Female house finch

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Male Cape May warbler

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and his Mrs.

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Chipping sparrow

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Male goldfinch

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and his ladylove

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Male eastern towhee

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Female eastern towhee

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More of Mr Pink, the leucistic purple finch:

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And a normally-pigmented male purple finch for comparison

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Red-bellied woodpecker at the suet feeder

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Ruby-throated hummingbird, male first, then fem

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Hazel, I love the Warblers best :lovestruck: although all your photos are fantastic! Uncle Red is here with his wife and they freaked over the pics of your Hummingbirds.

I was out planting more Sunflowers and this little guy kept me company :cloud9:. Correct me if I'm wrong but, a White Crowned Sparrow?

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And DH finally got one of my bird feeders up :highfive:....although it's 9' high and I need to use a ladder to fill it :rolleyes:. Still, I'm really excited :goodvibes:. The sunflowers are all planted to the left of it, near the wagon.

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Hazel...Love all your birds. Your pictures truly bring out their beauty especially the hummers, Mr. Pinky, Gold Finches and oh....all of them! :cloud9:

LP; while I cannot see the sunflowers planted to the left or near the wagon, I do see a little black blop sittin' right dab smack in the middle of the picture! Is that pretty Penny? :cloud9:

[QUOTE=klmccallum;1011095]
LP; while I cannot see the sunflowers planted to the left or near the wagon... [/QUOTE]

I should have said the sunflower [I]seeds[/I] I planted :D.


[QUOTE=klmccallum;1011095]...I do see a little black blop sittin' right dab smack in the middle of the picture! Is that pretty Penny? :cloud9:[/QUOTE]

It is. She was all mopey that we didn't put the new feeder on the other side of the fence for her amusement :rolleyes:. Which reminds me, we have a Robin's nest in the woodshed in the backyard. I have to keep a close eye on when the babies hatch so that we can take the the dogs out on leash for a few days while they learn to fly.

You're so lucky, LP! Definitely a white-crowned sparrow! And so nice of him to keep you company! :lovestruck: I saw one pair fleetingly the day before yesterday and none since. One of my absolute favoritest sparrows. :flirt:

Poor Penny...she just wants to watch the birdies, too :angel:

Are you still just seeing a couple of Todds, klm? Ours are starting to gather. :cloud9: Still lots of orioles, too!

[QUOTE=hazelrunpack;1011108]Poor Penny...she just wants to watch the birdies, too :angel: [/QUOTE]

Uh huh, she'd much prefer to watch them up close and personal :rolleyes:.

I was up til 3am :eek: on the site you gave me a link to... [url]http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/search.aspx[/url] . I love all the info there. Gave me some ideas on shrubs/trees/vines I can plant in the birds' area to provide them with a variety of other food sources. And also left me with a zillion questions....that I won't all post here, I promise :D.

Just one...virginia creeper...is it invasive? Is it a good idea to plant it so it grows up a couple of trees?

Hmmmmm....don't know about the Virginia Creeper, LP! But generally, if it has the word "creeper" in the name, I tend to avoid the plant altogether. :o

Oh, whoopsee...I just checked it in Wikipedia. I didn't realize that was the name of it... We have Virginia Creeper all over here...and it is definitely invasive!!! If you don't have it in your area, don't introduce it :eek: I spend most of my early gardening ripping out the stuff I missed from late gardening the fall before :frustrated: It will grow thickly enough to strangle evergreens :eek:

Oh, and we banded Mr Pink today! :thumbs up He's so handsome! :flirt:

[QUOTE=hazelrunpack;1011108]Are you still just seeing a couple of Todds, klm? Ours are starting to gather. :cloud9: Still lots of orioles, too![/QUOTE]

Yep, still only two Todds. :(

I set up another identical feeder at the back of my yard on Saturday with a hanging pot of annual flowers. Do you know if hummers like Fuchsia? :shrug:

I planted a Fuchsia along with alysum and lobelia in the hanging pot near the new feeder. When I went to the garden centre and spotted the Fuchsia, the little taggy thing showed a picture of a nice trumpeted flower in full bloom.

I'm hoping these flowers will keep my two Todds around a while longer and hopefully attract more. :fingerscr

[QUOTE=hazelrunpack;1011190]Oh, and we banded Mr Pink today! :thumbs up He's so handsome! :flirt:[/QUOTE]

Oh Wow! How did you manage that? Did you get close up pictures? Is his o.k. with the banding? So is Mr. Pinky really a rare species of the finch family? That's pretty kewl! :cool:

[QUOTE=klmccallum;1011203]Oh Wow! How did you manage that? Did you get close up pictures? Is his o.k. with the banding? So is Mr. Pinky really a rare species of the finch family? That's pretty kewl! :cool:[/QUOTE]
Well, it [I]did[/I] take a little discussion before they decided for sure that Mr Pink was a leucistic purple finch. :D So now I don't feel so stupid that it took me that long to decide what the heck he was! :thumbs up He was fine as of this morning when I saw him back at the feeders...along with a bunch of grosbeaks. I was a little surprised that he [I]was[/I] banded--there were a lot of people milling about in the basement yard and he's usually a little shy around people. But he came to the feeders and flew into the nets despite the crowds.

We caught and banded 64 grosbeaks yesterday--no recaptures, and none of the ones we caught were banded elsewhere. :eek: And there were more to be caught, but they don't band past about 11:30 a.m.. Have I mentioned recently that we have a [I]lot[/I] or rose-breasted grosbeaks? :p

If it's a dark pink and flamboyant enough, the hummers will like your fuschia. Even if they don't care to drink from the fuschia, the color will attract them. They really like impatiens, too--especially red ones. Impatiens has a large nectary for that size bloom and red is always an attractant for Todds. :D

We released 9 hummers from the nets yesterday, too (they aren't licensed to band them and they're so small I'd be scared to let them :o). The hummingbirds were putting on a show about 30 feet from the patio where everyone was sitting, watching for birds to hit the nets. People were almost more impressed with the numbers of hummers than with the fact that we banded 116 birds in total...

Hazel those are very nice, clear shots of the different birds. Beautiful.
Well done on the banding. I hope you guys get to see some of your banded birds return, it would nice to know for sure when a bird makes it through the winter instead of just guessing.

LP,we have a Virginia creeper covering the back of the house,also under our Blue Spruce and up the trunk of it.
Virginia Creeper is ok,if you take care and trim it,it's also growing on top of our pergola.
I also have one of those White Crowned Sparrows here,they're nice..

Hazel,do you belong to a Birding-Group??

Actually, no, chico. But the nature reserve had a 2010 fund-raiser where you could bid on a banding opportunity and I made the high bid. :thumbs up I hope I can convince them to come back next spring and see how many of the birds we banded yesterday came back. :fingerscr

[QUOTE=hazelrunpack;1011244]If it's a dark pink and flamboyant enough, the hummers will like your fuschia. Even if they don't care to drink from the fuschia, the color will attract them.

[COLOR="Red"][I]I planted a Dollar Princess Fuchsia and from what I've read up on, these are Hummer magnets! :D :fingerscr[/I][/COLOR]

They really like impatiens, too--especially red ones. Impatiens has a large nectary for that size bloom and red is always an attractant for Todds. :D

[/QUOTE]


Oh goody! I also planted red and white impatiens all around my house. I've always planted red and white impatiens in the gardens but never seen hummers around them in the past. :shrug:

[QUOTE=hazelrunpack;1011301]Actually, no, chico. But the nature reserve had a 2010 fund-raiser where you could bid on a banding opportunity and I made the high bid. :thumbs up I hope I can convince them to come back next spring and see how many of the birds we banded yesterday came back. :fingerscr[/QUOTE]

You would think that the banding crew would be interested in coming back for a follow up in a years time. :shrug:

[QUOTE=klmccallum;1011202]Do you know if hummers like Fuchsia? :shrug:[/QUOTE]

I know they like Honeysuckle, I was at my uncles' farm on the weekend & the Ruby Throated males were very active at the Honeysuckle. I didn't get any pics from there but with a bit of time & patience did get some from the feeder. I quietly stood a couple feet away from the feeder & waited, as well as a couple of females, there were a couple of males sparring mid-air.

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[QUOTE=klmccallum;1011323]Oh goody! I also planted red and white impatiens all around my house. I've always planted red and white impatiens in the gardens but never seen hummers around them in the past. :shrug:[/QUOTE]

Maybe that's why there are only two going to your feeders--the rest are dining at the Impatiens Cafe! :D

[QUOTE=klmccallum;1011324]You would think that the banding crew would be interested in coming back for a follow up in a years time. :shrug:[/QUOTE]

Well, we're kind of in the next county, so it's sort of a long haul for them. Now that I've bribed them out here once, though, I think they're hoping they can get back another time. :thumbs up

Nice pics, gGK!!! What kind of hummer is that male? He looks so rusty!! Anna's? Um...Rufous? Um.... :o The only kind we have here is the ruby-throated. You're fortunate to have a little variety out there! :cloud9:

Honeysuckle eh Growler? :shrug: I'll have to keep that in mind. :thumbs up

Those are beautiful close ups. :cloud9:

[QUOTE=hazelrunpack;1011329]What kind of hummer is that male? He looks so rusty!! Anna's? Um...Rufous? Um.... :o[/QUOTE]

:shrug: Not a clue :shrug: :D

I only caught glimpses of the Ruby Throated Male through the window & heard him buzzing over my head when walking past the honeysuckle.

[QUOTE=hazelrunpack;1011328]Maybe that's why there are only two going to your feeders--the rest are dining at the Impatiens Cafe! :D

[COLOR="Red"][I]Maybe I don't see them cause I'm so focused on watching the feeders that they're in my front yard sucking on the red impatiens! :o[/I][/COLOR]

Well, we're kind of in the next county, so it's sort of a long haul for them. Now that I've bribed them out here once, though, I think they're hoping they can get back another time. :thumbs up[/QUOTE]

And all the grosbeaks will be perched in a row, waiting for their band identifications! :thumbs up :D