Bird Sightings 2014 - 2015

Wonderful photos, @NwMtGardener ! The rw blackbirds shots are awesome! Pretty in pics, but we have so many of them they become screechy and annoying after a while. They nest in the reeds around the pond.

Love that cinnamon duck! I don't think I've ever seen an eagle perched so low to the ground. Around here they are always high up on a pole or circling up in the clouds.

I had a little friend near my door for a couple of days. He must have been exhausted from the long cold flight back up north!







This day it was very windy! ...




All the high water has brought some bigger birds to the feeders ...

I noticed a chipping sparrow nest in my crepe myrtle, just about chest height, so I can keep an eye on it. No eggs for a few days, then two eggs yesterday. I saw Mama sitting on them a couple of times as I would walk by. I checked to see how many eggs today when I saw Mama gone. There were still the two little blue eggs, but two brown headed cowbird eggs as well! Those darn free loaders! I just took the cowbird eggs out and added them to my egg collection. I hope Mama sparrow will come back. They are so tiny and sweet!
Oh, also, a couple feet from the bush, I found remains of a little blue shell. I wonder if the cowbird threw it out of the nest?

Got out for some birdwatching and pictures today! Really nice to take a break after I spent most of the rest of the weekend working on house projects, and getting the garden dialed in - planted a bunch of my starts out, hung my upside down tomatoes, got the automatic drip system running...ohyeah, bird forum! Here they are:

Osprey kiting over the reservoir, hunting for fish.


Osprey in front of the mountains - today was somewhat overcast, and rained occasionally, but toward evening the sun came out and it was gorgeous!


Great blue heron - saw many of these today, one of my favorites!


Ruddy duck - love the patterns in the water around him!


Double-breasted cormorants - it was totally entertaining watching these guys.


Awwww Canada goose goslings


Ring-billed gull - I'm not very excited by gulls, but I liked the symmetry of this shot.


Western grebe pair


Flycatcher - dusky? Hammonds? least? don't know, just liked the shot!


Redhead pair

We were eating dinner out on the deck a few nights ago and got to see a bird we rarely see, of course by the time I got my camera it hid in the maple ... Scarlet tanager



Mourning dove ...



Female red-wing blackbirds ganging up on the gigantic orange worm ...


Hello ...



We have had so many more hummers this Spring ... you can't go out in the yard and not see one ...







I also got a photo of a rare Blurry Indigo ...

WOW Lavender those are some great bird sightings.

You're not only a very talented gardener @Lavender2 , you're also an excellent photographer. Thanks for sharing those great captures!

Several of us were sitting out on the patio area outside our office building at the picnic tables having lunch the other day watching the geese and their little goslings come paddling across the lake. They got out of the water and went up the hill when all of the sudden a flash came out from the left when a mature red-tail hawk came down, snared on of the goslings and sped away. It happened in a second. Here one moment and gone the next. One second it was a quiet sunny day and the next forty geese were making such a ruckus warning the others to take shelter.

Wow Jim! Sad to see, of course, but also kinda cool that you got to see it.

We were almost as stunned as the geese were.