06-JAN-2010
Dark-Eyed Junco (Female Oregon) #7799
We get a lot of Juncos, who love to eat white millet seeds. It is hard to tell all the different Juncos apart, this one may also be a female Oregon Junco. There are at least four kinds ("races"): Oregon Juncos (very dark head), Gray-Headed (gray head and a brown patch on the top of the back), Pink-Sided (closely related to Oregon Juncos, have more pronounced brown/pink on their sides and a well-defined gray cap), and Slate-Colored. We do get Slate-colored Juncos here, but fewer of them than any of the other three common races.
05-JAN-2010
House Finch #7772
Not all the House Finches have conjunctivitis. This one, at least, appears to be quite healthy. We see anywhere from 10 to 20 different house finches at a time, about half male and half female.
03-JAN-2010
House Finch #7563
It's a sad fact, but many of the house finches that visit us have contracted the eye disease that is now common in the US for these birds. It's a strain of the bacteria Mycoplasma gallisepticum, and causes the conjunctive tissue around their eyes to swell. Some birds eyes swell enough that they cannot open them at all (rendering them vulnerable to starvation and predators).
02-JAN-2010
White-Winged Dove #7545
We have seen more white-winged doves this year than in recent years. I thought they had all been displaced by Eurasian Collared Doves, but I guess they are still hanging in here. I like their orange and blue eyes.
01-JAN-2010
American Goldfinch #7514
I am going to try out this different format for pictures I collect this year of birds. Mostly, they will be pictures taken from birds that are generally attracted to our back yard because there's a pond and some feeders. The only decent picture I got on New Year's Day was this one of an American Goldfinch waiting to take a drink from the waterfall. This one appears to be a female in winter plumage.