Thursday, April 10, 2008

Backyard Beauties

Yesterday was a beautiful, spring-like day - sun was shining, and a sweater was enough. Hooray! We spent the morning watching the birds in the trees and at our feeders and birdbath. We had our usuals.Ollie, the bluebird.

Hope (that name is a story for another time.)

The little white-throated sparrow looks like he's doing a dance of joy!

Noisy, raucous fella - he wanted mealworms too. No way, bud.

Mr C. - I'm trying to watch the cardinals and figure out what's going on. The female is building a nest, but as recently as yesterday, I saw two males squabbling - have they not worked this out yet?
Didn't find this bird in my field guide!

Adorable little bright-eyed thing.

Bird Girl, this one's for you.

No bad eyes for this beautiful finch, thank goodness.

Those pink feet and the matching neck streak are really colorful, on the otherwise very plain dove.

The goldfinches are in varying stages of turning.

The white-throat again ..I love his song.

THE SURPRISE OF THE DAY! A hermit thrush. I have never seen one anywhere around here. He was on a closer branch when I first noticed him, but he flew back when I opened the window. My husband has a little further "reach" with his lens than I do, so his pictures were a little sharper. But we got a bazillion shots!
This morning we're heading for Shenandoah National Park, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, about 45 minutes from our house. Should be lots of winged travelers...we are hoping so anyway. Maybe my bear this time (?) White tailed deer for sure. I'm hoping for a great post tonight.

7 comments:

John Theberge said...

You always have a great bunch of bird photos to view. Your yard must really be a "buzz" with activity.

Stacey Olson said...

You have such color and beauty in your back yard! I think the one you couldn't find is called a "sneaky seed stealer" and if they weren't so darn cute they would probably be really dislikeable.. :-) Thanks for sharing

kjpweb said...

Wonderful collection. Couldn't ID that one bird either - could be a "longtailed Treejumper", though! ;)
Cheers, Klaus

Sandpiper (Lin) said...

Such a wonderful variety! I love the songs of a hermit thrush. Have fun in the Blue Ridge Mtns! One of my most favorite places!!!

Anonymous said...

Wow, you have posted quite a few for us to enjoy. Thanks for sharing your lively photos. Have fun in SNP, we wish we were going!

The Birdlady said...

Thanks everybody. Maybe we should have a contest to "name that bird!" Good suggestions. We are very lucky to see all those birds, and more, every day. I'll be posting my trip post later - not much to it though.

Jotter Jan said...

You certainly did get some backyard beauties!!! Loved the Hermit Thrush!!!!