Variety Is The Spice Of Life

It's a great day when I can spend time out back, leisurely taking pictures of birds at our feeders.  Today was such a day and though I didn't spend a lot of time out there, I was lucky enough to have plenty of opportunities to get some great pictures.

There were many visitors early this morning.  First was the Northern Cardinal, who is usually first.  They clearly get up with the sun and are calling, (sometimes I think to wake me up), before daybreak.  It was still not quite fully light when I made it out there this morning and according to all the noise I was greeted by, I slept in!  I put our usual mix of seed on both feeders and waited.

It wasn't long before the Northern Cardinal was peeking at me from the recesses of the underbrush.  A thin line of morning light briefly lit up his face and alerted me to his presence.  It's surprising that a bird so vibrantly red can blend in so well in a mostly green environment.  The next visitor was the Gray Catbird.  As usual, the time spent on the feeder by this bird was minimal, (seconds), but just long enough to allow me one photograph.

As the light started to build, the Red Winged Blackbirds began to fly in, and with them came a few Common Grackles and House Finches.  The squirrels were next to arrive.  We are lucky in that the squirrels in our neighborhood are very polite and take turns on the feeders, never causing a problem and never discouraging their avian neighbors from feeding.

It was a morning where many different birds came to feed and none left hungry.  The Mourning Doves arrived sometime during the Red Wing Blackbird fly-in and patiently waiting high in the oak tree until the feeders were somewhat vacant.  The female Painted Buntings waited in the underbrush and the Pine Warbler did as well.

I went upstairs after about 45 minutes and downloaded my pictures.  I started dinner and went to the store for some necessary dessert items.  While there I purchased a bag of peanuts, (with shell).  I put the groceries away and made sure that dinner was cooking nicely, grabbed another container of birdseed and this time added the peanuts.

I am convinced that peanuts give off a call to the Blue Jay's in the area that seems to say, "Eat me!  I'm out here for you", because it wasn't but a few seconds and three arrived.  The peanuts didn't stand a chance!  They were gone within minutes.
 
All in all it was a great time today!  I got many pictures and built up my gallery of backyard birds.  Tomorrow morning I will be out there even earlier in an attempt to get the Red Bellied Woodpecker that alluded me today, (coming and stealing a seed or two only when I was upstairs)!