bird feeding
All posts tagged bird feeding
Our Red-Bellied Woodpecker using what he’s got to pick up lunch.
I finally got a presentable photo of our Red-Bellied Woodpecker! Here he uses what he’s got to get to the sunflower chips in my feeder: Head and neck inside the cage, long beak with even longer insect-grabbing tongue stretched inside the caged feeder, picking up lunch.
We’re near, rather beyond the time when I withdraw my bird feeder from use leaving the birds to fend for themselves over the warmer months.
The bird feeder has been busy. I have not been busy. So I shot a good number of photos of birds at or near the bird feeder, only a few feet from my office window.
Several larger birds have escaped me because they cannot fit inside the wire fence cylinder that protects the feeder from squirrels and deer. The bigger birds show up and quickly leave, seeking treats elsewhere; they include Bluejays and a Red Bellied Woodpecker. The woodpecker has landed on the cage occasionally and used its pointed beak and long tongue to retrieve a morsel or two but he’s usually here and gone before I can grab my camera.
Waiting His Turn. Male American Goldfinch waits for a feeding station to open so that he can have a meal.
Oops! Male House Finch drops a morsel of food and yes, he did watch it drop and went down after it!
Feed Me? Mourning Dove is perched looking for spilled seed to scavenge. The green coloration is light reflected from lawn grass below.
Mr. Cardinal — Northern Cardinal looks for snacks.
Tailfeathers. I don’t like to admit how often happens.
Cooper’s Hawk frustrated by low hedge!
There was some excitement this dreary afternoon as this Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) first perched on a small tree in our front yard to stake out our bird feeder; then chased a couple of sparrows into a nearby row of barberries (seen here). This time the little birds escaped, rocketing out in separate directions at ground level from beneath the thicket and the predator. A pile of gray feathers beneath the bird feeder a couple of weeks ago were evidence that a Mourning Dove wasn’t so lucky as today’s sparrows. (Image shot though window glass and screen.)
Goldfinches nab morsels from our bird feeder on a gray November day.
The pace of the kitchen/home remodeling project has slowed to a crawl. As we all await delivery of the Cambria solid surface cabinet tops, the contractor has dispatched his crew to other jobs. I get to paint many, many feet of trim and shoe moulding to replace the old stuff, torn out during re-flooring. The painting isn’t difficult, really, and the acrylic enamel paint isn’t even smelly; the difficulty comes in handling all those 15-foot lengths of millwork as I paint them, allow them to dry, then attempt to store until they are installed — hopefully later this week! In the mean time, I clean and paint the moulding and while it dries, I pursue other activities such as preparing a postal mailing for the annual bicycle events calendar. I also hope to assemble my annual photo-calendar which will be available for purchase beginning in December. Returning from today’s errand run, I spied birds on our feeder and hauled out the Canon G11 for a quick snapshot or two. The Cardinals and Blue Jays were camera-shy and took flight but the smaller Goldfinches stayed in the tree, eventually returning to grab morsels of seed. It’s a gray, chilly day out there, perfect for indoor projects.
PhotonStopper 