Wordless Wednesday

Tags

dark-eyed junco, house finch, photography, postaday, white-breasted nuthatch

White-breasted Nuthatch.

Dark-eyed Junco.

House Finch.

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Flu Season and Birds

Tags

carolina chickadee, dark-eyed junco, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, great blue heron, photography, postaday

The flu has forced me to stay home these past two weeks and I have not gone out to take any picture, or visited your posts as often as before. The following photos are the results of my editing of recent shots of backyard birds that show some different views of the two most common visitors to our feeder in the winter.

Dark-eyed Junco.

Carolina Chickadee.

About two weeks ago, I also caught a Great Blue Heron jumping around a pond, probably on a fishing expedition.

Great Blue Heron.

Great Blue Heron.

Great Blue Heron.

Great Blue Heron.

Great Blue Heron.

Birds in Fourth Nor’Easter

Tags

dark-eyed junco, downy woodpecker, photography, postaday, tufted titmouse, white-throated sparrow

It’s been snowing since early this morning and will not stop until late tonight. So far, eight hours into our fourth Nor’Easter only about 5 inches of snow fell, but the forecast is calling for at least double that by the time the storm ends.

As usual, I cleaned and stocked the bird feeder with sunflower seeds and all the usual birds came, emptying half of the feeder by the end of the day. I did not miss the opportunity to take some photos as they posed among the magnolia branches.

Downy Woodpecker.

Downy Woodpecker.

Dark-eyed Junco.

White-throated Sparrow.

Tufted Titmouse.

Birds in Snowstorm

Tags

dark-eyed junco, european starling, nor'easter, photography, postaday

This week a second Nor’Easter dumped heavy snow in our region, with as much as 2 ft (60 cm) in some areas, but much less in coastal areas. I stocked up the bird feeder and many birds braved snow and wind to come during the storm.

Here are some shots of the birds. It was so dark I had to use the flash.

European Starling.

European Starling.

Dark-eyed Junco.

Dark-eyed Juncos on Snowy Day

Tags

dark-eyed junco, photography, postaday

On a snowy day three years ago, I watched the birds flock to our feeder. Traffic was heavy, with the Dark-eyed Juncos being the most assiduous and energetic. With my camera on a tripod from inside the house I tried to get shots of them flying and competing for seeds.

Dark-eyed Junco preparing to land.

Food fight?

Four Birds from Three Years Ago

Tags

dark-eyed junco, northern cardinal, nuthatch, photography, postaday, white-throated sparrow

I took the following photos in 2015 on the 11th of February. Today, going through my archives and seeing them, I am surprised I had not posted them at that time.

Female Northern Cardinal. In other shots, it was obvious that she was blind in her left eye.

Nuthatch.

White-throated Sparrow.

Dark-eyed Junco.

The Red and the Black

Tags

dark-eyed junco, northern cardinal, photography, postaday

Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black) is the title of a novel published in 1830 by the French writer Stendhal. That said, the following two images have nothing to do with the book.

The Red, a Northern Cardinal.

The Black, a Dark-eyed Junco.

More Snow

Tags

dark-eyed junco, photography, postaday, white-throated sparrow

It was a balmy 19 °F (-7 °C) this morning, but without the wind it was bearable. I did not have to wear too many layers when I took Jackie out. They do predict more snow tonight, but then temperatures will rise by 20 degrees or so in the next several days, a much welcomed heat wave.

Meanwhile the snow that fell last week has not melted much, as you can see in the following photos of birds that are not red Cardinals.

Dark-eyed Junco.

White-throated Sparrow.

White-throated Sparrow.

Study in Red

Tags

dark-eyed junco, norther cardinal, photography, postaday

Here are several more shots of a male Northern Cardinal trying to survive through the blizzard of 2018.

Northern Cardinal.

Northern Cardinal.

Northern Cardinal.

Northern Cardinal.

Northern Cardinal, photo bombed by Dark-eyed Junco.

Small Birds

Tags

carolina chickadee, dark-eyed junco, photography, postaday

One consequence of the cold that has been gripping our region is that all open water is frozen and the birds have a hard time finding water to drink. I saw a Carolina Chickadee jump on one of our deck railing next to the feeder, and it hesitated for a moment looking at some melted snow.

Carolina Chickadee: “Should I, should I not?”

Then it decided to go ahead and drink. The bird feeder was only a couple feet away but it ignored it.

Carolina Chickadee drinking snow melt.

A Dark-eyed Junco was nearby, perhaps waiting its turn.

Dark-eyed Junco.

Another Dar-eyed Junco  was perched on a magnolia branch, all puffed up like a toy bird.

Dark-eyed Junco.

Juncos, Chickadee, Blue Jay

Tags

b;lue jay carolina chickadee, dark-eyed junco, photography, postaday

The following three kinds of birds are regular visitors to our feeder, especially when it snows like it did yesterday. Not much fell, less than 2 inches (5 cm), but enough to double my commute time and to cover everything with a white coat that has already melted by a half today.

Dark-eyed Junco taking off near bird feeder.

Dark-eyed Junco posing.

Unlike the Juncos who only come in the winter, Carolina Chickadees live all year round in our area, and there may be more of them than of any other bird.

Carolina Chickadee.

Then Blue Jays, of course, with their piercing jeers as they call one another.

Blue Jay.

Blue Jay checking the photographer.

Birds in Snowstorm, and a Deer

Tags

cardinal, carolina chickadee, dark-eyed junco, deer, photography, postaday, snowstorm, tufted titmouse

In the end we only got 4 inches (10 cm) of snow as it was too warm and the storm started out as rain spattering on our roof in the middle of the night. Our feathered friends gathered around the feeder and tried to make the best of it.

Female Cardinal.

Dark-eyed Junco.

Tufted Titmouse.

Carolina Chickadee.

Young deer. This was actually taken at the end of another storm a few weeks ago.

Some Backyard Birds

Tags

cardinal, dark-eyed junco, house sparrow, photography, postaday, tutfted titmouse

The May like temperatures of the last few days, reaching as high as the 80F’s (27 C) brought good light and birds to our backyard. Here are a few shots that I took a couple days ago, directly outside and not through the glass of the patio door.

Cardinal at bird feeder.

This is the same Dark-eyed Junco that had a cyst under its left wing.

House Sparrow on magnolia branch.

Tufted Titmouse on magnolia branch.

House Sparrow on deck.

Cured?

Tags

dark-eyed junco, photography, postaday

At the beginning of this year, you may remember that I posted the following picture of a Dark-eyed Junco with a very visible growth on its left side.

What is wrong with the left side of this Junco?

Since then I hadn’t been seeing it and was thinking the worst could have happened. However, today, I noticed a Junco that had the same lopsided gait, and took the following photos. If it is the same bird, the tumor is no longer visible, and only a few feathers are still sticking out.

Dark-eyed Junco, with left wing higher than right one.

Dark-eyed Junco with tumor no longer visible.

If it is the same bird, this Junco is a resilient bird indeed, appearing so bravely in a very cold an windy day. If it could talk, perhaps it could tell us volumes about how to cure tumors.

Blizzard of 2016: Other Birds and Aftermath

Tags

blizzard, bluejay, cardinal, dark-eyed junco, jones, photography, postaday, red-bellied woodpecker, sparrow, tufted titmouse

The blizzard of 2016, Jonas, turned out to be one for the records. The amount of snow dumped on our region approached or even exceeded all-time records dating back to the 19th century. I did not measure it at our house, but it took us three and a half hours to clear our driveway, even with a snowblower and three of us working.

Here are a few photos of some of the birds that came to our backyard during the blizzard, with all photos taken through the patio glass door, not an optimal setting.

Blue Jay. One of its feathers was torn loose.

Cardinal. He was brilliant red!

Dark-eyed Junco.

Sparrow.

Tufted Titmouse.

Red-bellied Woodpecker, with Dark-eyed Juncos around it.

Our deck this morning, after Jonas passed through.

Finally, another shot of that cute Blue Jay.

Blue Jay.

Dark-eyed Juncos Fighting

Tags

dark-eyed junco, juncos, photography, postaday

Juncos are winter sparrows, and they have the same feistiness of the ordinary urban sparrow. Today it was snowy and rainy outside, with temperatures soon to go into the 20’s. The juncos were out in force, with two of them suddenly fighting for food, for no apparent reason. I took the following three shots within less than a second.

Fighting Juncos 1

Fighting Juncos 2

Fighting Juncos 3

After these shots, the fight lasted perhaps a second more but the two birds had flown to the right and up, out of the camera’s sight.