Saturday, April 26, 2008

Saturday Off

I didn't have to work today. We went to watch our grandson play flag football, then went out for lunch. Then back here to see what visitors we might have out back.Mockingbird photos are usually pretty much alike, but I just liked this one. He looks sweet. (NOT)


Mr C. Looking beautiful.

NEW BIRD!
Then there was this nice surprise. I have never seen a white-crowned sparrow here before (Truthfully, I've never seen one at all!) He is on his way from somewhere to Canada...Very handsome, and very cooperative.
This is my best side.

Better get one of my back, for ID use.



Then late this afternoon - this!This is about 100 feet from my back door - maybe less.

He was having a feast - dove I guess.

Sorry about the gore, but he never let go - even when I got closer. The sky is blown out, but it was late afternoon, and we had to shoot directly into the sun.


9 comments:

The Birdlady said...

Thanks Barb - It was a fun day.

Stacey Olson said...

OOPS! Sorry about the attack of he (Sharpy? coopers?) Looks pretty hungry to me..Just glad it wasn't one of your other more rare birds.. Great photos!

The Birdlady said...

Stacey - Coopers; female I think - it looked big (but the prey looked almost as big as the hunter, and it's almost certainly a dove) Looking up into the trees with the sky background seems to always make the birds appear bigger - so I'm not sure.

IRB - Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Very nice shots on the Coopers Hawk eating dinner.

Also liked your White-crowned sparrow photos. Fortunately we or I have almost all of the sparrows including the White-crowned. They are beautiful birds.

Thanks for the info for the House
finch eye disease. I followed the link and went there and will report the cases I see here.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/hofi/

I am having real problems deciphering the messed up letters of the alphabet blogger/google is using now for word verification; so I will no longer try to comment as it takes too many tries to guess what they want and it just wastes a lot of time. I turned mine off.

Nick S said...

wow , the Cooper was great . I still have yet to see a Male Cardinal and I've never even seen a Mockingbird !

Sandpiper (Lin) said...

Beautiful!! Great shots of the songbirds. The white-crowned is pretty. Congratulations! What amazing shots! I've seen Sharpies and Red-Tails in my backyard kill birds. Gory, but it's nature and interesting.

jalynn01 said...

Birdlady,
when I saw your post I tried to play a game and determine which hawk, cooper or sharpie. I went with Cooper and that seems to be the consensus. Love the mockingbird. Used to have one here but it doesn't show it's face much lately, but I can hear it high up in the trees. You made great use of your day off!!

The Birdlady said...

Nick - Thanks! You have to see that brilliant red bird! They are stunning - and you would get amazing images of him, I know. Mockingbirds are wonderful too - sort of bullies, but their song is so lovely.

Lin - As always, thanks.

Jalynn - It was a Coopers..I wish it would stay away from my bird sanctuary though. I don't mind the red-tailed or red-shouldered; they aren't interested in the little songbirds, but the sharp-shinned and Coopers make me really nervous. Hopefully, they'll stick to the fat doves and sick birds.

Jotter Jan said...

WOW...what a fabulous day you had!!!! Great images and the Hawk was fantastic!