I honestly hadn’t expected to post pictures again so soon, but the birds have been so very active today, I couldn’t resist. (I’m going to have to add “Birding” as a category, I think.)
First, I had a flock (a murmuration?) of starlings.
Starlings on the ground
Starlings taking flight
A whole flock of starlings on the lawn across the street
Then the female cardinal came along, and I had to grab a picture for Margaret. And about then, I saw a new woodpecker. Judging by the pictures in Sibley’s Field Guide, he’s a red-bellied woodpecker.
Female cardinal and male red-bellied woodpecker
We have quite a flock of mourning doves in the neighborhood, too. (I was tempted to see about squab for dinner, but there are a few problems: hunting season ended January 1, you can’t use snares, and using any sort of bait is illegal. So they shall just continue to fatten themselves on the seeds on the ground.)
Mourning doves in the tree (along with a hairy woodpecker)
Mourning doves clustered on the ground
A blue jay’s been hopping about, too, for the first time in weeks, but he was a bit camera shy, so my picture of him isn’t nearly as good.
Blue jay at the feeder
I like the birds!
Thanks!
Better than the movies 😀
And harder to turn off! 😉
Since I’ve moved to AZ I have fewer birds in my back yard and fewer species. There is the rare sighting of a cardinal. More prevalent in my back yard are Western Jays, juncos, crows, and unidentified birds. That’s the winter bird count. Summer brings other birds.
Western birds might be better at hiding, staying undercover so they’re not exposed. 😉
I don’t think we had as much variety in Nevada, although it could be that I wasn’t looking. I remember gulls, robins, sparrows, jays, and hawks. But I heard others talking about cowbirds, and there were probably finches and wrens and chickadees. Never did see a mountain bluebird, though.
The bluejays are late this year, but we’ve had a few fly-overs from the starlings and chickadees … gorgeous critters, birds. Thanks for the pics. 🙂
Any time. 🙂
I’ll try to get pics of the starlings later in the year, when their breeding plumage comes in — love the iridescent heads!