Blue Jay Babies Galore!

Hi everyone!

Today was a great day, out back.  A great day that is, if you like Blue Jays.  They were everywhere!  Well, at least it seemed like it.  They flew in almost immediately after the seed hit the feeder.  The Red Bellied Woodpecker made a brief appearance also, but it was mostly a Blue Jay day.

I believe that there's nothing more refreshing than hearing a baby bird calling for it's parent, looking for food.  Though it's nothing close to a melodic melody, the want and desire demonstrated by the loud and continual calling, chortling and chipping, conjures up, (for me) and total desire for food and a bird that will do well in the world.  This is the sound I put with the beginning of spring.

Here is the cutest baby that I saw today.  Like I said, it seemed they were everywhere!  Mom and Dad were never very far away and it looks like in a few days he will be on his own.  I hope he sticks around.  He already has a personality.

Spring Has Sprung...

.....or so my wife says.  She must be right however, either that or she can communicate with all the birds and have informed them that it's time to sing and dance and make babies!

In my downstairs travels there are many times when I don't see much.  In fact, that's more likely than not.  The neat thing however is that when I do see a lot of opportunities to get some good pictures they are everywhere!  My biggest problem at those times is not, "will I get a good picture?", it's more "where do I point my camera first?, who's the subject that I don't have a good photograph of?, or which one do I want to take photographs of first?"  Today was that sort of day!

Today's adventure started out at 9:30am.  I got up around 8:00am, stumbled around for about thirty minutes, made some coffee, got the bird food ready to take downstairs, took a shower, got dressed and headed downstairs to see who would like their picture taken?  I heard numerous different birds as I spilled the food on our platform feeder; Red Winged Blackbirds, a Red Bellied Woodpecker, a Northern Cardinal, and a few that I think were Titmice.

Secured into my usual spot, I waited.  It wasn't long until the Red Winged Blackbirds were dotting the oak tree directly in front of me, making their usual trills and whistles.  A few stopped on the feeder for a quick bite, then as quickly as they came, they left.  The next visitor was the Northern Cardinal.  I am always so pleased when the male comes to the feeder.  He's become very used to my presence and he isn't anywhere as shy as he used to be.

I got a quick glimpse of a shadow on the ground and suddenly, all was silent.  It was deafening!  In one moment there were approximately 100 or so birds sitting in front of me, stock still and not making a sound, when a few seconds before their songs filled the trees and surrounding area.  I scanned the sky for the shadow maker and never did find it.  After a wait of about 40 minutes, I gave up and came inside.

At about 2:00pm I again decided to try my photographic luck, so outback I went.  I'd noticed as I was getting up to get a second batch of birdseed ready that there was a raccoon on the feeder.  Note:  Though raccoons are pretty cool animals, this activity will put a damper on my bird feeding/picture taking excursion.

When I got downstairs the raccoon politely relinquished the bird feeder and moseyed off into the woods, following the stream to who knows where?  It was quiet; very quiet.  I did see some movement in the bushes to my right, and caught a quick glimpse of a Common Yellowthroat, but he never came out for his photo op!  As I stood there I wondered just how long it would be before an opportunity presented itself?  Thankfully I didn't have to wait long.

As if a switch was clicked, the chipping, chirping and chortling started.  It seemed louder than ever before.  A Gray Catbird came to the feeder for a quick bite, (I think a pumpkin seed), and then left to not return.  The Red Bellied Woodpecker came almost out of nowhere, grabbed a peanut and flew to his usual tree knot to pound it open.  This activity happened three times and every time it was, land, get a peanut and fly away.

My usual backyard birds were, all in all, very cooperative today.  Here are a few photographs.  Enjoy...

Backyard Awesomeness!

Nirvana!!  That's what describes today's backyard bird shoot.

I got up and was out back by 7:30am.  This time of the morning seemed to be a good time to put myself in position to get good photographs.  So there I stood.  Five minutes went by; nothing.  Ten minutes; more nothing.  At about the fifteen minute mark a lone Male Cardinal started singing in the distance.  Shortly thereafter a flock of about ten Red Winged Blackbirds flew in.  Though there were more females than males, the woods finally started to sound like it was coming alive.  As time went on there were more chips, chortles and squawks.  I recognized some and some were familiar but undistinguishable by me.  There was nothing to shoot, yet.

The feeder was full of food.  The usual mix was there and in addition I put some crumbled stale potato chips, finely crushed.  As time went on the bushes seemed to come alive.  I truly didn't know where to look.  Squirrels played to my left and a Catbird 'meowed' to my right.  I focused on the feeder.  Surely someone would land soon, wouldn't they?

The scrub to the right of where I was standing is a mix of various plants, most could be found if one were to leave their yard unmowed and unattended for say, a year or so.  The bushes grow to the height of about five to ten feet.  The undergrowth is sparse.  I suspect that this is because each plant has to fight for it's right to the available sunshine, growing quickly at first then bushing out as it reaches the proper lighting.  The birds don't seem to mind this.  In fact, they rather enjoy being able to fly under and hop quickly from branch to branch, near the ground without many branches in their way to obstruct them.

Movement to the right caught my eye.  It was a small bird.  I was thinking at first a Gray Catbird, but dismissed it as too large.  My next thought was that it was some kind of Warbler.  I could only catch a glimpse here and there of the bird and I was getting discouraged as identification seemed impossible.
I panned the camera to the right.  The bird moved.  More to the left this time.  The bird moved again.  This little bird was fast; faster than most.  I finally got a quick look at the wing pattern.  Stripes.  I saw some stripes.  The bird was clearly a Warbler of some kind, of this I was sure.

I'm not very knowledgable on each of the Warblers that inhabit the Orlando area, and I'm even worse at the seasonal visitors.  Clearly I need to brush up on them.  The peek-a-boo game continued for about thirty minutes.  In all of that time, there I was trying to catch more than a half second glimpse of a rather small brownish, grayish something.  Then it happened.  Whether the bird got tired of playing with me or just thought that the old guy deserved a break for all the peering and watching he was doing, out it popped into the open.  I moved the lens into position and I was staring at an empty branch.  ARGH!!!
I did get a brief look however.  I tried to commit what I'd seen to memory; black stripes on the face from the beak to the throat, finch-like bill, some white on the wing bars.  Not bad for a half second look, I thought.  However I was no closer to figuring out what bird it was.  This aggravation went on for about another twenty minutes.  In that time I again caught brief glimpses of this little bird, but nothing that would get me any closer to either a picture or an identification.

My attention was drawn quickly to the bird feeder where two Red Winged Blackbirds were creating a loud bird squabble.  As I spun the camera around in hopes of catching some of the action.  No luck.  The noise was the last part of the fight and they were both off in different directions to continue doing was Red Winged Blackbirds do.  As I glanced to the bushes again on my right, there it was, sitting in the shade, but at least it was out in the open.  I set the dials for the shot, focused the camera and held down the shutter button.  After two clicks the bird was gone.  Surely I'd gotten the shot.  I had to have.  I was right on it.  Wasn't I???

There's a word for immediately looking at your pictures after you take them to make sure you got the shot, (it escapes me now), but its amateurish and I don't do it.  However, this time is different.  I had to see this bird.  Clicking back three photographs seemed like the right spot to start.  There I found a picture of an empty branch.  Did I go far enough back?  The next picture was the same branch.  I know I took a picture of the bird.  It was there when I pushed the button.  In the third picture there was a bird.  Well I think it was a bird?  It sort of looked like what I would imagine a bird would look like for the first two seconds in a blender!  BLUR!!  ALL BLUR!!!   ARRRRRRRGH!!!!

After a short temper tantrum, (said under my breath and what I said I'm not proud of),  I again went back to observing the woods.  There it was again.  Farther away this time, but in the sunlight, then out of the sunlight, then in the sunlight.  This is getting old, I thought.  It's playing with me.

Another small bird flew into the tree directly in front of me and lighted on a branch right over my head. I knew this bird; a Blue Gray Gnatcatcher.  It seemed he was faster than my nemesis but he was out in the open.  There was nowhere for him to hide.  After a series of shots I had him.  No need to look at those!  A quick glance to my right took my breath away.  There he was sitting on a twig not ten feet from me.  I set the camera and again held down the button.  You're not getting away this time, I said under my breath.  Then he was gone.

This scenario happened three times today, all at different times and all with different birds.  After a quick search in my handy dandy bird book, (Sibley), the bird was identified as a House Wren.  The second bird was a Prairie Warbler and the third was a Common Yellowthroat.

The beauty of it was that they all turned out to be "lifers" for me, (birds that were on my life list that I hadn't seen yet with my own two eyes).   What a day!!  I'm so happy that they were there and I was too!!  The photographs aren't the best I've seen, but they will allow you to identify the birds as I did.

Enjoy!!

Sometimes Only A Few Birds

Howdy!

Today was an interesting day attempting to take photographs out back.  I was initially greeted by silence, complete silence.  No bird songs.  No birds flitting from tree to tree.  No birds moving here and there in the undergrowth.  Nothing.  This lasted for about ten minutes.  Let me also inform you that ten minutes waiting for anything is a long time.  Especially when that "anything" is something that happens in a split second and lasts about that long.

At first it was a chip here and a chip there, then slowly as if each and every bird knew the plan and were watching, sound started to come from the left, then the right, then it seemed from every direction.  Just when I thought that things were back to normal, it stopped again.  Silence.  Deafening silence.   I panned the area looking for anything that could cause seemingly hundreds of birds to suddenly get quiet.  Then, as if on queue, here he came, as silent as the air around him.

For a feral cat, he was a beauty.  Calico by color and a tiger by attitude.  It was if he owned the copse.  The birds clearly knew him and his reputation.  Even the Blue Jays in the area watched in silence, (something that they seldom do), as he walked purposefully to an area under my bird feeder.  I made a "phishing" sound to let him know I was there.  It didn't seem to bother him.  In fact, he barely even seemed to care.  Oh sure, he looked at me, but it was as if to say, "This is my woods and for the time being, I'll let you stay".

When he stopped under the feeder the woods again came alive.  It was as if by some indistinguishable head nod or blink or flick of the ear, all the birds suddenly knew it wasn't them he was after.  They were right.  He wanted the few bits of kibble, (cat food) that I mix into the birdseed daily.  He seemed to also know that only a few birds ate kibble and the rest wound up on the copse floor, almost calling his name.

He didn't stay long and as purposefully as he came, he went.  I'd never seen him before.  The wife said that he's been around for a while, but this was our first encounter.  He was a polite gentleman and he certainly can stay as long as he doesn't bother any of my feathered friends.

Welcome to the neighborhood, Mr. Confidence, (Mr. C).

Garden Wars

This is a very serious post.  Okay, not so much, but it's pretty serious for the participants that I observed yesterday.  It's the classic struggle of predator versus prey.  Now please don't be upset by the fact that the prey in this instance is beautiful.  Many beautiful creatures die on a daily basis so that others can live.

The predator in this instance is a anole, (more commonly incorrectly identified as a chameleon or "Fraggle").  The prey is a beautiful Viceroy butterfly, (more commonly and again incorrectly identified as a "Monarch").

As I stood out back, watching the feeder in my usual state of anticipation, I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a movement in the bushes to my right.  There, posed on a small twig, recently cut by the maintenance workers here at the apartment, an anole.  I almost didn't see him.  He was brown; very, very brown.  He tried to blend in with the twig, but in his overzealousness overshot the color and blended in more with the ground, which he was no where near, perched atop this twig.  He didn't seem to mind, because on a leaf close by was the object of his attention; a Viceroy butterfly.

As he watched, not moving, the butterfly flitted up and down and all around, seemingly to almost tease the anole.  Yet, he didn't move.  It was as if he knew something.  It was as if he knew that in time, he would be close enough to capture this delightful prize for lunch.

The butterfly seemed to be oblivious to the anole.  First he flitted close, then quickly away, then back again, almost lighting on his head.  I watched in anticipation wishing that the butterfly would just fly away.  He was so beautiful!  However, I then immediately felt sorry for the anole.  He was probably hungry and needed to gnosh a bit.

This scenario went on for about an hour.  Luckily for the butterfly another victim wandered into the lair of the anole and was quickly snatched and eaten.  He then moved on.  To him, this was just another day of hunting.  To me, a wonderful lesson in patience.  "Good things come to he who waits."


Or so they say...

The First Post of 2013

Hello people!

This year I'm going to try and be more diligent in posting to this blog.  I thought I did a pretty good job last year, but looking back there were large gaps in the posts and that's probably why only two of you follow me, (and one is my sister).  Going forward I will do my best to post at least once every couple of weeks.

This being the first post of the new year, it's only fitting that it was a GREAT day in the backyard birding extravaganza!!  First, a yellow variant, (who knew) House Finch graced my feeder and actually came back twice for some millet.  I took his picture then ran upstairs to research what I'd captured!?!  I was really surprised and delighted.  Add another lifer to my list!

I went back out almost immediately and found that the birds were, as the day moved on, getting less and less cooperative.  There were the usual visitors; Red Winged Blackbirds, (mostly females), and Northern Cardinals, (two pair) and a Mourning Dove or three, but there were also Catbirds and quite a few Warblers in the bushes and trees that surround my feeder.

The avian population was in full force and even the fauna was out and about today.  I think it's because it wasn't very hot and the wind was blowing.  That seems to stir things up a bit here.  Regardless of the reason, there were squirrels and raccoons on the feeder today, in the daylight, eating and having a good old time!



Tomorrow I'm setting up my lighting equipment and I'll try to capture some in flight landings on the feeder.  Stay tuned!

Christmas Feeder Visitors - 2012

Hello everyone!  It's been quite a while since my last post on here and I apologize to any/all of you who check on a regular or semi-regular basis for updates.  It's been quite a 2012 and I'm clearly looking forward to starting a new year.

Today I ventured out back to see what bird sightings awaited me.  I added slivered almonds to the usual mix of seed, as both a Christmas treat for the birds, and also to see if I could entice any new visitors.  I'm sad to report that no new visitors appeared, but today wasn't a total loss as far as bird photography goes.

The first visitor to the feeder was, as usual, a Northern Cardinal, (female).  She comes to the feeder daily and she isn't shy.  She's been known to go toe-to-toe with Mourning Doves and Common Grackles for her share of the seed.  Today was no different.  She seem however to be somewhat distracted when she first arrived.  Note:  It could have been the Red Shouldered Hawk that's been strafing the feeder sporadically, looking for a tasty morsel on the wing.  Today however, there were no hawk sightings so the Northern Cardinal female stayed quite a while eating her usual shelled sunflower seeds.  She'd grab a seed, fly to a nearby tree, eat the seed, then come back and do it all over again.  This went on for quite a while.

Her husband, (a big assumption on my part), the male Northern Cardinal arrived after about ten minutes and helped himself on some of the almonds.  After a few he went back to his usual black sunflower seeds and seemed quite happy with them.  He didn't stay as long, but he enjoyed his time until he had to chase another male
Cardinal from the area.

A little bird, (I am not yet as to the identification, though some people think it's a Palm Warbler), came while the Cardinals were there and ate quite a bit of millet.  Note:  If anyone can positively identify this bird, I would appreciate it.  He/she only comes during the winter months to my feeder, (Orlando, Florida) and he/she is very quick and will give a high pitched, "chip, chip, chip" when leaving the feeder.

Common Grackles and Red Winged Blackbirds also came to the feeder today and were, as usual, quite piggish.  All in all it was a successful outing, albeit quite short.  I will attempt another at the end of this week.  There seem to be some bird sounds in the copse I don't recognize.




Stay tuned...