Bird Sightings 2014 - 2015

[Carol Dee]

I put out our Humming bird feeders a week ago. Saturday morning we had our 1st visitor. He was a tiny little guy. Very thirsty and drank for along while. Today we had two beautiful Gold Finch in their summer yellows visiting the back yard feeders and birdbath.

 

[Smart Red]

I saw my first oriole of the year! It was hanging upside down trying to get a drink from a small hummingbird feeder. Wait! Right there was also my first sighting of a hummer. It was trying to dissuade the oriole from the feeder.

I hope someone notices the bigger nectar feeder nearby. It has hang-holds so they can sit while they drink. I don't know if the oriole drank all the nectar or it was already empty, but I had to refill it right away.

So far I think I have seen all the usual birds in my yard except a meadowlark and a scarlet tanager.

 

[Lavender2]

I saw my first oriole yesterday too @Smart Red. It was sitting on the patio table, looking in the window at me with that 'hey lady, where's the jelly?' look. So all the feeders are up, bird baths cleaned, and the Eastern Phoebe is back building her nest on the electric meter again. Two years ago I rescued the babies when the nest fell off the front porch light and then I happened to catch them leave the nest... just a little common bird, but they like to eat bugs.

 

[dewdropsinwv]

I got my humming bird feeders out today. Had two visitors and they are already fighting over them. I need to get a few more feeders.

 

[so lucky]

We had robins build a nest on the window ledge just outside our laundry room. We got a great view of the babies and Mom as she fed them. They fledged this week. It is just amazing how fast the whole process goes. I was prepared to put them back in the nest if they fell out too early, but they did just fine.

 

[digitS']

I saw my first oriole yesterday too @Smart Red. It was sitting on the patio table, looking in the window at me with that 'hey lady, where's the jelly?' look. So all the feeders are up, bird baths cleaned, and the Eastern Phoebe is back building her nest on the electric meter again. Two years ago I rescued the babies when the nest fell off the front porch light and then I happened to catch them leave the nest... just a little common bird, but they like to eat bugs.

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So Lucky makes me even more inclined to respond. We may have robins in just about every neighborhood of the US during some months out of the year. I'm tolerant of the English sparrows but pleased that the robin might appreciate the changes made to its native range with our way of living. I hope I'm not wrong in thinking that. Maybe the robin believes that we make okay neighbors.​

@Lavender2 , the phoebe might be a common little bird in your neighborhood and many others but I bet that many Americans would not be able to identify it or the other flycatchers. And, what is common one place may be very uncommon, elsewhere.

A bird that really got me interested in the critters was the ruby-crowned kinglet. They were everywhere I looked, it seemed, when I lived in an evergreen forest. I had no idea what they were. Lots of "Christmas" trees must be just the perfect home for kinglets.

Steve

 

[Carol Dee]

I have not seen the Phoebe yet, but keep hearing it's song! Sweet little birds.

 

[NwMtGardener]

Finally got some new bird pictures to share with you all! We've been very busy lately, so i haven't gotten out birding much, but yesterday we went biking in Glacier National Park and I got to see a pair of Harlequin ducks. Rare and elusive, they come here to breed from the pacific ocean. They're gorgeous, well at least the males are!!

Took me a while to figure out what this guy was - I finally decided on Western Wood-pewee, what do you think? He looked like a flycatcher to me but wasn't flicking his tail so I was stumped until I read in my Sibley guide that that's a characteristic of the wood-pewee! He's a new-to-me bird!

This is just a sparrow (I think a chipping or white-crowned sparrow) but I just really liked the composition of him getting a drink in the puddle with all the different rocks around him, and a little bit of the river colors in the top right.

 

[thistlebloom]

Beautiful shots Heather! That's a wonderful thing to have spotted a rare bird, and taken it's picture.

 

[Carol Dee]

I have been seeing lots of my old friends this last week. A rooster pheasant flies across the road in front of my bus almost daily. Nice to see as the population has been down the past few years. Yesterday I saw a Baltimore Oriole (then again today) while driving. I also flushed a meadowlark from the side of the road. On Mother's Day I saw pelicans and blue herons in large numbers when crossing the Mississippi on our way to Breakfast. Just now I heard the catbird, he sounded close, I went to look and he was really enjoying the birdbath on the deck. By the time I got the camera he was gone. The geese on the pond at the edge of town are showing off 5 goslings and the swans are sitting tight. Cygnets soon. I LOVE the house wren. Such a big voice for a tiny critter. He was not around last summer. But is back and checking out the house this week.