The TJTwitter

[hazelrunpack]

We're getting about 70 or so American goldfinches daily to the feeders. And, since I'm out there a lot either filling the feeders or trying to get pics, they're getting pretty used to me being there. That means lots of pics...and I do mean lots! But I'll twist madame hazel's arm and let her post only 6 of the umpteen million she took

[hazelrunpack]

Three more:

[hazelrunpack]

Some mourning doves:




This one seems to have damaged its bill--but it's doing well, so the point of the bill can't be too critical for feeding...


We've been getting a few more than normal--as winter gets older, the flocks seem to be increasing in number. Certainly can't complain about that!

[hazelrunpack]

Three shots of two different male purple finches. These guys are seriously pretty

[hazelrunpack]

The downy woodpeckers are getting used to that human with the camera. This morning there was one on the suet about 6 feet (2 m) from where I was filling the sunflower seed feeder and it didn't even fly away! It was too gloomy to take good pics this morning, though. These are from a few days ago (the 13th).

[hazelrunpack]

And finally (yes...there actually is an end to this ), some bluejays...




...and one of my favorite species, the Brier Bird.



(I hope you can download all of these, Chris I got a good connection and had to take advantage of it quickly before it evaporated!

If you can't, let me know and I'll send them post by post...or, if I can't download them tomorrow, either, we can bug growler to send them to you )

[Winston]

Hazel those pics are awesome!

I just went out and bought one of those suet holder thingy's...and some suet...looks just like yours..now how long before I see some of those LBB's! ?

Its sitting in my lilac tree but its getting more attention from Winston than anything with feathers..

[ownedbycats]

Hazel, those are some nice pictures. You get such a variety of birds at your feeder, I almost wish more would hang out in our hedge. (And then Dr. Seuss reminds me why I can't lure the birds into staying. Cats!!)

[Chris21711]

What a way to start the day ....slow but sure, I got 'em all .....no kidding Hazel, some of your pics are worthy of being in a Bird ID book, far better and clearer for identifying markings than some of the pics I see in said books .

Originally Posted by hazelrunpack

Might be an adult, Chris. The backs are more of a charcoal in adult plumage.

It was the lack of speckles on the chest that had me doubting, s/he didn't come around yesterday, that I noticed anyway....I hope IT stays away, I like to see them but not on my watch

Originally Posted by Winston

I just went out and bought one of those suet holder thingy's...and some suet...looks just like yours..now how long before I see some of those LBB's! ?

I hope you are lucky enough to see an LBB on your suet Winston, I find that LBB's are not big fans of it .

Originally Posted by hazelrunpack

...and one of my favorite species, the Brier Bird.

You had me going on this one Hazel until the pic downloaded .....I thought wtf is a Brier Bird,

[Macomom]

I think the Brier Bird is very pretty.
Beautiful photos Hazel and good morning to everyone

[ownedbycats]

Chris asked once why birds aren't safe in our hedge. Since Hazel posted a pic of her Brier bird, I thought I would post a pic of our cat "bird" roaming th hedge, terrorizing the birds.

[Chris21711]

Very cute "Catbird" you have there ownedbycats

[hazelrunpack]

Thanks for the nice comments...still don't know why the image size is so big--the file size is pretty small

Chris, an adult Cooper's or Sharp-shinned would have some horizontal reddish or brown speckling on the breast... Does your hawk have a white breast?

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Chris asked once why birds aren't safe in our hedge. Since Hazel posted a pic of her Brier bird, I thought I would post a pic of our cat "bird" roaming th hedge, terrorizing the birds.

Love the catbird, owndedbycats!

Originally Posted by Winston

I just went out and bought one of those suet holder thingy's...and some suet...looks just like yours..now how long before I see some of those LBB's! ?

Its sitting in my lilac tree but its getting more attention from Winston than anything with feathers..

You should be seeing things like goldfinches, chickadees and woodpeckers pretty quickly--within a few days they should find it. If Winston leaves them any, anyway! Our dogs used to lust after the suet, too, but eventually became reconciled to the fact that they weren't ever going to get any...

[Chris21711]

Originally Posted by hazelrunpack

Chris, an adult Cooper's or Sharp-shinned would have some horizontal reddish or brown speckling on the breast... Does your hawk have a white breast?[/I][/COLOR]

I know Hazel that is why I can't make a positive ID.....the breast appeared to have no speckling, it said in one of my books that Juvie Cooper's could lack the speckling, but the rest seemed to match

You should be seeing things like goldfinches, chickadees and woodpeckers pretty quickly--within a few days they should find it.

I was thinking the same thing when I was out, you beat me to it....I'm like Reb s-l-o-w

[Winston]

No takers yet?? its in a very young lilac tree so maybe I should move it...

I have 2 60ft high Blue Spruce Trees out front with tons of birdies but I figured the resident squirerls may get to it??

[bendyfoot]

The woodpeckers didn't find my suet for almost 5 days-a week...and the nuthatches only just found it, it's been probably a month...now they're here all day.

[bendyfoot]

Lovely photos, Hazel!!!

I STILL have no finches, I don't get it???

[hazelrunpack]

I've been hearing from others that finches are a bit scarce in some places this year, bendy. We seem to be about on track--up to more than 70 now from less than 30 earlier in winter. We'll probably see the numbers increase till sometime in early March when they split up into pairs.

Winston, if you have a post or a shepherd's hook to hang it from you might have better luck. I've always had more traffic at suet hanging in a more open spot.

Chris, if you can get more pics of your hawk, you know we won't mind too much if you post them And maybe we can confirm what species you're seeing

[Chris21711]

Originally Posted by hazelrunpack

Chris, if you can get more pics of your hawk, you know we won't mind too much if you post them And maybe we can confirm what species you're seeing

More pics you say ...first I have to get one. I haven't seen her/him for a couple of days for which I'm glad, but I would like to pinpoint which species it is.....I don't understand why I don't get any Purple Finches .

I saw four of the Wild Turkey bunch this morning in the field across the street....I need a decent camera, once I had located where Pepe had left my binnies (on top of the pinball machine ), I took a lookie and boy those birds are big, alas Turkey season will be starting soon

Winston, Hazel is right (again ) if you can put the suet in a more open area, they will come. Trying to outfox Squiggies, good luck

[luckypenny]

I was out with the dogs this morning, took a look up, and was 4 feet away from a Woodpecker on the suet feeder....and I didn't have my camera .

Went inside to get it but by the time I got back it was gone . I spent a few minutes looking up through the trees to see if I could spot him and found this:



Could that be the job of a Woodpecker?

[hazelrunpack]

Oh, yes...typical woodpecker hole How big was the bird? Was it a pileated woodpecker? Looks like a pretty big hole...

[bendyfoot]

Look who visited today!!! I think this is an incredible shot (sorry, not bragging, just very pleased!) you can even see his lunch!!!!

[hazelrunpack]

Great shot of the pileated, bendy! Took a while to download, though. I hope Chris can get it because she'll go ga-ga over it!

How did you get close enough to get the shot? Ours are extemely shy. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to get some shots this spring as they're banging out their sexy rhythms on the power poles

[bendyfoot]

It was incredible, he wasn't shy at all...he was about 20ft or so up in the tree, and I was standing about 20 feet from the tree....but he wasn't skittish...I got even closer later. I have some other goodies too on my blog, including one where he's sticking his tongue out into the cavity:

www.falltoclimb.wordpress.com

[Chris21711]

Very Cool Bendy ....I have only ever seen them twice and fleetingly

I was also looking at your blog, I do from time to time, but on dial-up it really is a test of patience, especially when I leave to let it download and come back to a bunch of red x's and have to start all over again

[ownedbycats]

Bendy, You have every right to be pleased, that is an amazing shot. Is he a frequent visitor, or was this a one time only event?

[bendyfoot]

I haven't seen a pileated in ages. I know they're around, I see their feeding holes on trees all the time, but never the bird...it was a lucky encounter for sure!

[luckypenny]

All these photos are so neat .

Originally Posted by hazelrunpack

Oh, yes...typical woodpecker hole How big was the bird? Was it a pileated woodpecker? Looks like a pretty big hole...

Looking at your pics, I'd say the ones I see here are the downy woodpeckers. That particular tree has about 6 holes in it. I'd say about 1/4 of the trees I can see from the fence line have holes in them .

I managed to get some shots today...Yayyyyyy! Not nearly as nice as the ones posted but I was excited nevertheless. I would have gotten more but Lucky and Penny insisted on chasing the woodpeckers away . I managed to count 9 woodpeckers in all before they started to flit around and I'd lose count.

The first in this set, the woodpecker had some red on his head (I really know nothing about birds ). Excuse some of the blurriness, there were too many little branches in the way of getting really clear shots.

[luckypenny]

In the second pic, that's the feeder dh made that I filled with home made suet. It's hanging off our clothes line. Easier to take pics of birds there because it's out in the open...but it's easier for the dogs to scare them away too .

[hazelrunpack]

Very nice pics, LP!

In the first set, the first two pics are definitely of one or more hairy woodpeckers. The third looks more like a downy, but it might just be the angle of the shot. You can tell the two apart by looking at the length of the bill in relation to the head. There are side-by-side pics of a downy vs a hairy on page 2 of this thread right at the top (post 31). Look at the length of the bill--see how the downy's is stubby? If you turned it around and poked it into its head ( ), it wouldn't extend far into the head at all. The hairy woodpecker to the right has a proportionately longer beak--turn that one into the head and it would do serious brain damage. (Although those pics make it look like a downy is bigger than a hairy, don't be fooled--it's just a fluke of the pics. A hairy is half-again as large as a downy, but they're so similar otherwise that unless you have something to compare them to, impression of size isn't a very good field mark.)

Anyway, your first, second and fourth shots are all definitely hairy woodpeckers. #3 could be either...I can't tell if the bill is actually that short or if the angle of the shot just makes it look that way. And it can be difficult to tell them from the back as shown in #5 unless you see them both there and know how big each is in comparison to the feeder. However, I can tell you that it's definitely a female in that last shot (females lack the red on the head) and from the posture, I'd guess it's a hairy.

9 woodpeckers in your woods? Cool! Ours are getting all feisty and chasing each other around the trees. Watch for pairs getting territorial--I've seen two pairs match up, male to male and fem to fem, dancing around the branches and trunks and making weird little throaty noises. I have no idea how they choose a winner, or what happens if the male of one couple wins his battle and the opposite fem wins hers...but they always seem to work it out to everyone's satisfaction in the end.