Many Things Avian

At 7:30am it was raining slightly when I first attempted to head out back for a quick morning photo shoot.  Upon feeling the raindrops I used a bit of discretion and decided to wait for a little while to see if it would clear up.  The birds were not deterred by the rain.  In fact, they were louder than ever, it seemed.  I could hear Red Winged Blackbirds, Blue Jays, Northern Cardinals and even this morning, a Northern Mockingbird.  The Northern Mockingbird has been absent of late, around the feeder, so hearing it's melodic tune was quite a surprise.

I again tried to venture out around 8:45am.  It seemed brighter out then and the rain had abated, for now.  I grabbed my two remote peanut flashes and put one on each feeder.  I attached my Canon 580II to my camera and headed downstairs with my usual mix of birdseed.  This morning however I'd added a few sprinkles of Raisin Bran to see if anyone noticed.

The copse was alive with activity.  Squirrels were playing in the trees, the Gray Catbird was hopping from branch to branch in the undergrowth, peeking out every once in a while to keep it's eye on me, the male and female Northern Cardinal were out also, chipping to one another, back and forth.  The Red Winged Blackbirds were also here in abundance.  Some Common Grackles seemed to be intermixed within the flock and everyone seemed hungry.

It wasn't long before birds started showing great interest in the food on the feeders.  First the female cardinal, (it seems that she's the braver than the male), came and grabbed a few sunflower seeds and flitted to a nearby branch.  That seemed to be the signal they were waiting for.  For about thirty minutes it was a feeding free-for-all!  Then, as quickly as it started, it stopped.  No worries for me however, my photographic experiment seemed to work out just fine.  Note:  Only the Gray Catbird seemed to be the least bit interested in the Raisin Bran.  He grabbed one raisin and didn't appear at the feeders again, while I was out there.

Though I only stayed outside for a brief amount of time, I captured some great shots of our daily visitors.  I even saw a couple of House Finches in the bushes, but they stayed out of camera range.   They are a new visitor to the area.  I've only seen them once before.  I'm not worried though.  I'll get them yet!

I now have a quest!!!