Today I got up with the good intentions of going out back early to get some awesome pictures as the sun rose and the birds fed. Good intentions sometimes don't happen. For one reason or another, it took me until after 4:30pm to grab my camera and head out back for some photo-ops.
It's really a good thing that the birds in my backyard don't hold grudges, as I heard them yelling this morning at around 7:00am for food. I'm sure that they are not pleased with me and my laziness. However, you wouldn't have known it by the way that they came almost immediately when the food hit the feeder.They were mostly the usual guests, but it being Springtime, one could always hope to see a surprise visitor every now and then.
The Red Bellied Woodpecker, (Woody as we call him), came first. He's polite and usually only takes one or two peanuts before flying off to eat them in a near by pine tree. Then the Blue Jays came. There were both parents and fledglings, (probably by now an inappropriate term as they fledged about a week ago), and they were hungry. They challenged the squirrel and the Mourning Doves for the food, which is unusual for them.
The surprise visitor was a newly fledged Greater Mockingbird. This little guy's eyes haven't yet changed to the golden hue of it's parents yet, and it still has a mottled chest, much like a Wood Thrush. This will change in the next week or so, but today he/she was there, on the feeder, picking through the seeds for what I can only assume were little bugs. I saw him/her take no seeds.A young raccoon made an appearance also. They're cute but I'm always cautious of them in the daylight. This one loves peanuts and was chased away twice so I could get some pics.
It was a great day. Tomorrow I'll again get up early. Perhaps I can talk myself into going out back for a while before breakfast!
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