And finally, in the category of LBBs, some juncos and white-throated sparrows.

The dark-eyed junco is on the left and the white-throated sparrow on the right.
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A dark-eyed junco solo:
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A white-throated sparrow close up:
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Both of these are about the size of house sparrows.

That's all I can find. I have some somewhere of fox sparrows, but they've gone MIA :o

About the only thing I haven't posted here is the red-tailed hawk from a couple of winters ago and the purple finches. Maybe later...the Pack wants out now. :D

Our hedge mostly has sparrows. That male cardinal keeps visiting briefly, and he brought his mate one day, I got some pics, just have to resize. Oh, and occasionally starlings, but they seem to have temporarily deserted us. And of course, there are the cat "birds" (though now I want pics to show, they have all gone on vacation, :crazy: critters)

Our cardinal pair has been absent this winter :( I hope they resurface in spring! Did you get cardinal pics, ownedbycats? :fingerscr

Nice foray of pics Hazel :thumbs up....We have a few different kinds of sparrows, I will try and get pics :rolleyes:...I'm not too good at identifying the different kinds...I read my books and convince myself that I will remember indentifying marks and then I fergits :o

Hopefully my Cardinal population continues growing and none of the males look for greener pastures.

Looking forward to seeing your pics [B]ownedbycats :)[/B]

Here is the cardinal couple. The male is showier, but I love the gentler patterned reds on the female (and she has a crest too!)

And it sounds like Chris and Hazel get lots of these guys, but this was the first time EVER that I have seen one at our place. (and we have lived here for 20 years. ) granted, when I was really little I probably didn't pay much attention to species, but once I got older I aalways used to check and see what was visiting. This is the least fuzzy shot. Those little guys are QUICK! (Excuse typing mistakes, I have cats "helping")

Neat pics [B]ownedbycats [/B]I too really like the female Cardinals, the males are showier but the creamy colours on the female remind me of Waxwings and I just love it :cloud9:.

Not too many Chickadees in your area....which area of Ontario do you live?...sorry to be nosey :o

I love that pic of Mama Cardinal sitting on the lawn chair, ownedbycats! :flirt: What a great shot! Papa Cardinal is pretty handsome, too! I really hope ours come back from wherever they've gotten off to :pray:

I was out throwing some seed under the bushes this morning and this white-breasted nuthatch landed about 12 feet away (less than 4 m) and posed for a pic. :cloud9:

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I just noticed the shadow under your flying chickadee, ownedbycats! That's pretty cool! :D

You was throwing seed :eek:....I thought you placed each one gingerly :laughing:....nice clear pic Hazel :thumbs up...I haven't seen my Nuthatch for a couple of days now :(

I must be getting delusional, I thought I saw a female Cowbird at one of the feeders, ya right, come back in 2 months from now :yell:

I don't usually throw it--only when the goldfinches start lining up in the sumac. :D Today they were massing so I tossed some sunflower and some thistle in under the bushes so more of them could eat. The feeders will only accommodate about 15 of them.

This morning when I came back upstairs to make beds etc....I took a lookie out of the window and there were 3 male Cardinals in the cedar hedge, they looked like Xmas ornaments on a Xmas tree :cloud9:

If I'm posting too many pics, tell me, but I really wanted to show you these ones I got of the woodpecker at the dog park yesterday. Sunshine found him for me, scared him close to me, let me take one shot, then scared him away :laughing: We found him again later, and I got one as he was taking off, to get away from the pesky photographer. The nest we found at waist height in a bunch of thin low bushes, and I thought this was the best place to post it. No idea what made it.

ohho so thats what i saw a while back in the park never saw one flying in a pic till now

Great pics of the Hairy Woodpecker you got there [B]ownedbycats [/B]the nest could have belonged maybe to a Goldfinch, I'm not sure though....maybe Hazel will have a better idea.

I have a collection of nests, my pride and joy being the Hummingbird nest I have. I did post a pic of it a while ago, I'll look for it :)

In this thread is the pic of the Hummingbird nest :cloud9:

[url]http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=53068[/url]

Oh I [I]love[/I] this thread and all the photos :cloud9:. I wish I could add a few :( but the dogs keep scaring all the birds away when I get close enough to get a shot :frustrated:.

So far I've seen lots of Blue Jays, a couple of Cardinals, and man, can we ever hear the woodpeckers in the woods out back. Why do they peck :shrug: :o?

[QUOTE=Chris21711;881321]In this thread is the pic of the Hummingbird nest :cloud9:

[url]http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=53068[/url][/QUOTE]
How did I ever miss that, Chris? :eek: I musta been unconscious at the time! :o In all my years of looking, I've yet to find a hummingbird nest in the wild... maybe this year! :fingerscr

That's a great catch of the hairy in flight, ownedbycats!!! :cloud9: Nice shot on the tree, too. :thumbs up I'd guess goldfinch for the owner of the nest, too--but it's just a guess. I'm not very good at nest identification. :o

LP, the peck cuz if they didn't, they'd have to be renamed, of course. :o

:laughing:

OK, OK, that was madame hazel being a PITA :p I know they peck to find food--they actually peck grubs out of the wood...they find them by listening for them :eek: And they also peck as part of their courtship ritual--in spring the males look for hollow logs or metal-clad poles to peck on because it makes them sound louder and their stacatto love messages travel farther. :lovestruck: The pileated woodpeckers hammering on the metal guards on the power poles along the utility company right-of-way here in spring can be quite deafening at times. :D

Goldfinch, really? Thanks for the identificataion, now I'll know to watch for them. We switched dog parks in the late fall, so I have only been going to this one over the winter and don't really know all the birds. (I only recognize the most common birds anyway.) I saw another nest, higher up, but it was in tree/bush above my head and the plant had inch long thorns. I'll post a pic if I can find a way to get close without getting shredded.

It's just a guess for me, ownedbycats. I'm not good at nests. :o But it looks like there's still some down stuck to the nest--goldfinches make a deep-cupped nest and line it with thistle down. This time of the year, the weather has often washed/blown/beaten the down out of them. If it's a goldfinch nest it would be about 3.5 inches across (about 9 cm).

I find nests here all the time, and unless I was lucky enough to see it occupied, I'm just making stabs in the dark when I try to ID them. :o

Oh, except oriole nests. Those are easy to ID once the leaves come off the trees. :thumbs up

[QUOTE=hazelrunpack;881512]The pileated woodpeckers hammering on the metal guards on the power poles along the utility company right-of-way here in spring can be quite deafening at times. :D[/QUOTE]

I won't ever forget the time, not long after moving into our old house. that I that I freaked thinking our gas furnace was going to explode because of this dreadful hammering noise coming from it. Can't remember now who it was that told me to go outside and look at the roof...and I saw a woodpecker going at the furnace chimney :laughing:.

:eek: I can imagine how it must have sounded down next to the furnace! :laughing:

That definitely would have freaked me out, too! Even though I know it happens, it probably would have taken me a couple weeks to think of the Woodpecker Option. :rolleyes: At least it was a cheap fix for the furnace problem. :D

Signs of spring!!
 

February in Wisconsin and this little American goldfinch guy is already thinking about spring! He's starting to get his little black cap back!

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That little guy and I are thinking the same thing then :D

I never thought to look for their little black caps...silly me.

I took some pics of about 8 Chickies on my fat ball basket, they came out too dark, such a crappy camera I have :(

Here's a singleton with a seed...not as good as 8 on a suet ball, but he's kinda cute! :lovestruck:

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Next to your pics Hazel, mine are a poor excuse :o...I did manage to find one pic that is a [I]bit [/I]more discernible with 5 pecking away and 2 awaiting :)

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Can I play? I saw two white-breasted nuthatch at my feeders yesterday, a first!

My regular visitors:

bazillions of chickadees
juncos
2 blue jays
a cardinal pair
hairy woodpeckers (male and female)
downy woodpeckers (male and female)
tree sparrows
and I THINK I saw finches one day, but haven't for ages. :(

That's about it.

We've got suet, nyjer seed and mixed seed (corn, millet, sunflower etc.), and I make my peanut-butter/seed feeders every now and then.

[QUOTE=bendyfoot;882308]Can I play? I saw two white-breasted nuthatch at my feeders yesterday, a first!

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"]Yes, yes the more the better :crazy:[/COLOR]

My regular visitors:

bazillions of chickadees
juncos
2 blue jays
a cardinal pair
hairy woodpeckers (male and female)
downy woodpeckers (male and female)
tree sparrows
and I THINK I saw finches one day, but haven't for ages. :(

That's about it.

We've got suet, nyjer seed and mixed seed (corn, millet, sunflower etc.), and I make my peanut-butter/seed feeders every now and then.[/QUOTE]

With the niger seed I'm surprised you are not seeing Finches, especially Goldfinches at this time of year, look very closely and see if you see a tinge of yellow.

I'm surprised, too! The finches go crazy for the niger!

Congrats on the nuthatch, bendy! I love those little guys :lovestruck:

Chris, the chickadees seem to really like your fat ball! Do you make your own suet recipe?

No Hazel, I buy them at one of the local grocery stores, they put seeds on the outside to make 'em look good, but inside is just pure lard I guess....I pay $4 for two, they weigh over lb each.....all of the usual birds that like fat eat from it.

Sounds yummy :yuck: I don't know how birds can eat suet, but they sure do flock to it! I suspect they don't have much of a sense of taste. :o At least they never complain about the calories or ask if their butts look fat! :laughing:

Yeah, I bought the niger seed specifically to try to get the finches, especially after I spotted the few that one time...but, :shrug: haven't seen anybody since.

I saw a red-breasted nuthatch in the woods the other day, too...it was quite bold, just flew from tree to tree around me poking in the bark for tasties. :D

[QUOTE=bendyfoot;882375]Yeah, I bought the niger seed specifically to try to get the finches, especially after I spotted the few that one time...but, :shrug: haven't seen anybody since.

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"]That's odd....look for a hue of yellow.[/COLOR]

I saw a red-breasted nuthatch in the woods the other day, too...it was quite bold, just flew from tree to tree around me poking in the bark for tasties. :D[/QUOTE]

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"]It probably knew that you are a Bug Geek and wanted to get to the tasties before you intervened :D[/COLOR]

When I came back upstairs this morning, this was the view from the bedroom window....approximately 50 - 60 Wild Turkeys, I for one have never seen such a large gathering..........the pics are crummy as usual....sigh

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Wow! That's a lot of turkeys! :eek: There are almost as many turkeys there as residents in my town! :o :laughing:

Our flocks are being very skittish this year. I saw some larger flocks (but only about a dozen individuals) in fall, but only 3 together at most since :shrug:

[QUOTE=hazelrunpack;882909]Wow! That's a lot of turkeys! :eek: There are almost as many turkeys there as residents in my town! :o :laughing:

:laughing:

Our flocks are being very skittish this year. I saw some larger flocks (but only about a dozen individuals) in fall, but only 3 together at most since :shrug:[/QUOTE]

I've never seen that many, I do see them in fall but never that many. I think the most I have counted is 15 or so......I called the neighbour's wife and she went out and took some pics with her 35mm and zoom lens, I'm looking forward to seeing those pics :thumbs up

Cool! Maybe she'll let you post a few! :fingerscr

You guys get the neatest birds. Seeing all those turkeys would be a real treat, that is a lot of birds. Is there something left in the fields that is attracting them Chris?

I don't know what it would be [B]ownedbycats [/B]the field that you can see them in was just left to grow last year, the owner no longer wants to rent his fields out....They crossed the road to the field on the north side of the road which was just used for hay, they didn't spend time in that one though, they skittered across. All in all I had them in my vision for about 20 mins, it was a bonus :thumbs up