birds eat like a herd of cows, I love them just as much!

Meet A Few of our Feathered Friends

Chris and I are amateur birdwatchers, and we have quite the bird feeder set-up in the back yard, right outside the dining room windows. Yesterday I noticed that we had an unusually high amount of bird activity, and in the space of a few minutes I snapped these photos. Enjoy!

House sparrow in flight.


Blue Jay and House Sparrow in flight (next to the really long, new tube feeder Chris just brought home.)


Blue Jay.


Blue Jay and juvenile Starling.


Common Pigeon.


Pesky Squirrel. OK, I know he is not feathered, but I had to include him. Look at his hind feet!


More Blue Jay. I can't say that I really like Jays, because they seem to be really bossy and eat a ton of our birdseed, but you have to admit that that they are beautiful!


Grackle.


More House Sparrows. I really liked the composition of this photo.


Juvenile Starling. Look at the speckled feathers on his breast. I also shot some photos of a juvenile female cardinal, but they were blurry.


Common Pigeon.


I believe that this is a female Downy Woodpecker.


I have said it before, but again I am astonished at the number and variety of birds we get to see here in our neighborhood!

Songbirds, BEWARE!

You've not only captured my attention, but that of a Sharp-Shinned Hawk, as well!


Best lay low and be wary for the time being.

And Mr. Hawk, if you so much as lay a TALON on my beloved Cardinals, you will have me to deal with! (I am not a stranger to your cousin the Cooper's Hawk, having grown up raising chickens, and I know someone who will help me mightily convince you to move on.)

A Little Sunday Birdwatching

One Finch,


two Finch,


Purple Finch,


Gold Finch!

Is There Anything So Beautiful . . .

. . . as a Cardinal in Winter?

Airline Rail Trail -- South Section Part 4

Regular readers know that we have been exploring the Airline Rail Trail over the last few months. If the weather is nice, I try to get on the trail twice a week. It is a stone's throw from my house and the south section of the trail is about 20 miles long. There are several entry points that make it very interesting. We do between 2 and 6 miles at a time. We went yesterday and the quality of the sunlight was stunning the entire walk.















Walking the trail with the kids has been such a great experience. We sing songs, recite nursery rhymes, point our birds, and play "I Spy" the entire way.

After 4 miles, 1 snapping turtle, 3 red-winged blackbirds, 1 Great Blue Heron, and one deer that I thought was real that turned out to be a decoy, I was ready to call it in and head for home.

You can read about our adventures walking on the South section of the trail that runs from East Hampton to Windham with these links: first time walking the trail here, our 2nd section walk here, and our 3rd section walk here.

Catching Up with Our Bird Friends

We continue to be visited by Hairy, Downy and Red-Bellied Woodpeckers. Their flight pattern is almost comical--fly up, then dip, fly up, then dip! We keep hearing a Pileated but no sightings yet!


We switched bird food about a month ago to a black sunflower mix that we got at an Ocean State Job Lot--but we immediately lost some of our regular visitors, including finches and Chickadees. When it ran out we went back to the mix we had been buying for a local bird store and they came back that very day!


We have a new sparrow--I have not looked him up yet but isn't he cute? I have only seen him a handful of times--the only other sparrow we get is a Chipping Sparrow.


Here is a Black Capped Chickadee that has been coming back around to see us.


And our faithful friends, the Cardinals are our favorites. I really love the female. Watching the pair together is touching--the way they seem to care for each other, the way the male brings her little pieces of corn.


I am not sure if we will see any new birds--we may have seen all of them in our backyard--except that elusive Pileated Woodpecker!

Meet the Smallest Bird in the World

This Hummingbird visits our feeder throughout the day.

Every time I see him, I smile.

Tweet! Trill! Whistle! Coo!

Chris was playing around with Picasa yesterday, and made this collage for our desktop background from all of our bird photos we have been taking. I love it, and had to share! Click on it to really enjoy it.