Backyard Birds 2020

Tags

carolina chickadee, chipping sparrow, Eastern Bluebird, northern cardinal, photography, postaday, tufted titmouse

Among our backyard birds, a couple of Eastern Bluebirds are setting up their nest in a birdhouse right in the back of our family room. Here are some shots of them, taken this past weekend.

Female Bluebird.

Male Bluebird.

Female Bluebird.

There are other birds which come to the birdfeeder, sometimes landing on the Yellow Magnolia tree to wait for their turn.

Male Northern Cardinal.

Carolina Chickadee.

Tufted Titmouse.

Chipping Sparrow.

Red and Other Birds

Tags

northern cardinal, photography, postaday, Purple Finch, tufted titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch

These are recent photos of a few birds that come frequently to our bird feeder.

Purple Finch.

White-breasted Nuthatch.

Tufted Titmouse.

Northern Cardinal, male.

Northern Cardinal, female.

Small Birds in Snow Storm

Tags

american goldfinch, caroline chickadee, northern cardinal, photography, postaday, white-breasted nuthatch

Even though temperatures plunged and the wind was fierce, our area only got a dusting of snow. I filled the bird feeder beforehand, and for the past two days bird traffic picked up significantly, even while snow was falling. All the birds looked fluffier and bigger than in warmer months.

American Goldfinch.

Female Northern Cardinal, with Junco and Sparrow in background.

Male Northern Cardinal during a squall.

Male Northern Cardinal, in a moment of temporary calm.

Carolina Chickadee.

White-breasted Nuthatch.

Silent Sunday

Tags

northern cardinal, photography, postaday, silent sunday

Beach sculpture.

Leaves in winter.

Female Northern Cardinal.

Handsome Red

Tags

northern cardinal, photography, postaday

This male Northern Cardinal was perched on the magnolia branches near the bird feeder. He easily outshone the other nearby birds: female Northern Cardinal, Carolina Chickadee, House Finches, White-breasted Nuthatch, Dark-eyed Juncos, and so on.

Northern Cardinal.

A scratch was needed.

Feeling better!

Ready for a feast.

Northern Cardinal

Tags

northern cardinal, photography, postaday

Today the sky was mostly cloudy and it was rather nippy outside. A lot of birds came to our bird feeder. At one time, as I walked by the patio door, I saw three bright red Northern Cardinals perched on the magnolia tree, waiting for their turn. I got my camera out and started shooting, first with the 1.4 extender attached to the lens.

Male Northern Cardinal.

Male Northern Cardinal.

Male Northern Cardinal.

Two hours later, they were still flying in and out. This time I did not use the 1.4 extender.

Male Northern Cardinal.

Male Northern Cardinal.

Female Northern Cardinal landing on a branch. Her right leg is motion blurred.

I prefer the shots taken without the 1.4 extender as they are noticeably sharper, which will come in handy with large-size prints for framing.  However, the ones with the extender are really not too bad.

2018 Unpublished Photos

Tags

american robin, blue jay, cosmos, great egret, mallard, montezuma national wildlife refuge, northern cardinal, photography, postaday

In 2018, some of my photos did not appear on this blog, normally because I didn’t want to have too many in any post. Now at year end, looking at them, some actually deserve to be shown, and here they are.

Northern Cardinal in January 2018.

Mallard mother and ducklings, May 2018.

Great Egret at Montezuma NWR, September 2018.

American Robin, November 2018.

Blue Jay, November 2018.

Cosmos brought inside, October 2018.

Some Favorites of 2018

Tags

Black-crowned Night Heron, golden retriever, gosling, great blue heron, great sand dunes national park, lotus, northern cardinal, osprey, photography, postaday, squirrel

The following photos are some of the favorites that you, my WordPress readers, have either liked the posts where they were posted in, clicked on their images to see them in larger size, or mentioned them in your comments.

Northern Cardinal, June 2018.

White Lotus, August 2018.

Ospreys, June 2018.

Goslings, May 2018.

Black-crowned Night-Heron, August 2018.

Great Sand Dunes National Park, October 2015.

Great Blue Heron, December 2018.

Squirrel, October 2018.

Jackie, the Golden Retriever, and frisbee, April 2018.

Early Birds – 2

Tags

house finch, northern cardinal, photography, postaday

This evening, I tried to shoot more photos near the bird feeder, and surprised two birds, one full of color, the other blander.

A Northern Cardinal flew in and landed on a magnolia branch. It shook itself as if to get rid of some water, and that’s when I took this photo. He was one of the reddest Cardinals I have ever seen.

Northern Cardinal.

A young female House Finch did not see me until I took her picture.

Female House Finch.

Early Birds

Tags

blue jay, carolina chickadee, house finch, northern cardinal, photography, postaday

This morning, I went out on the deck and took pictures of the early birds that came for breakfast. Some looked very young, and they may be this year’s fledglings.

Blue Jay.

Northern Cardinal: “Peekaboo!”

Blue Jay: “I see you!”

Young male House Finch.

Young Carolina Chickadee.

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.

Blue Jays and Others

Tags

blue jay, house sparrow, northern cardinal, photography, postaday

I still have not ventured out since coming down with the flu. There may also be quite a few people similarly afflicted for the local pharmacy shelves have been laid bare of the more popular flu and cold medicines. The weather has not been cooperating either, being mostly cold, snowy at times, and windy almost always. This has given me time to cull through some recent shots of Blue Jays and other birds in our backyard.

Blue Jay.

Blue Jay.

Blue Jay.

Young House Sparrow.

Female Northern Cardinal.

Male Northern Cardinal.

Pretty Cardinal

Tags

northern cardinal, photography, postaday

The thaw did not last long, and our January freeze is back. However, a very pretty female Northern Cardinal made up for all the cold and dreariness of winter.

Female Northern Cardinal.

Female Northern Cardinal.

Wordless Wednesday

Tags

northern cardinal, photography, postaday

Northern Cardinal, male.

Northern Cardinal, male.

Cardinals After Blizzard

Tags

northern cardinal, photography, postaday

Yesterday the blizzard started at 6 AM and ended a few minutes after 3 PM, after dumping about 5 inches (12 cm) in our area, but up to 17 inches (42 cm) in other counties closer to the ocean.

Once the snow stopped blowing around, I refilled the bird feeder. There were so many birds that the sunflower seeds were gone in a day as compared to 3-5 days normally.

With their brilliant colors, Northern Cardinals stood out against the snow, so I opened the patio door a crack and photographed several that came close to the feeder.

Male Northern Cardinal.

I had spilled some seeds on a table. A male Cardinal took his time eating those seeds.

Male Northern Cardinal.

Male Northern Cardinal.

A female Northern Cardinal waited patiently for her turn.

Female Northern Cardinal.

Female Northern Cardinal.

Male Northern Cardinal, looking at camera after he had his fill.

Cardinals in Blizzard

Tags

2018 blizzard, northern cardinal, photography, postaday

The first blizzard of 2018 is in full force outside. I can hear it as I write these words. Earlier I saw a couple of Northern Cardinals near the bird feeder. I took their pictures through the patio glass door.

Northern Cardinal on magnolia branch during blizzard.

Mr. Red on snow covered deck railing.

Same pose, Mrs. Red.

Female Northern Cardinal on magnolia branch.

Red and Blue

Tags

blue jay, northern cardinal, photography, postaday, tufted titmouse

Not much snow fell, somewhat less than 2 in (5 cm), but the cold is staying with temperatures in the teens and twenties (-10 C to -5 C). Nothing is melting. Many birds came to our feeder, and I even saw a new one that was gray with black wings. It was too quick and only appears as a blur in a shot I took.

But Mr. Blue and Mr. Red were there of course and lingered long enough for me to photograph them leisurely.

Blue Jay.

Mr. Red especially took his time, even checking out the photographer several times.

Northern Cardinal.

Northern Cardinal.

Northern Cardinal.

A Tufted Titmouse patiently waited for its turn at the feeder.

Tufted Titmouse.

Weekly Photyo Challenge: 2017 Favorites

Tags

barnegat lighthouse state park, northern cardinal, postaday, weekly photo challenge

The URL for this challenge is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/2017-favorites/

In early May 2017, I went to Barnegat Lighthouse Park and walked the short (0.2 mi) Maritime Forest Trail looking for birds to photograph. Suddenly a red bird, a male Northern Cardinal flew by with a seed in his bill. He went to a branch on which a female was already perched and began to feed her in a gesture of love and courtship, as you can see in the following shots.

Northern Cardinals.

Northern Cardinals. Her eyes say it all.

Two Red Birds

Tags

house finch, northern cardinal, photography, postaday

The first one if not red all over, but the House Finch is one of the more dominant birds in our neighborhood. They are also not native to our area, but over the years have migrated from the West Coast to the East Coast.

Male House Finch.

A Northern Cardinal, all red except for some black patches around its beak, stands out especially well amid the whiteness of yesterday’s snow.

Northern Cardinal.

Cardinal and Other Birds This Winter

Tags

blue jay, downy woodpecker, house finch, house sparrow, junco, northern cardinal, photography, postaday, tufted titmouse

Today skies are mostly sunny and snow is melting at a good pace. I took the opportunity to photograph the various birds that come to our feeder all day long.

Blue Jay, checking out the bird feeder. They rule the place and whenever they land, all other birds scatter away.

Blue Jay.

Junco about to jump.

Female Downy Woodpecker.

Female House Finch.

Male House Finch.

House Sparrow.

Tufted Titmouse, working on a sunflower seed.

Finally, the one and the only Northern Cardinal, resplendent in colors rivaling its human counterparts in Rome.

Northern Cardinal.

Cardinal in Winter

Tags

northern cardinal, photography, postaday

Snow fell today in our region for the first time this winter. We did not get much, maybe 4 inches (10 cm), but the sky was gray all day and although many birds came to our feeder I did not try to take their pictures. So here are a couple shots of a Northern Cardinal from last year, under similar weather. The banner shot is also from last year.

Northern Cardinal.

Northern Cardinal. Same guy, different pose.

Red Hot Summer

Tags

northern cardinal, photography, postaday

It was 101 °F (38 °C) when I got out of work this afternoon. The following photos of a handsome Northern Cardinal who has been coming to our bird feeder is illustrative of the red hot summer we have been enduring over these past few days.

Northern Cardinal.

Northern Cardinal.

Cooling rains are coming this weekend.

Backyard Birds

Tags

goldfinch, house finch, northern cardinal, photography, postaday

Lately our weather has been nothing but rain and clouds, so I have not gone out much, relying on the birds around our bird feeder to pose for photographs. They did not disappoint.

Goldfinch.

A moody House Finch.

Northern Cardinal.

House Finch.

Young female House Finch with stray feather.

This last one is not a bird, although it would like to be one to get at the food.

Squirrel at bird feeder.

The Kiss

Tags

northern cardinal, photography, postaday

A male Northern Cardinal will often court a female by offering her food. I have seen that behavior before, but today was the first time I managed to capture it in photos. This took place this morning in a small grove next to Barnegat Lighthouse.

A male Cardinal holding a seed in his beak.

He fed the seed to an appreciative female Cardinal.

A fraction of a second after the “kiss”.

Cardinal Among the Reeds

Tags

john heinz national wildlife refuge, northern cardinal, photography, postaday

Today, temperatures rose to 64^oF (18^oC) which made it feel like Spring. I went to the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge opposite Philadelphia International Airport on the other side of I-95. Vegetation still looked drab and dull, but among the light brown reeds I saw a flash of brilliant red. It was a male Northern Cardinal. He kept foraging for food in the same area for several long minutes. I took a series of shots and the following turned out to be the better ones.

Male Northern Cardinal at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge.

Northern Cardinal.

Northern Cardinal.

Winter Treats

Tags

bluejay, downy woodpecker, northern cardinal, photography, postaday, tufted titmouse

More snow is forecasted for several days next week, but today the snow that felt two weeks ago has melted almost completely. To help out our backyard feathered friends, I put out sunflower seeds and roasted peanuts for them. Many came out, and they did not mind me taking their pictures, even with the patio door partially open.

Northern Cardinal holding sunflower seed in its beak.

Tufted Titmouse with roasted peanut.

Downy Woodpecker looking toward bird feeder. He did not like peanuts and went for the sunflower seeds.

A pair of Blue Jays flew in, each grabbing several peanuts at a time.

Blue Jay eyeing peanuts.

Blue Jay stuffing peanuts in its throat pouch, perhaps to take back to nest.

Blue Jay gorging on peanuts.

Blue Jay: I can always fit one more down there.

Blue Jay with last peanut before taking off.

Within less than an hour, the birds had finished half a box of peanuts!