Bird Sightings 2014 - 2015

[Smart Red]

And right nearby should be an olive green-ish dot -- his mate. They are so tiny and beautiful! I have seen them in my yard and around the nearby roadway, but not at my feeder. I don't know what would have caused it, but I found a pair of buntings dead in my driveway laying next to each other -- no sign of injury.

 

[journey11]

Oh, that is sad. I can't imagine what happened to them.

I sure hope there is a Mrs. Bunting and they'll multiply! I'll keep looking for her. I need to buy a nicer pair of binoculars. The back 40 of our property borders a field and woods and I know I'd spot many more species if only I could see them. I also keep hinting to DH my need for a zoom lens for my camera...

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Finally mad to get some Egret pics!

We've been seeing a lot of these, this just happens to be the first time that I had my camera handy.

 

[so lucky]

I used to have to travel the back country roads in my job. I would see many Indigo Buntings taking dust baths in the dirt roads in May every year.
Does anyone know if they are seed eaters or insect eaters? Or both? I have heard of them coming to feeders occasionally, but not very often.

 

[Smart Red]

"The bunting's food source includes insects, seeds and fruit. They will visit seed feeders in the spring before insects are available. Normally they forage on the ground and in low foliage for its food sources."

I learned something new today:

"The indigo bunting is actually a black bird and does not have any blue pigment at all in its feathers. Like the blue jay, sun is refracted with in the structure of the feathers making them appear blue. When you see one in the sun they really light up and appears iridescent."

http://feedingbirdsinyouryard.blogspot.com/2008/06/indigo-bunting.html

 

[digitS']

Does it surprise anyone that I have only seen egrets in Florida? Altho', I knew that they were in Texas, I don't remember seeing any when I was there. Further north? Hadn't even considered it!

The indigo bunting, I've never seen one, at all !

This continuous TEG ad "Go Birdwatching in Texas" is beginning to make some sense to me!

Steve

 

[Smart Red]

I did see an egret once. Unbelievably, it flew into the factory where I was working. Why it was so far off course I don't know, but that beautiful white bird was more than unhappy stuck outside the small village of Rockton in northern Illinois. Must have been nearly 45 years ago. I took the best from that factory and never looked back.

 

[Lavender2]

I wish the Indigos would stay around here - I see one occasionally on it's way up to my sister's yard. She is about 20 miles north of me and has a yard full of them all summer!

The great egrets are common here, breeding near the ponds, lakes and along the river. It always amazes me how they sit in the very tops of the trees... this is an oak tree in my front yard...



Here's a photo I could never get again ...



Gathering to migrate on the pond in Aug...



and Spring fishing ...

 

[Smart Red]

There, lavender2, another thing learned today. I always thought egrets were a southern bird.

 

[thistlebloom]

Those are wonderful pictures Lavender!