31-DEC-2010
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) #5841
Perhaps it is fitting that this will be the last post of the year. We are finishing out 2010 with a decent cover of snow on the ground, and temperatures will fall below zero (F) tonight. These attractive "snowbirds", as they are often called, seem to do quite well in the snowy conditions. This Oregon Junco, probably a male based on the very dark black hood, is foraging on the ground for seed knocked out of the feeder above him.
I will continue to post bird pictures next year, but will not post as often, or else we'll get too big a fill of Sparrows, Juncos, Pine Siskins, Finches, and Doves. Over the course of this year, I have posted well over 70 different species of birds, with several races (for example the various types of Juncos) for some of them. It has been a fun year doing this.
30-DEC-2010
Red-breasted Nuthatch #5784
I have seen Red-breasted Nuthatches a few times this winter. He usually is interested in getting a sip of water from the pond, but with all the snow cover we have today, he was sampling the bird feeder as well.
29-DEC-2010
American Robin #5686
There's a storm moving in, expected this evening. The birds can tell it's coming, because they have been frantic all day, trying to stock up on food and water. Robins only show up when it's dry elsewhere, and today we probably had 20 Robins flocking around. Here's a picture of a couple of them.
28-DEC-2010
White-winged Dove #5671
I could post pictures of White-winged Doves almost any day. These are very numerous birds, not particularly aggressive, but their size intimidates the smaller birds.
27-DEC-2010
American Goldfinch #5603
There was not much variety in our birds today -- Juncos, House Sparrows, and Goldfinches. The greatest activity is in the early morning, when the White-winged Doves swarm over everything in the back yard.
24-DEC-2010
Hairy Woodpecker #5425
We have a Green Ash tree in the back yard, whose bark is a favorite of the few woodpeckers and nuthatches that come around. I see them only rarely, even though they are fairly common birds in this area.
23-DEC-2010
Dark-eyed Junco (Gray-headed) #5327
Our Gray-headed Juncos are not as numerous as Pink-sided or Oregon Juncos are. They tend to feed more or the ground than other Juncos, although I found this one sitting in the pine tree, planning where he is going to fly next.
22-DEC-2010
American Goldfinch #5214
We have a reasonable number of American Goldfinches around -- up to 6 to 10 at a time. We had the most a few days ago when it snowed, and it was hard to find seed in natural habitats, so they flocked to the easy-pickings of our back yard feeder.
20-DEC-2010
House Finch #5165
In the late afternoon sunlight, the red plumage on a male House Finch takes on a very orange look. This fellow is getting a drink at the top of the waterfall. Mostly all the birds we are seeing now are the common winter visitors -- House Finches, American Goldfinches, Juncos, Doves, and Sparrows.
19-DEC-2010
House Sparrow #5149
The snowfall from a couple of days ago is rapidly melting, and there is plenty of water available again for the birds. As a result, we are not seeing as many Robins as we had been seeing before the snowfall. But the House Sparrows are having a great time. There is a flock of about 20 in the trees in the front yard, and when there's fresh seed on the ground in the back, they swarm over to the fence and eat up all the seed they can.
18-DEC-2010
Sharp-shinned Hawk #5090
Sometimes all the birds in the back yard scatter and disappear for an hour. I joke that there must be a hawk around, and occasionally I see a raptor of some sort pass by, but he never stays long enough for a picture or even a good inspection with binoculars. Today, this fellow swooped by and landed in the neighbor's tree, staying for about an hour and a half. I took pictures through the window, went to another room in the house and took hand-held pictures through an open window, and he still stayed in one place. So I went and set up the tripod, and took another few hundred pictures. Then I walked outside and got as close as about 10 meters away, and took another 50 pictures, before he had enough and flew off.
My original ID for this bird was a Cooper's Hawk, but my expert friends tell me it is more likely to be a Sharp-shinned Hawk, so that's how I am going to label this bird. This bird is larger than a Dove, but not larger than a crow -- so to the extent that size matters, if it is a Sharp-shinned Hawk, it is probably a female.
17-DEC-2010
House Finch weathering the storm #4548
We took a short trip to visit family in Texas, so I have missed a few days.
We had our first significant snowfall of the season yesterday, and all the local skiers will be happy. The birds get really nervous when weather moves in, and start feeding like there'll be no tomorrow. This House Finch is patiently waiting his turn at a seed dish.
09-DEC-2010
American Robin takes a bath #4445
Unlike most of our birds, Robins are not interested in the feeders, just the water. This one is sitting on the plants at the surface of the pond, taking a bath. Even while they are busily flapping their wings, they obviously keep their heads absolutely still, or I would not be able to get their eyes sharp.
08-DEC-2010
Dark-eyed Junco (Pink-sided) #4412
I try to count the birds that come by, and report them to the eBird website. Juncos are hard to get a good count for, because they are always moving from one place to another, and I worry I will miss some or count them twice. This Pink-sided Junco held still long enough for a picture.
07-DEC-2010
American Robin #4335
Our Robins continue to visit every day, sometimes in flocks as large as twenty at a time.
05-DEC-2010
Canyon Towhee with broken foot #4297
It's hard to get a picture of a Canyon Towhee that I like. They only show up at feeders, and rarely pause anywhere I find interesting. What was interesting about this particular bird is that he has a damaged foot -- which does not seem to hinder him much, but he hops around using only the good foot, and has a harder than normal time perching at the feeder.
02-DEC-2010
White-breasted Nuthatch #4203
It is a pleasure to see this fellow back -- I have not seen a White-breasted Nuthatch since last February. Later in the afternoon, there were two of them working the bark of our Ash tree, looking for some morsels.
01-DEC-2010
American Robin #4175
Robins are now regular visitors in the back yard. They come in the early morning, and then come back again several times throughout the day, always interested in getting something to drink.
30-NOV-2010
American Goldfinch #4141
I have been experimenting a bit, using flash fill so that the backlighted pictures are not quite as high in contrast. When I get my regular camera back from the shop, I think I will like the pictures a bit more.
This American Goldfinch sat nicely on a blackberry cane near me, and seems comfortable with all those thorns around.
27-NOV-2010
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) #4057
Lately, our birds are almost all Juncos, American Goldfinches, and House Finches. This Junco is exploring near the pond waterfall, and the afternoon light shows how the iris of his eye has a red color to it when the light hits just right.
26-NOV-2010
House Finch,
Looking for a Afternoon Snack #3990
On clear days, such as today, the lighting is almost always pretty harsh. It gets better late in the day, which is when I found this late afternoon visitor looking for a bedtime snack.
25-NOV-2010
American Robin #3956
I guess the Robins are getting thirsty. I have seen them around occasionally, but they have not been making many visits to the pond, except in the last week or so. We have had little rain or snow, and so they must be looking for more reliable sources of water.
23-NOV-2010
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) #3941
The most interesting birds come around in the early morning, when it is still not light enough to take good pictures (and it is very cold). My main camera is on vacation, back at the factory getting a regular tuneup, so I am using the backup camera, and it does not do as well in dim light.
The Juncos are around all day long, especially if I put out a bit of fresh seed. This is another of the light gray-headed Oregon Juncos, not enough cinnamon-color on the flanks to qualify as a Pink-sided Junco for me.
22-NOV-2010
Ruby-crowned Kinglet #3509
I skipped posting yesterday -- only more pictures of Juncos.
Here is a bird that we do not see very often (and one I have not posted this year). The Ruby-crowned Kinglet is a very active small bird who is always flicking his wings and hopping/flying from one branch to the next. I saw one of these birds a couple of days ago, and today this one came back while I was ready with the camera. He has the basic coloring of an American Goldfinch in winter plumage, except for the distinctive eye ring and smaller size. This one is very drab, and is probably a female. The one I saw a few days ago was much yellower overall.
20-NOV-2010
Dark-eyed Junco -- Pink or Oregon? #3870
Many of the Dark-eyed Juncos are colored in a pattern that makes it hard for me to say what subtype (race) they belong to. This one is an example. This bird's sides are pinker than some of the more obvious Oregon Juncos, but it's hood is not as light a gray color as I expect for a clearly-marked Pink-sided Junco. My guess is that this bird is a female Oregon Junco.
19-NOV-2010
White-winged Dove #3851
There are almost always White-winged Doves around, sometimes fewer, but other times, like now, where they come in flocks. We get them early in the morning, and again late in the afternoon, drinking form the pond and monopolizing the feeders, which are generally too small for them, but they are not smart enough to know that.
18-NOV-2010
American Goldfinch #3298
We have had one or two American Goldfinches visit every day or two. As they get more comfortable with the area, they visit the pond to get a drink of water, but for the most part, they are content to sample seed from the bird feeder.
16-NOV-2010
Dark-eyed Junco (Pink-sided) #2976
We had a surprise snowfall last night, leaving perhaps a half inch of fresh snow on the ground. The Juncos do not seem to mind at all.
14-NOV-2010
Red-breasted Nuthatch #2579
This is the first Red-breasted Nuthatch I have seen in the back yard. It is a fairly common bird, but not as common as the White-breasted Nuthatch. The Red-breasted ones are known to visit seed feeders. He must be visiting from the forests we have at higher elevations, because they prefer spruce and fir trees. Neither of those grow naturally at our elevation, and there are only ornamental spruce or fir near us.
13-NOV-2010
House Finch #2323
House Finches are around every day, but we are seeing only one or two at a time. I only rarely see one with eye disease, most are healthy, such as this male. The pear tree that he is sitting in is actively dropping all its leaves; the golden afternoon sun, together with the fall colors of the leaves, makes for a nice warm image of this common visitor.
12-NOV-2010
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) #1956
I spent a lot of my picture-taking time today concentrating on the Juncos (since they were almost the only bird around). There is so much variation in the races of these little sparrows that I always find examples of birds that are hard to classify, especially when I see birds that are somewhere in between a Pink-sided Junco and an Oregon Junco. This one is comfortably in the Oregon class, with a solid dark hood, and no mask between the bill and eye. Later, I will post some Juncos that I find hard to classify.
11-NOV-2010
House Sparrow #1849
Our resident population of House Sparrows is becoming more active, visiting the seed feeders and drinking from the pond. I thought this one was interesting because of the noticeable yellow coloring at the base of her bill -- indicative of this bird being a juvenile.
10-NOV-2010
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) #1706
More commonly seen in the Eastern USA, the Slate-colored Junco does occasionally visit us here in New Mexico. I have seen one or two this season. Other than their different plumage, I cannot tell any significant difference in behavior from our other Juncos.
09-NOV-2010
Sandhill Cranes - Heading to the Bosque #1585
The Sandhill Cranes know that the folks at the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge have a party planned for them in a couple of weeks (the Festival of the Cranes), so they are heading south for the winter. These folks, part of a flock of about 50, were flying just a couple of hundred feet overhead, early in the morning. You know it's fall when the cranes are flying about.
08-NOV-2010
Lesser Goldfinch #1512
I thought our Lessers had left, but we have had a few regular visitors in the last couple of days. They seem to have less interest in the Nyjer thistle and more in sunflower seeds, and they are more interested in drinking from the pond.
03-NOV-2010
Pinyon Jay #7325
Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus
Late yesterday a large flock of Pinyon Jays swarmed through the back yard just after sunset (after I would normally be prepared to take pictures). I took some pictures of them, through a window, but the pictures look like they were taken through a window. So today, and when they came by again this evening, I was ready. There were about 25 birds in the flock, very noisy, swarming the seed and peanut feeders, and drinking from the pond. These birds are a soft pastel blue almost all over, with just a little white markings on their throats. Some were much bluer than this one. This is the first year I can think of seeing them in the back yard, once houses were built up all around us. They normally stick to more open fields.
02-NOV-2010
American Goldfinch #7089
We had American Goldfinches in the back yard until the first week of May, 2010. We then went on a two-week vacation to the Galapagos, and when we got back, the American Goldfinches had left for the summer. When I was sitting outside today, I noticed our first returning visitor on the seed feeder, so this picture documents his arrival. They already have their winter plumage. Last winter they were very common, so I will be interested in seeing if they return this winter in similar numbers.
01-NOV-2010
Dark-eyed Junco (Pink-sided) #7056
Juncos have quickly become the most common visitors in the back yard. The most common right now are Pink-sided Juncos, then Oregon Juncos, and then Gray-headed Juncos. They are cheerfully rummaging around in the leaves that have fallen from the trees, looking for seeds or other tidbits.
31-OCT-2010
Pine Siskin meets House Finch #6940
Carduelis pinus and Carpodacus mexicanus
Pine Siskins and House Finches seem to get along quite well. The rock they are standing on here is on the way to the pond, where they like to drink and take a bath. The picture nicely illustrates the differences between the two finches -- the House Finch is larger and has a sturdier beak, and the Pine Siskin has a conical pointed beak.
30-OCT-2010
Common Raven #6261
While taking pictures at a local soccer game, this Raven flew over the field, right above my head. I have trouble distinguishing Ravens from Crows, but this is pretty straightforward, based on his tendency to glide, and the pointed shape of his tail.
29-OCT-2010
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) #5779
This is a representative picture of what I am calling an Oregon Junco -- deep dark hood with no dark line between the eyes and the beak, and only a slight amount of buff-colored feathers below the wings.
28-OCT-2010
Bushtit #5687
The Bushtits are coming by more often, sampling some pretty old suet and seed cakes. We did have one large flock of them visit today, about twenty-five of them checking out the yard. These are very hyperactive little birds, always fun to watch.
27-OCT-2010
Dark-eyed Junco (Pink-sided) #5641
The Juncos have been back only for about a week now, and I have not grown tired of these cute little sparrows yet. This one set himself down on a submerged rock in the pond, and I thought he picked a nice picturesque spot.
26-OCT-2010
White-winged Dove #5566
Now that the ground-feeding Juncos have returned for the winter, I have been putting a bit more seed on the ground. The Doves are perfectly happy with this idea, and are now spending more time around the pond. This one got too close to get more than his head.
23-OCT-2010
Pine Siskin #4871
The most interesting thing about this picture of a Pine Siskin is that he perched at exactly the same place as the House Finch did yesterday. The winter birds are almost all here now, even the Lesser Goldfinches have moved south. One question I have is whether or not we will get any American Goldfinches wintering here this year, like we did last year. It may still be early for them.
22-OCT-2010
House Finch #4371
It's been a several weeks since I posted a House Finch. There are usually a few hanging around all the time, and the red feathers on the males is getting a bit darker, as compared to the light pink that I associate with what I think are first year males. They are greatly outnumbered by the smaller Pine Siskins.
20-OCT-2010
Lesser Goldfinch #4325
We are being dominated by Pine Siskins, with occasional House Finches and Juncos. When this Lesser Goldfinch showed up, I took her picture just because she was not a Pine Siskin.
19-OCT-2010
Dark-eyed Junco (Pink-Sided) #4321
The Juncos that are now arriving are exploring the back yard. This one is a member of the Pink-Sided group, also considered to be part of the Oregon Juncos. Pink-Sided Juncos have a large cinnamon-colored area on their flanks, and their head caps are grayer than the Oregon Juncos.
18-OCT-2010
Dark-eyed Junco (Gray-headed) #4176
In the warmer weather, all our Juncos head up to higher elevations. Now that the weather is turning colder, there have been a few around in the last week. They tend to hang out in the back of the bushes, and to get one out into the open where I could get a picture, I had to spread some millet on the patio. This Gray-Headed Junco was the first to take the bait.
We see mostly three groups of Dark-eyed Juncos -- Oregon Juncos, Pink-Sided Juncos, and Gray-Headed Juncos, all in about equal numbers. We see some, but not many, Slate-Colored Juncos.
14-OCT-2010
Pine Siskin #3992
There are days when I think that all of the Pine Siskins in the world are in my back yard.
13-OCT-2010
Eurasian Collared-Dove #3970
Although we have seen Eurasian Collared-Doves on rooftops and television antennas, they have not been coming down to the ground until the last week or so. They are happy to forage for seed that falls below the feeders. White-winged Doves have been much more attentive to landing on the feeders, being slightly smaller.
12-OCT-2010
Lesser Goldfinch #3870
We see more of the female Lesser Goldfinches than we do males. Compared to earlier in the season, their plumage is now a bit more disheveled. The spend a lot of time on the thistle feeder, and occasionally take a drink from the pond or the birdbath.
09-OCT-2010
Lesser Goldfinch feeding a juvenile #2840
The Lesser Goldfinches are most active early in the morning and late in the evening. We'll get up to a half dozen at a time, especially since this adult is often accompanied by several chicks acting like juveniles. They will eventually fly down to Albuquerque for the winter, and will only visit here occasionally, until next spring.
08-OCT-2010
Mountain Chickadee #1532
This is a bird I have not posted for almost a year (before I started this gallery). I have seen them around in the last week or so.
They like the sunflower seeds, and are very flighty little birds. They will land on the feeder, take one seed, and fly away into a nearby tree. Then a few minutes later, they return for one more seed. It's relatively hard to get a picture of them anywhere else, so when they land on the rocks around the pond, I shoot as fast as I can before they take off.
07-OCT-2010
Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Female) #1394
We see three types of hummingbirds here -- Broad-tailed, Black-chinned, and Rufous. Very occasionally a few people see migrating Calliope Hummingbirds. All of them have left now, except a few stragglers, such as this female, which I think is a Broad-tailed Hummingbird. I don't think this is one of the birds that spent the summer here -- this one seemed confused by the feeder, trying to get at the nectar through the bottom. She did figure it out, though, hopped on top and got a drink.
04-OCT-2010
Pine Siskin #1298
Our most prolific visitor has been Pine Siskins in the last month. We sometimes see them monopolizing the seed feeder and the thistle feeder, so that there can easily be a couple of dozen birds in the back yard. This one perched himself in one of the best places I have for pictures, so I obliged him.
01-OCT-2010
Chipping Sparrow #0672
At first glance, I thought I was seeing an ordinary House Sparrow, but the markings are different. I believe this bird is most likely a Chipping Sparrow, in non-breeding plumage (so it does not have the rust stripe on the top of its head. I have seen Chipping Sparrows in the spring (but never posted any), but it has only been in the last week or so that any have been through here this fall. They are more common in open land, but do visit urbanized areas occasionally.
29-SEP-2010
Wilson's Warbler #9991
Here is another short-term visitor, a Wilson's Warbler. Like most other warblers, he is a very busy little bird, recognizable by the black cap on his head. He did not get into the open long enough for many pictures, but he poked out of the sumac bush long enough to give me this heavily cropped opportunity.
26-SEP-2010
Wilson's Warbler (Female) #9897
It's fall migration season, and so we'll be keeping an eye out for some fun species moving through the area. I have seen this bird for the last couple of mornings, flitting from bush to bush, never staying anywhere for long. Today it was curious about drinking from the pond, so I was able to get a picture of it in the open.
24-SEP-2010
House Finch #0036
We have been back from visiting our daughter in California for a few days. While we're gone, the birds have to forage for themselves, since the feeders don't get regular attention. But, when we get back, it does not take too long for the regular visitors to rediscover that we're home. This House Finch (who looks like a first-year male to me, but I am just guessing) is waiting patiently in the pine tree for his turn at the feeder.
19-SEP-2010
Western Scrub-Jay #9943
On Sunday morning, visiting our daughter in San Marcos, we went for a relaxing walk around Discovery Lake. There are always lots of people there, and the area has a lot of birds. This Western Scrub-Jay found a fence post where someone had set out some seed, and is enjoying breakfast.
18-SEP-2010
Red-shouldered Hawk #9793
On Saturday, visiting our daughter in San Marcos, CA, we went to the San Diego Zoo. We went to all the three aviaries, but the picture I thought I would put here is one of a bird in the open trees outside the aviaries. I am pretty sure this is a Red-shouldered Hawk, reasonably common in the southern California area.
17-SEP-2010
Anna's Hummingbird #9511
Anna's Hummingbirds are uncommon in northern New Mexico, and I cannot find any sightings of them in Los Alamos county. They are found occasionally in the southern-most parts of the state, and mostly frequent the Pacific West Coast. This particular fellow thinks he owns the tree next to my daughter's house; he'll sit there, go off and visit a flower bush, and come back. He always sits right at the same twig on the tree, and scans everywhere like he is making a plan for what to do next.
16-SEP-2010
House Wren #9379
Here we are in sunny San Diego, visiting our oldest daughter for the weekend. As we awoke we heard this bird causing a racket outside; the bird I think is a House Wren (not a visitor in NM for me). I have never heard so much noise come out of such a little animal.
15-SEP-2010
A Few days of Vacation ...
For the next several days, we're off to Southern California to visit a daughter. This is also high school soccer season, and it's awfully hard to juggle soccer games and birds, so I have been missing a few days here and there.
That's not such a big deal, for the most part the way it looks in my back yard is that all the birds in the world are Pine Siskins, and then more Pine Siskins, mixed in with some House Finches, White-winged Doves, and House Sparrows. If you do not have enough pictures of these birds already, let me know and I will cheerfully send you some extras.
While I am in San Diego, we'll see if there's any different birds there...
14-SEP-2010
Black-chinned Hummingbird #9361
The hummingbird activity is slowing down a bit, but they are regularly visiting the blossoms on the Hibiscus plant. This Black-chinned female is extracting nectar from the base of the flower bud.
13-SEP-2010
White-winged Dove #9212
We are seeing fairly large numbers of White-winged Doves. They congregate in the pear tree and have figured out how to get seed from the finch feeder. Earlier in the season, the Eurasian Collared-Doves would chase the White-winged Doves away; now, even though I can hear the Collared-Doves, they are staying away form the feeders and the pond.
11-SEP-2010
Pine Siskin #9096
This Pine Siskin shows the broad yellow patch on his wings above his secondaries. The Pine Siskins have continued to be the most common visitor in the last few weeks.
08-SEP-2010
Canyon Towhee in the rain #5342
It was a bit rainy today, mostly drizzle, but enough to get the birds wet. This Canyon Towhee looks a bit worse for wear, but because his feathers are a bit damp, he shows clearly the buff color on his head and tail.
07-SEP-2010
Lark Sparrow #5127
I was surprised to see this Lark Sparrow, a new bird for this location for me. He was hopping around the edge of the pond, trying to decide if he wanted to take a drink.
06-SEP-2010
Turkey Vulture #5074
We do have Turkey Vultures around during the summer, and they never come down near the ground in our residential area, but they can occasionally be seen circling overhead. They roost in the pine trees in the nearby forested areas.
05-SEP-2010
House Finch #4901
The House Finches are still in abundance, but cannot keep up with the swarms of Pine Siskins, so there numbers are a bit down. This female is patiently waiting her turn at the feeder.
02-SEP-2010
Pine Siskin #2631
During most of the summer, the birds did not go down to the pond, but recently they show a bit more interest in getting water. The Pine Siskins explore more than other birds do.
01-SEP-2010
Rufous Hummingbird Feeding #2544
The hummingbird activity seems a bit less frantic, but we still have a few lingerers. This Rufous Hummingbird is getting nectar from a Hibiscus (Rose of Sharon) plant.
31-AUG-2010
Western Tanager #2477
This bird has been visiting in the last two or three days, but not staying anywhere long enough to get a decent photograph. I am pretty sure she is a female Western Tanager, with yellow and white wing bars and a yellow beak. She is a definite sign that the birds know the days are getting shorter and the weather is not as hot as it has been.
29-AUG-2010
Western Scrub-Jay #2331
Western Scrub-Jays are quite common in northern New Mexico, but they do not come into residential areas that often. In the last few days, I have seen (and heard) flocks of them up high in the trees, however. When we first moved here about 35 years ago, they were quite common, but that was before we had houses built up all around us. Now we see them in the forests and open range, but they are not so often visible from the back yard.
28-AUG-2010
White-winged Dove #2205
There has been an increase in the number of White-winged Doves in the last month. For a while, the Eurasian Collared-doves would chase them away, but the only Doves making a nuisance of themselves right now are the White-winged Doves. This one has obviously had a problem, and has damaged his beak somehow. It does not seem to hinder him from getting seed out of the feeder or off the ground, though.
27-AUG-2010
MacGillivray's Warbler #2135
Here is a bird I have never seen before (!!), the first "new" visitor around the back yard in quite a while. I am about 80% sure it is a female MacGillivray's Warbler, based on the gray head, incomplete eye ring, pinkish-brown legs, bill color, and the sighting history in our area. This visitor flew low into some shrubs near the pond, flitted around for about 30 seconds, checked out the pond, and then was off to the neighbor's.
25-AUG-2010
House Finch #1993
Quite a few of the House Finches we are seeing now have a very light pinkish blush on their head and chest feathers. I assume these are first-year males, just beginning to develop their characteristic red feathers.
24-AUG-2010
King of the Pond #1504
American Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana)
I know, this is not a bird. But it grew up in our pond from a tadpole, and has survived for several winters now. Sadly, there is a bird hidden in this picture. Yesterday, my wife saw this fellow with a half dozen feathers hanging out of both sides of its mouth. I do not know what bird it managed to catch, but I assume it is a fairly rare event. I need to watch a bit more closely when the birds go down near the water.
22-AUG-2010
Pine Siskin #1447
The Pine Siskins are by far the dominant birds of the last two weeks. They showed up all at once, up to a dozen or more at a time. Normally, our House Finches prefer sunflower seeds, and Lesser Goldfinches prefer the Nyjer thistle sock. Pine Siskins are not at all so choosy -- they congregate on both feeders, driving off the other birds, not so much by aggressiveness, but by sheer numbers. This one scattered off to a pine branch, which I found acceptable for a picture.
21-AUG-2010
Rufous Hummingbird #1416
Maybe this will be the last Rufous Hummingbird picture for a while; I feel a bit guilty using them so often. I have enjoyed our hummingbirds this year, and I can tell they are preparing to head south for the winter. I liked this picture because I was able to get the bird hovering when there was enough light to freeze the wings a bit more than usual.
19-AUG-2010
American Crow #1223
I did not know that American Crows ate olives from the Russian Olive tree. This noisy fellow was sitting up in the top of our neighbor's Russian Olive tree, trying to rip olives off and eat them. I guess he was pretty happy with himself, as we have had crows doing a lot of barking in the last few mornings.
17-AUG-2010
Pine Siskins, Normal and Green Morph #1050
I have been paying more attention to the details of the plumage of the large number of Pine Siskins that have been coming around in the last few days. I chose this picture because it shows fairly clearly how differently some of the birds are colored. The yellowish bird is presumably a green morph, supposedly very rare, although at least 25% of the birds here show definite yellowish feathers on their backs and breasts. We also have some Siskins whose wing feathers have a very large yellowish to off-white patch on them, at least four or five different individuals marked that way. See
16-AUG-2010
Rufous Hummingbird #0879
I have not seen an adult male Rufous Hummingbird in more than a week. There are still some of these hanging around, which I assume are either females or immature males. I am convinced the males have moved south, and that the females will follow shortly.
14-AUG-2010
Canyon Towhee #0806
Canyon Towhees have also been scarce. There must be a bit of fall in the air now, because there are definitely changes in the mix of birds we are seeing, and their behavior. We see very few adult male hummingbirds, only females or immature males. There are lots of Pine Siskins visiting. Birds (still mostly House Finches) are congregating at the feeder, instead of arriving one or two at a time. The birds are frequently going to the pond for a drink, whereas before they stayed hidden in the trees most of the time. We are seeing more House Sparrows, and their young are doing a lot more chattering.
13-AUG-2010
Pine Siskin (Green-morph?) #0752
After taking a break from visiting the back yard, Pine Siskins have been around again in the last few days. I have been surprised at how deep yellow the feathers are for many of the birds we see. It's normal to see the yellow in the wing bars and tail feathers, but I have not noticed yellow in the general body to the extent we see them. Are these young? Males? I need to do some research.
Note added on 8/16/2010: Apparently there is a fairly rare form of the Pine Siskin (1% of them) called a "Green-Morph". Now I don't see anything that looks like green here, just a yellow bird. But if you look around at other web sites, check out what people are calling a "Green-morph" Pine Siskin.
11-AUG-2010
House Finch #0657
Most of the male House Finches show a definite red color on their head and neck, but we have a few that have a much more orange cast, such as this one. Perhaps he is an immature male, or is just genetically inclined to the more orange color. We have been seeing definite immature males, which look like females except their feathers are a light pink where they will eventually turn the brighter red.
09-AUG-2010
Rufous Hummingbird (Female) #0534
Where did all the male Rufous Hummingbirds go? In the last couple of days they have become scarce, and I am beginning to think they have moved on in their long yearly migration.
In the meantime, the female Rufous Hummingbirds have claimed the feeders. With the male Rufous Hummingbirds out of the picture, we have heard a few Broad-tailed Hummingbirds again. The Broad-tailed males have a distinctive wing whistle, but not the female Broad-tailed. I think I have seen some female Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, but they lack the wing whistle of the males.
07-AUG-2010
Black-chinned Hummingbird (Female) #0357
The Black-chinned Hummingbirds are the least aggressive of the three we see (Rufous, Broad-tailed,
and Black-chinned). The manage to sneak on the feeder only when the more aggressive ones are off
chasing someone else away. The females are far more common visitors than the males, which I have
only seen infrequently and very early in the morning.
06-AUG-2010
Rufous Hummingbird #0265
We returned from our trip to Colorado, happy to see that the birds in the back yard did not seem to miss us very much. We often get two or three hummingbirds buzzing around our yard, chasing each other away from three little feeders, but we visited an amazing place in Ridgway, CO where the lady of the house maintains some thirty feeders and a wonderfully beautiful flower garden. There must have been a thousand hummingbirds buzzing all around. We stayed there for an hour, I took a few pictures, and so now I am trying to figure out how to get more to visit our back yard without having to go through many pounds of sugar every day.
This male Rufous (in our back yard) has claimed a perch atop a hibiscus bush (Rose of Sharon), where he launches his attacks on anything hummingbird-like that moves. The bush should start flowering soon, and I am curious to see if that makes the little birds less aggressive, when there's more nectar to go around....
03-AUG-2010
Ash-throated Flycatcher #0074
Later in our vacation to visit friends in Colorado, we ventured to Ridgway (about 10 miles N of Ouray). Our friends have a great deck at the front of their house, which looks out onto a hillside covered with pines. There I saw this bird flying from tree to tree. It held still long enough for this picture.
Apparently, flycatchers are a bit hard to distinguish, and I have never seen this particular bird before, and so I settled on calling this one an Ash-throated Flycatcher based on its external appearance and the location where we observed it (SW Colorado). Other close flycatcher calls are typically found too far east or too far south to be very probable sightings.
31-JUL-2010
Red-tailed Hawk #9932
We took a short vacation to visit friends in Colorado, and went to the Two Ponds National Wildlife Refuge in Arvada. These are a couple of lakes that were originally built by someone who wanted to raise frogs there. It is now one of the smallest sites in the National Wildlife Refuge system. It consists of a few paths that encircle a couple of small ponds. We did not see much wildlife -- a few ducks, some Barn Swallows, and this ragged-looking Red-tailed Hawk flying over.
29-JUL-2010
House Finch #9860
It's time to clean the seed feeder. In the last couple of days, I have seen a few females with inflamed eyes. It's a strain of the bacteria Mycoplasma gallisepticum, and causes the conjunctive tissue around their eyes to swell. Their eyes can swell enough that they cannot open them at all (rendering them vulnerable to starvation and predators). Normally, they go through the feeder in about two days, and when it gets close to empty, I bring it in and clean it with dilute bleach. I doubt it helps much to prevent the spread of the eye disease, but it has to be better than nothing.
In the early spring, I was seeing perhaps 30% of the House Finches affected, although I am sure the statistics are inflated towards infected birds, which tend to congregate around the feeder because it's easy picking. In the late spring and early summer, the problem seemed to disappear, so I was disappointed to see this poor bird affected.
28-JUL-2010
Rufous Hummingbird #0025
The Rufous Hummingbirds are about the only interesting ones to photograph lately. Here I tried to catch this male while he was hovering near the feeder. We have been hearing the wing whistle of Broad-tailed Hummingbirds flying around, but the Rufous keeps them away from the feeder. Black-chinned Hummingbird females will sometimes sneak onto the feeder when no one else is looking!
26-JUL-2010
Rufous Hummingbird #9846
There's not been many interesting photo opps in the last few days. I have lots of pictures of hummingbirds sitting on a feeder, but nothing I thought was particularly exciting.
So today I found this Rufous sitting in the ash tree in our back yard. I am not sure if I know whether this bird is a female or an immature male, apparently they look pretty similar. Whichever it is, the females/juveniles have every bit as much attitude as the males, aggressively chasing away any other hummingbirds that try to drink from the feeder. This one is perched on his lookout point, and its only mission is to watch the feeder and chase away any other bird that dares to come too close.
21-JUL-2010
American Robin #8630
Our blackberries are almost finished, so the Robins are going after the tiny little berries that we have not picked for ourselves. Our berry bushes have lots of thorns -- I do not know how the birds manage to rummage around in them without getting scratched up.
20-JUL-2010
House Finch #8038
We are in the middle of the summer season, and there is not much variety in the birds that visit us. The most reliable visitors are House Finches, followed by hummingbirds. We also see Doves (Eurasian Collared-Doves and White-winged Doves), Lesser Goldfinches. The black birds (Brewer's, Grackles) have gone.
19-JUL-2010
Chinese Geese #7993
In the middle of the Los Alamos townsite, we have a small pond that dates back to the days when there was a Ranch School here that was acquired by the government for the Manhattan Project. There is a small group of domesticated water fowl that stay there except in the coldest part of the winter, when the pond freezes over (and then the birds have no way to escape from predators, e.g., coyotes). At that time, there is a small volunteer group that houses them safely until springtime. The numbers of birds fluctuates due to a variety of reasons, predation on the one hand, and abandoned Easter ducks on the other. This is a pair of the longer-term residents, Chinese Geese (one of the brown form and one of the white form). Chinese Geese are a domesticated form of the Swan Goose.
18-JUL-2010
Lesser Goldfinch (Black-backed form) #7870
Here's another Lesser Goldfinch picture, of a male that fits better classified as a Black-backed form. Note there are relatively few mini-feathers on its back that are light in color, and the feathers below the eye are very dark, with a few light yellow feathers right at the lower eye border. This photo is for comparison with the one I posted yesterday, of the green-backed form.
17-JUL-2010
Lesser Goldfinch (Green-backed form) #7725
The picture for today (and tomorrow) shows a male Lesser Goldfinch on the thistle sock. I have noticed that the Lessers here come in a green-backed subspecies (found mostly in the west) and a black-backed subspecies (found mostly in the east). Tomorrow's entry shows the black-backed one for comparison. Here on the eastern part of the Rockies, the ranges of the two subspecies overlaps, and so we get both forms, as well as mixtures of the two. This one is a pretty true example of the green-backed form.
16-JUL-2010
Rufous Hummingbird #7487
Our migrant summer visitor, the Rufous Hummingbird, is going to get my vote for the most photogenic bird of the summer. His iridescent throat feathers are brown when he's in the shade, but when the light shines on them, they are bright orange, fading to green along the sides. He's been a very frequent visitor, acting more and more territorial all the time, chasing away the Black-chinned Hummingbirds who mistakenly thought they owned the feeder.
15-JUL-2010
House Finches #7304
We are still seeing lots of House Finches. The male takes an active role in parenting. Everywhere he goes, the juveniles tag along, and he offers them food from time to time. The juveniles are getting more self-confident though, as I see them going off on their own more and more.
14-JUL-2010
Lesser Goldfinch eating Lavender Blossoms #6691
As I was heading out of the house to a meeting, I noticed this Lesser Goldfinch hopping around in the lavender bushes. So I went back into the house and grabbed the camera to see what he was up to. I was surprised to see that he appears to be eating either the blossoms, or perhaps seeds? We are nearing the end of the lavenders blooming, so it isn't clear exactly what he was after. In any case, he looks nice mixed in among the lavenders.
13-JUL-2010
American Robin Stealing Blackberries #6559
Our blackberries are beginning to ripen, but it is not clear we will ever get to eat any of them, because the Robins snatch them before we are ready to pick them ourselves. The Robins have been ignoring us for over a month now, but now that we have something interesting in our back yard, there are often two or more hanging around all the time. Bird netting over the bushes helps, but only a little.
11-JUL-2010
Black-chinned Hummingbird (Female) #6340
The Black-chinned Hummingbirds (and especially the females) have been fairly regular visitors to their feeder. In another several weeks, some of the summer flowers should start blooming, and I hope to get some pictures of them in a more natural setting.
10-JUL-2010
House Sparrow #6251
There's not much to add that's new today, only saw House Finches and Sparrows. This fellow perched nicely on the edge of the rock at the top of the pond. The males seem to be helping quite a bit with the feeding of the juveniles. They gather some sunflower chips, feed it to the juveniles, then get a drink of water, and repeat (forever).
09-JUL-2010
Rufous Hummingbird #6219
Here's a different bird -- Rufous Hummingbirds migrate through New Mexico in the middle to late summer, and I have seen several over the last ten days or so. They are very easy to pick out from a distance, appearing almost completely orange when hovering. This one caught the corner of my eye while I was looking over into a dark bush, so the photo is quite blurry and highly cropped, but there's enough detail left that you can see generally what the bird looks like here, as he takes off from the feeder.
08-JUL-2010
House Finch #6188
I am not getting many choices of pictures to post. The dependable birds are House Finches and House Sparrows. I moved their feeder to a new location so they'll have to look around a bit to find it. This fellow is staring at where the feeder was supposed to be.
07-JUL-2010
Lesser Goldfinch (Drinking from a Leaf) #6091
We had almost an inch of rain today in a big thunderstorm (thanks to hurricane Alex). There were lots a very wet birds. This is not the sharpest picture, but I thought it interesting to see that this male Lesser Goldfinch was getting his water by sipping directly from a leaf on the sumac bush.
06-JUL-2010
House Sparrow #6051
With our rainy season approaching, most of the birds seem to be getting their liquids elsewhere -- we see relatively few visitors to the pond. An exception is the House Sparrows, who will still occasionally sit at the waterfall and take a drink.
05-JUL-2010
Female Brewer's Blackbird #5995
We have been seeing more of the female Brewer's Blackbirds than we have the males. These birds are, as expected, duller in color than the males, but they still show a bit of the bluish iridescence on their feather when the sun hits them just right. They like to march around on the grass and look for bugs (which is fine with me).
04-JUL-2010
Male Brewer's Blackbird #5759
This is a better picture of a Brewer's Blackbird than the one I posted a few weeks ago -- since the sun is shining on this bird, you can see the nice iridescence in his feathers, which makes them look bluish.
03-JUL-2010
Bushtit #5718
It has been more than two months since I posted a picture of a Bushtit, and since we have seen any. They get plenty to eat in the summer without needing to be interested in the suet feeder. These are very active little birds, and very noisy as well. This fellow was pretty far away in an apple tree next doors, so the picture is very heavily cropped.
02-JUL-2010
Common Grackle with Broken Beak #5681
Grackles have very strong beaks, but this one obviously got into something too big for himself. He has been coming around every day, and is readily distinguishable by his chipped beak. It does not seem to bother him.
01-JUL-2010
Eurasian Collared-Dove #5657
Our Collared-Doves are often in the tops of the trees making calling sounds, but seem to be getting enough food and water without making too many forays to the ground where I can get a good look at them.
29-JUN-2010
House Finch in Pine Tree #5573
Today I did not keep any pictures of birds other than this cooperative House Finch in the pine tree. It has been a slow and somewhat frustrating time. There is a bit more bird variety very early and very late in the day, but then it is so dark that it is hard to get a picture that is not too blurry.
28-JUN-2010
House Sparrow Juvenile #5476
Here is one of the juvenile House Sparrows we have been enjoying -- this young bird is exploring some of the rocks around the pond, and later he(she?) went up to the waterfall and took a little drink. It's been fun watching the young birds grow in their independence.
27-JUN-2010
House Finch in the Pear Tree #5377
The weather has been nice, and we live in the middle of a suburban neighborhood. On days when the neighborhood kids are out playing, only the less skittish birds are brave enough to visit. The House Finches will fly away from the feeders when we step outside, but in a few minutes they are back, even if we are walking around in the back yard. If we sit still on the patio and just enjoy the outdoors, almost all the birds will eventually come back and pay a visit to the feeders and the pond.
26-JUN-2010
Lesser Goldfinch #5319
There's still not much bird variety recently. Today I chose this picture of a Lesser Goldfinch female because I liked the little drop of water that was delicately perched on the bird's head. Other than that, I think these birds are attractive.
25-JUN-2010
Red-shafted Northern Flicker #5277
Generally it is too hot now for us to be seeing Northern Flickers such as this Red-shafted one. He flew by, sat on the fence under the pear tree for a few seconds, with his mouth open most of the time (their mechanism for keeping cool). They are generally more common up higher in the mountains, where the temperatures are about ten degrees cooler than here.
24-JUN-2010
House Finch #5209
Our House Finches are our only regular visitors in recent days -- other birds come and go, but there are always between one and four House Finches feeding or drinking. There's more feeding than drinking -- They will leave the feeder for a few seconds, take a short drink, and either fly off or go back to the feeder.
23-JUN-2010
House Finches
Male feeding a Juvenile #5162
The season's baby birds are showing up more frequently. The juveniles sit in the bushes while their parents get seed from the feeders and bring it over to them. Some of the smarter juveniles are already figuring out the feeders, but they are still happy to beg from their parents.
22-JUN-2010
House Sparrow in the bushes #5078
We are seeing lots of juveniles -- many House Sparrows, some American Robins, House Finches, and Canyon Towhees. Even though there are lots of birds around, it's officially summer now and all the plants have filled out with leaves to the extent that I rarely can get pictures of them (or even see them) when they hide deep in the bushes. The noisiest of the lot are the House Sparrows, and occasionally we'll see Mom out feeding seed to three or four little ones (all of whom are chattering endlessly).
21-JUN-2010
Pine Siskin #5011
We have had only a small variety of birds visiting us recently, including a few Pine Siskins such as this one getting at drink at the waterfall. The weather has been very hot and dry and occasionally windy -- we are hoping to get summer monsoon rains in the next few weeks. The birds are most active early in the morning and to a lesser extent, active in the late afternoon.
20-JUN-2010
Lesser Goldfinch #4978
After going away (probably nesting) for a few weeks, the Lesser Goldfinches are turning up more frequently. This is a Western Green-backed form, with a nice presentation of his wing feathers. We also occasionally see one whose back is almost completely black -- more like the Eastern variant of the Lessers.
19-JUN-2010
Canyon Towhee juvenile
playing with some algae #4858
Our Canyon Towhees are raising young now. The juveniles look very much like a female House Finch, except they are about twice as large. Like the House Finch, they have streaked feathers on the breast, and do not show the characteristic dark spot on the front center of the breast like the adult Towhees have. Normally seed and insect eaters, this bird obviously is trying to figure out if some algae from the pond makes a good meal. He spent a couple of minutes tugging on a piece and finally got this tuft out to play with (and maybe eat some). He also later tried out some flower blossoms, and a little caterpillar.
18-JUN-2010
Black-chinned Hummingbird (Female) #4646
At this time of year, we have two hummingbird species that are relatively common -- Black-chinned Hummingbirds and Broad-tailed Hummingbirds. The females are much harder to distinguish than the males are, since both are basically green on their backs and white on their bellies. The Black-chinned are smaller, and the Broad-tailed have some brownish feathers between the white on their bellies and the green on their backs. The Broad-tailed Hummingbirds also make a whistling noise when they fly (especially the males). So, I am only about 90% sure this is a Black-chinned female, but after a few weeks of seeing very few hummingbirds at all, I now regularly see females chasing and catching insects in the early morning light. This one took a pause to get a sip of nectar from the feeder.
17-JUN-2010
Brewer's Blackbird #4519
Although they superficially resemble Common Grackles, Brewer's Blackbirds are smaller, have more pointed beaks, and are much more interested in patrolling the lawn looking for bugs, while the Grackles are more interested in drinking and eating seed. Like other blackbirds, they have a lot of attitude. But, the Grackles have effectively chased them out of our back yard where they have nested the last several years. They are very protective of their nests when they are raising young.
16-JUN-2010
Common Grackle #4449
Unfortunately for the smaller birds, the Grackles have learned how to get seeds from the feeder. It's not easy, because they barely fit on the small perches, often falling off to one side, and flapping their wings to keep their balance, like this fellow is doing. Actually, they don't eat that much -- the House Finches they scare off are messier eaters -- but they do displace the other birds who have to fly off to some nearby tree and wait for the Grackles to have their fill. That's partly why I don't mind them too much, because I much prefer to take pictures of those birds while they are away from the feeder.
15-JUN-2010
White-winged Dove #4383
We have seen more White-winged Doves in the last few weeks than before. Fewer Eurasian Collared-Doves have been around harassing the White-winged Doves, so that's what is probably happening. I still hear the Eurasian Collared-Doves cooing, but they seem less territorial.
14-JUN-2010
Lesser Goldfinch #4295
Right now, the most "interesting" birds around are the Lesser Goldfinches. They are very quiet birds, appearing without any fanfare at the feeders. This female is finishing up a bath at the waterfall.
13-JUN-2010
Canyon Towhee #4239
Canyon Towhees are common in Tucson, but they look slightly different from the Towhees we have in New Mexico -- ours have a bit more brown color on their heads and rumps, and a indistinct dark spot on their chest. There are hints of all these features on this bird, but they are much less obvious.
12-JUN-2010
Gambel's Quail #4152
I spent the weekend in Tucson visiting family -- one of the most common birds of the Sonoran Desert is the Gambel's Quail, which forages on the desert floor in large numbers. It is a very attractive bird, and has an engaging personality.
09-JUN-2010
Bullock's Oriole #3993
This is not the greatest bird portrait, but this Bullock's Oriole stayed in my yard for a total of 10 seconds, and then he was off. Fortunately for me, he chose to come by when I was ready with my camera. He is sitting on the top of a hummingbird feeder, wondering if there is anything there for him. I don't set out orange slices, so he quickly sized up the situation and flew off. This is a first ever sighting for me, and these birds are not all that terribly common around here, so this short little event made the day for me.
08-JUN-2010
House Sparrow #3942
There are many more House Sparrows that visit the back yard than I can get a picture of -- they fly low to the ground, diving into and hiding in the bushes, and forage behind all the garden plants on the ground for seed. Only when they stop by the pond for water, or temporarily perch on the fence (like this female), do I get a chance to take a picture of one.
07-JUN-2010
House Finch #3869
House Finches are now the most common bird visiting the back yard. We have been back home from our vacation for a couple of weeks, and since then we have seen more House Finches than all other birds combined. They are still flying around in pairs, although I remember last fall that they gathered in large flocks. I am guessing that their behavior changes once they are no longer breeding.
06-JUN-2010
Common Grackle #3752
The Grackles that have shown up this year seem to think we are a good place to stay. We almost always have one or two strutting around, chasing birds off the feeders, and vocalizing from the treetops. This one is taking a drink from the pond.
05-JUN-2010
American Robin #3196
Once a year I help out taking pictures at the Great Southwest Track and Field Classic
[see here], which was held on this hot Saturday day in Albuquerque NM. So, I did not have a chance today to watch birds in the back yard. Since this Robin was patrolling the infield in the late afternoon, and obviously came up with a worm, I thought he would serve well as my picture of the day.
04-JUN-2010
European Starling #9740
We don't have as much of a problem with Starlings as many do. We see one or two crawling around in the grass every day or so, but not the flocks of dozens of birds. They did find the end of a suet block I had out, something with a bit of peanut butter in it, and they polished it off in two days. While that was going on, I had large numbers of them around. We are also seeing juveniles, so they are breeding happily in the area.
03-JUN-2010
Hairy Woodpecker #9693
After hearing the noise of a bird in the Ash tree I didn't recognize, I left my usual shooting location and wandered out into the yard to see what was going on. Up high in the tree, mostly obscured by branches and leaves, was this Hairy Woodpecker, a first sighting for me. He hopped from limb to limb for a few minutes, inspecting the tree, then took off to the tree next doors. I am guessing he did not find any tasty bugs
02-JUN-2010
American Robin Bathing #9556
With the weather getting very warm (mid-90's F), most of the bird activity is in the early morning when it's too dark to get good pictures, or late in the afternoon, also a bit on the dark side. But a few birds, like Robins, are willing to forage or play all day long. This Robin managed to hold his head very still while flapping about in the water.
01-JUN-2010
Lincoln's Sparrow #9501
Melospiza lincolnii
Lincoln's Sparrows migrate through this area in the spring; they have distinctly buffy malar stripes.
30-MAY-2010
Western Tanager #9423
We went camping to the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado over the Memorial Day weekend. The Western Tanagers that had been visiting us in early May have left our yard in New Mexico, but we usually see them at the Sand Dunes, as we did this year.
27-MAY-2010
Pine Siskin #9367
Pine Siskins are still here -- not in the larger flocks we were seeing before our vacation, but still 2 or 3 at a time. The weather has been getting quite warm, and the birds that are still around are the warm-weather feathered friends.
26-MAY-2010
House Finch #9272
We returned from our trip to the Galapagos on 5/24, and were interested to see what changes there would be in the back-yard mix of birds.
Most of the more "interesting" birds have left for other places -- no more American Goldfinches, or Warblers. Mostly what we are seeing now are the House Finches, a few Lesser Goldfinches and Pine Siskins, sparrows and black birds (Starlings, Grackles, Brewer's Blackbirds) and Doves (Collared and White-winged). By far the most numerous of our visitors are the House Finches, who are still interested in the sunflower seeds that we keep in the yard.
22-MAY-2010
Hood Mockingbird (Galapagos, Espanola Island) #8841
There are many Mockingbirds in the Galapagos Islands, the most numerous being the Galapagos Mockingbirds that are found on most of the islands (Santa Cruz, Isabela, Fernandina, Genovesa, N. Seymour, and Santiago, of the islands we visited). On Espanola Island, there is a slightly different species, a bit larger and with a different eye color -- the Hood Mockingbird. These are curious birds that greeted us in large numbers as we landed on the beach in Espanola.
22-MAY-2010
Galapagos Dove (Espanola Island) #8976
We saw Galapagos Doves on several islands in the Galapagos. This on was on Espanola Island, but we also saw them on Santa Cruz and on North Seymour Islands. They are attractive and unafraid.
22-MAY-2010
Waved Albatross (Galapagos, Espanola Island) #9084
The largest bird in the Galapagos is the Waved Albatross. They are found at Punta Suarez on Espanola Island, and in few or no other locations in the Galapagos. At the time we were there, they had completed their courtship behavior, and were nesting; some females were sitting on eggs that had not yet hatched. This bird is stretching his wings, as if to say "See how big I am?".
21-MAY-2010
Darwin's Finch (Galapagos, Santa Cruz Island) #8524
The finches that Darwin found on the Galapagos Islands played an important role in the development of the theory of evolution. There are at least 13 different species of finches in the Galapagos, and identifying them is not always easy -- I am calling this a small tree finch, mostly because of its general appearance and of the location where I saw it -- near Los Gemelos pit craters on Santa Cruz. The finches there had these yellow beaks, and usually tree finches are described with darker beaks, but perhaps this individual is a younger bird. It was raining when we visited there, but that did not stop the birds from exploring.
20-MAY-2010
Blue-footed Booby Skypointing
(Galapagos, North Seymour Island) #8213
These are the iconic birds of the Galapagos Islands. They nest in large colonies on several of the islands in the Galapagos; these we saw were on North Seymour Island. They have ritualistic courtship displays, including this "skypointing" behavior, where the bird vocalizes an airy whistle and points its beak, tail, and wings skyward to attarct an interested mate. This bird is a male (small iris, light blue feet), looking for interested females.
19-MAY-2010
Brown Pelican (Galapagos, Santiago Island) #7464
Pelecanus occidentalis urinator
Widespread in the Galapagos, Brown Pelicans are very large birds that we observed plunging into the sea (most ungracefully) to fish for food. We saw Pelicans almost every day, often perched on boat masts in harbor. I think they are beautiful in flight.
18-MAY-2010
Galapagos Penguin (Isabela Island) #6886
On Tuesday 5/18, we rode in a "panga" boat along Tagus Cove on the west coast of Isabela Island. On the rocks near the water was a small colony of Galapagos Penguins (perhaps a dozen birds), the only penguins that breed in the northern hemisphere. These are very small penguins, and we would occasionally see them in the water as we snorkeled.
17-MAY-2010
Nazca Boobies (Galapagos, Genovesa Island) #6137
One of the three species of Boobies in the Galapagos Islands, the Nazca Boobies were formerly thought to be a subspecies of Masked Boobies (Sula dactylactra). These photogenic sea birds can be found on all the islands, and when saw them on Genovesa Island, they were beginning to show typical mating behavior, with the males offering nesting sites and materials to the females.
17-MAY-2010
Red-footed Booby (Galapagos, Genovesa Island) #6548
Posting one picture a day for all the different birds we saw in the Galapagos surely does not do them justice. On Monday 5/17, we visited Genovesa Island, where there are many thousands of birds. This red-footed, blue-billed bird is common on this island, as are Nazca Boobies (a picture of which I will post later).
16-MAY-2010
Yellow Warbler (Female, Galapagos) #5933
Dendroica petechia aureola
Today was our first day in the Galapagos Islands. We flew from Guayaquil to San Cristobal Island, boarded our ship (the M/V Letty, operated by Ecoventura), for a week-long photo workshop run by Andy Biggs (AndyBiggs.com). Our first stop was Playa Ochoa, about an hour out of San Cristobal harbor.
I suppose it is fitting that the first bird I got a picture of would be a Yellow Warbler, very common in all the Galapagos Islands. The variety is slightly different than what we see in New Mexico -- mostly noticed because the Galapagos males have an orange streak on the top of their head. This female was catching insects that were swarming around a dead sea lion, and like most of the Galapagos wildlife, was not at all concerned about me being about 6 feet away.
13-MAY-2010
Yellow Warbler #5795
A few days ago, I posted an image of a female Yellow Warbler, so today's picture of of one of the males, with the colorful orange streaks on their breasts. The beautiful little birds have been visiting every couple of days in the early morning. This one is taking a short bath in the pond.
We will be off on a vacation to the Galapagos Islands for the next week or so, so we'll take a break from birds in the back yard and see what opportunities there are in this island paradise.
12-MAY-2010
Black-headed Grosbeak #5465
Pheucticus melanocephalus
Another new bird! We see both Evening Grosbeaks and Black-headed Grosbeaks fairly commonly in this area, with Pine Grosbeaks and Blue Grosbeaks much less often. The males and females differ significantly in their plumage, but the distinct markings on the face of this first-year male bird are hard to miss -- I have not seen any adult males yet, but I'll be on the lookout.
11-MAY-2010
Brown-headed Cowbird (Female) #5369
This is another bird I have not seen or photographed before -- it is a female Brown-headed Cowbird. They are not considered to be desirable birds (they leave eggs in the nests of other birds), but I found it interesting to look up this one in the books and figure out what I was seeing. Today was extremely windy, and only the most persistent birds spent much time out in the open.
10-MAY-2010
Yellow Warbler #5167
Here is another (new for me) bird -- at first I thought I was seeing an Orange-crowned Warbler, but this bird is much yellower, and has orange streaks on his breast. Like other warblers, he does a lot of hopping and jumping around from place to place, taking short flights from one bush to another, and I have even seen him pause to take a bath in the pond.
09-MAY-2010
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) #5061
Dendroica coronata auduboni
We have been enjoying seeing Yellow-rumped Warbler's for the last couple of weeks. A posting from a few days back
([click here}) shows one of these Warblers of the Myrtle group (having a white throat patch), and this one is a typical representative of the Audubon group (with a yellow throat patch). We see both kinds here, and they will even interbreed, giving us some that are not easily classified as one or the other.
08-MAY-2010
House Finch #4867
It has been a few weeks since I have shown any of our (very common) House Finches. They have pretty much paired up, a male and a female arriving and departing at the feeder together. The males are much less tolerant of each other now than they were in the winter. This one is sitting on a pine tree branch waiting his turn at the feeder.
07-MAY-2010
Western Tanager #4732
We have seen Western Tanagers three or four times in the last week -- yesterday there was a flock of a dozen or so flying by. Today we had one visit on two or three separate occasions. I don't think we'll tire of these fellows, as I think they are very striking birds.
06-MAY-2010
Song Sparrow #4387
Song Sparrows are not very common here, and this is the first time I have ever seen one. This bird sat patiently in the shade of the pear tree, on the fence, for quite some time. Then, after about five minutes, it flew off. I saw one again early on (tomorrow) Fri 5/7/2010, foraging around on the ground, but did not have camera ready at the time.
05-MAY-2010
House Sparrow #4213
Today was another day where almost all the birds going by were finches. House Sparrows, such as this female, are also around, but they tend to stay near the ground foraging for seed droppings left by the finches. This one hopped up on a rock and so was awarded my picture for the day.
04-MAY-2010
American Goldfinch #3992
All the birds that visited us today were finches -- American Goldfinches, Lesser Goldfinches, Pine Siskins, a Cassin's Finch, and an Evening Grosbeak. I would not mind a bit more variety, but I am learning to be patient.
03-MAY-2010
American Goldfinch (Female) #3911
I think almost all the American Goldfinches have completed their molting. Although they are not as
richly colored as the males, even the females have quite a pleasing appearance.I also would have thought they would have left for cooler summer climates, but we seem
to be keeping a fair number around. Dozens of these pretty birds visit us every day.
02-MAY-2010
Black-chinned Hummingbird #3858
We get both Black-chinned Hummingbirds and Broad-tailed Hummingbirds during the spring and summer months. The Black-chinned have deep purple iridescent throat feathers when the sunlight hits them right, whereas the Broad-tailed Hummingbirds are red. Other pictures I have posted here don't show the pretty purple feathers, so I thought this was a good example.
01-MAY-2010
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) #3677
Dendroica coronata coronata
Normally a bird found more commonly in the eastern part of the US, we see Yellow-rumped Warblers here of both the Audubon (western) and Myrtle (eastern) subspecies, as well as intergrade (hybrid) individuals. The Audubon variety has a brightly colored yellow throat patch, whereas the Myrtle variety has a white throat patch, like the bird shown here. Intergrades show characteristics of both subspecies -- we have seen some with light creamy yellow throat patches or mottled yellow/white throat patches. They have an enjoyable personality, and like to take short little flights, returning to their perch, presumably feeding on small insects. They are probably migrating north, and so I don't expect to see them for long, but they are fun while it lasts.
30-APR-2010
Western Tanager #2949
This very attractive bird visited the pond today, took a bath, and stayed around for about fifteen minutes before he continued on his way. I have seen Western Tanagers in southern Colorado, but rarely see them here. He can come back any time he wants to.
Today was an exceptional day for birds -- I saw many more bird species today than any in recent weeks. Showing only one picture (of this Western Tanager) doesn't do the day justice. So, I posted another gallery (see here) of most of the birds that showed up today.
29-APR-2010
Pine Siskin #2448
(American Goldfinch in the background)
We are seeing many more Pine Siskins recently, sometimes as many as four or five at a time congregating on the thistle sock and seed feeder, or perched waiting for their turn on the feeders, or as this one is doing, taking a drink in the waterfall. They obviously get along OK with American Goldfinches, like the fellow in the background.
28-APR-2010
Common Grackle #2257
I do not recall seeing Grackles here in previous years, although others have, I am sure. At first I thought these were the Brewer's Blackbirds, which have nested in our back yard every year for the past ten or more years. But these are larger birds, have a much more robust beak, and are bronze-colored on their backs (in the right light). The last few days, we have had groups of 5-6 pass through the back yard and see if there is anything interesting here to do.
27-APR-2010
Orange-crowned Warbler #2048
Here's a less common visitor, the first time I have ever been able to get a picture of this Orange-crowned Warbler. They apparently do not stay in this area -- so he's probably just passing through. He flitted around in the back of the pear tree and pine tree, rarely giving me a chance to get a clear look at him. He went down to the waterfall and took a drink, but never stayed anywhere for very long. I was able to get two or three reasonable pictures of him, and pitched another 50+ that only recorded a blurry blob in mid-hop.
26-APR-2010
Evening Grosbeak (Female) #1831
Coccothraustes vespertinus
Like many of the birds in the finch family, Evening Grosbeaks are sexually dimorphic. The males are brightly colored, and the females somewhat duller. I have seen a few males in the last few days, and now the females are showing up more commonly. This one is finishing up a snack of sunflower seeds.
25-APR-2010
Lesser Goldfinch #1713
We have seen the numbers of Lesser Goldfinches increase quite a bit in the last week or so. Like their cousins the American Goldfinches,
they frequent the seed feeders. At first, I found it a bit hard to distinguish between the female American Goldfinches,
the female Lesser Goldfinches, and the pre-molted male American Goldfinches. But, now that I am a bit better trained,
the Lesser Goldfinches are noticeably smaller, and darker. The males, as shown here, have dark olive-colored backs and
a much larger black cap than the male American Goldfinches.
24-APR-2010
American Goldfinch #1535
It has been relatively easy to find birds in the trees, because there's not any leaves. But with spring in full swing, and the trees leafing out, it is getting progressively harder to find birds up in the trees. But the American Goldfinches are an exception -- their beautiful yellow feathers really stand out against the background of new green foliage. Spring is nice.
23-APR-2010
Evening Grosbeak #1371
Coccothraustes vespertinus
Evening Grosbeaks have been much more plentiful in Los Alamos this year than most, probably because of the larger snow pack this winter in Colorado, forcing them a bit further south than they normally go in the winter. Even though people in Los Alamos have reported seeing flocks of these birds numbering in the 50's, I have only noticed them in the back yard twice this year. The three that showed up in the pear tree today is the "record" for me.
22-APR-2010
Black-chinned Hummingbird #1196
We now have at least two or three of these fighting for rights to the feeder in the back yard. This one is sitting in a sumac bush policing "his" territory -- if another hummingbird dares to sample the feeder, he's off to chase him away. The only solution is ... more feeders.
21-APR-2010
American Goldfinch #1119
At this point, about half the American Goldfinch males have completed their molting into summer plumage, and half are lagging behind, like this one. They are by far the most prevalent bird visiting the back yard right now.
20-APR-2010
Scott's Oriole #0862
Here's a bird that I have never seen in the backyard before. It's a female Scott's Oriole, who was attracted to the hummingbird feeder (of all things). It came and went several times during the day, repeatedly taking a drink from the hummingbird feeder.
19-APR-2010
Lesser Goldfinch (Female) #0749
In the last few days, Lesser Goldfinches have been coming around. They winter year-round in Albuquerque, but it's a bit too cold here. One did stray up here earlier in the year (Jan 27, see
[this link]), but I am now seeing them regularly. They are hard to tell apart from the American Goldfinches, but have a much smoother coloration in the feathers, not as "splotchy" as the American Goldfinch females.
18-APR-2010
Bushtit #0603
The Bushtits used to flock the suet feeder regularly, but lately they are less common visitors. One or two will show up and poke around the remnants of the suet, but they seem to be more interested in the new growth on the trees. For such tiny little birds, they make a whole lot of noise. I can tell when they are in a tree even when I can't see them, because they are always chattering.
17-APR-2010
Black-chinned Hummingbird #0490
One of our newer spring arrivals is the Black-chinned Hummingbird, who has discovered the feeder we put out earlier in the week. Since seeing him for the first time, he makes fairly regular appearances, about every 5 - 15 minutes, in the early morning and late afternoon. The lower throat feathers show a pretty, iridescent violet color when you see him in the right light (click on thumbnail for a larger image)
16-APR-2010
House Finch #0391
There's a storm moving in, and tomorrow is going to be rainy and cooler. Today was a fairly typical day for birds. We have seen a few Black-Chinned Hummingbirds visiting the feeder, but none have posed long enough to get a decent picture taken. You can see that the blackberry canes are leafing out -- this House Finch is wondering where his feeder went (in for the summer).
15-APR-2010
American Robin #0331
The Robins are spending a lot of time chasing each other around -- I assume that's a spring thing. We worked in the flower gardens late in the afternoon, and when we went inside, a few Robins came around to see what interesting tidbits we stirred up.
13-APR-2010
Female House Finch #0232
Today was another very dry, sunny, windy day. Tomorrow should be better, at least from the standpoint of wind. The House Finches seemed to have paired up -- I always see a male and a female together, but rarely ever see more than two at a time. Based on their songs though, there are plenty of House Finches around. We can hear them singing from the trees when we take walks.
12-APR-2010
American Goldfinch #0157
We are not seeing large flocks of Goldfinches any more, only 3 or 4 at a time. But today was a very windy day (>30 mph, gusts to 40mph), and only a few birds were out in the open battling the breezes. This one appears to have almost completed molting into his summer breeding plumage.
11-APR-2010
Common Grackle #0048
What I once thought was a Brewer's Blackbird is actually a Common Grackle. I made sure this morning that I had my camera with me when I was looking for birds in the early morning. Although the sun is up at 7AM, it is still shadowy in the southeast corner of my little back yard, so after I heard this bird (and three others) chatting with each other, I took this picture of one high up in a tree across the street. To my knowledge, this is the first time I have seen Grackles here (they were common in Texas when I went to school there).
10-APR-2010
House Sparrow #0059
Today was warm (near 70F, 21C) -- and sunny and everyone in the neighborhood was out tending their yards (including us) and the kids were playing. All this activity keeps the birds away, with the exception of the House Sparrows, Collared Doves, American Goldfinches and House Finches. I only got a couple of photos worth keeping today, including this one of one of our resident House Sparrows.
Very early in the morning, before it was light enough to take pictures, I saw and heard a Brewer's Blackbird -- a sure sign of spring.
Note added 4/20/2010: What I heard turns out to have been a Common Grackle, a bird that until this year I had never noticed in our area. See the picture posted tomorrow.
09-APR-2010
Eurasian Collared Dove #9977
I am not seeing much variety in birds at the moment. The birds are probably upset with me because we are spending a lot of time outdoors in the back yard, doing spring cleanup. The Collared Doves are always early to come back and see what's available.
08-APR-2010
American Crow #9904
I went by the Horse Stables on North Mesa this afternoon, on my way to a meeting in town. On other trips there, I have always seen lots of birds, so I thought this time I would haul my camera along. I did see lots of birds, mostly American Crows and some European Starlings. There was also a flock of Horned Larks in a field nearby, but in the only moderately acceptable picture I got of them, the largest bird was about 10 pixels wide, so not post-able.
The best picture was one of this crow sitting on a post. I am not a crow expert, but this corvid is too small to be a Common Raven, so I am calling it a plain old American Crow.
07-APR-2010
Townsend's Solitaire #9826
Our Townsend's Solitaire played around in the pond for a bit longer than usual. Today he decided to see if eating algae would be fun. When we put a little pond in our back yard, I thought it was for birds and fish, but instead, what we seem to be raising is string algae. We need to go out and buy some tadpoles to eat it all up. Tomorrow will be a serious pond-cleaning day.
06-APR-2010
American Goldfinch #9793
We have returned to New Mexico after almost three weeks of vacation, and I have been curious to see how many bird watching changes there have been during that time. The back yard birds are not used to me watching them, so they seemed more skittish than usual. I saw very few Juncos today, and many fewer House Finches. The largest number of birds were the American Goldfinches, who are definitely sporting much yellower colors than before. This one was about as bright yellow as any I saw today.
03-APR-2010
Laughing Gull #9590
Leucophaeus atricilla (formerly Larus atricilla)
On Saturday 4/3/2010, we decided to visit the zoo in Houston, but everyone else in town had the same idea (the zoo was full), so plan B was to walk the boardwalk in Kemah, TX (generally near Galveston Island). I think almost everyone else in southern Texas had the same plan B, it was very crowded there also. There were, of course, many water birds flying around, and this Laughing Gull was diving into the water for a snack.
02-APR-2010
Northern Mockingbird #9558
The third leg of our vacation was to the Houston area to visit family and friends there. We took a walk on Friday 4/2/2010 through the Oyster Creek Park in Sugar Land, saw a few birds and a lot of people. This Northern Mockingbird was happy to have his picture taken.
27-MAR-2010
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) #9417
On this Saturday, we took the dog for a walk around Green Lake in Seattle. It was a warm and sunny morning, and everyone in Seattle had the same idea. There were a few birds around, obviously habituated to throngs of people parading about, and we saw this Audubon's Warbler flitting about in a cherry tree (in full bloom).
26-MAR-2010
Mallard #9350
After spending almost a week in Southern California, we went north to Seattle, WA to visit another daughter. The trip was timed to see the rhododendrons blooming, and we've not been disappointed. We took a walk this Friday in the Washington Park Arboretum, and found a Mallard swimming in a little pond. All the little birds could tell that the dog we were walking thought birds would make great chew toys, so although we heard other birds, they were at least 100 feet up in the tops of the trees.
21-MAR-2010
Lark Sparrow #9227
We're still enjoying our vacation to visit our daughter in San Marcos, and we are seeing many birds not common at (our) home. This Lark Sparrow is patrolling the fence line at the horse farm where our daughter works.
18-MAR-2010
Common Yellowthroat #8816
We walked around Discovery Lake in San Marcos, California last week (this entry posted on 3/25/2010), while on vacation to visit family there. We saw quite a few birds there that we do not see at home in the Los Alamos area. This Common Yellowthroat is a very strikingly colored bird, and was sitting on the corner of a pier overlooking the water. This is definitely a place we want to come back to on a later visit.
17-MAR-2010
American Goldfinch #8670
Some of the very large number of American Goldfinches that hang around our feeders are beginning to show patches of the bright yellow feathers characteristic of their summer plumage. I take this as evidence that even the birds know that spring is coming. When there is an El Nino cooking in the Pacific, we usually get wetter/snowier winters, and precipitation this winter has been well above the recent average. But even the snow from two days ago has now completely melted off, so when Spring officially comes next week, I think we'll be ready.
16-MAR-2010
Dark-Eyed Junco (Gray-Headed) #8480
Most of the Juncos we have are Oregon Juncos, Pink-Sided Juncos, and Gray-Headed Juncos. I have seen one or two Slate-Colored Juncos, maybe. This is a good example of the Gray-Headed Junco -- the feathers are dark between the bill and eye, there is a distinct brown patch on the back, the cap and wings are mostly gray, and he is lighter in the belly (with very little or no rufous color).
15-MAR-2010
Northern Flicker (Red x Yellow) #8347
Colaptes auratus cafer x auratus
So after all the snow passed through yesterday, we ended up with 7 very wet inches of snow. All the trees and shrubs were a winter wonderland for a few hours in the morning, before everything mostly melted away by afternoon. This Northern Flicker, an intra-specific hybrid between the Yellow-Shafted and Red-Shafted subspecies of Northern Flicker, has become a regular visitor to the back yard. Here, he's looking for a place to land and dig up seed covered by the snow.
14-MAR-2010
Cassin's Finch #8301
We seem to get a larger variety of birds coming around when a storm is moving in. Today started out sunny, but clouds moved in around noon and we are expecting several inches of snow overnight. The birds seem to know this. (By 7PM, we indeed did have 4-5 inches of snow.) We had a Spotted Towhee drop by and rustle the leaves on the ground, looking for bugs I think, but I was not able to get a clear picture of him. I hope he comes back.
13-MAR-2010
American Goldfinch #8085
The weather is warming up, and we have some nice sunny days where it looks like Spring is not far away. American Goldfinches are the most common visitors we have -- up to 30 individuals at a time. This one found a reasonably nice perch for me in the White Pine tree.
12-MAR-2010
Dark-Eyed Junco (Oregon) #8037
This pretty little bird perched on a high rock in the late afternoon, providing me with a photo opportunity I could not pass up. I am calling this one an Oregon Junco, but he also looks a little pink.
11-MAR-2010
Female House Finch #7735
Male House Finches have distinctive red feathers on their heads, but the females are pretty bland in color. Superficially, they resemble
female Cassin's Finches, but the House Finch's spotted breast feathers are not as distinctive. It was a snowy day today, and all the birds spend their time away from the feeder hiding in the tree branches.
10-MAR-2010
Bewick's Wren #7588
I posted a picture of this very tiny little bird back on Jan 31. Usually they fly in and visit a feeder, and then fly off again. This one decided to have a short rest in a Hibiscus shrub (Rose of Sharon) only 10 feet away from me, so in a frenzy I managed to get a few decent images of the bird doing something besides eating, before he took off. Today was overcast and a bit snowy, and almost all my avian visitors spent a lot of time in shrubs today.
09-MAR-2010
Intergrade Northern Flicker (Red-Shafted x Yellow-Shafted) #7400
Colaptes auratus cafer x Colaptes auratus auratus
I have seen this particular Flicker several times this winter -- the first time I saw it, I did not have my camera, but I realized it was unusual (and was not sure afterward if I really saw what I thought I did). By far the most common Flickers here are the Red-Shafted variety, where the males sport a red mustache below the eye. Yellow Shafted Northern Flickers have a black mustache and a red patch on the back of their heads. This one clearly has both markings in red! Along the Eastern Rocky Mountains, the two varieties overlap, and crossbreeding happens, producing offspring with characteristics of both subspecies.
08-MAR-2010
Dark-Eyed Junco #7295
Is this a Pink-Sided Junco (Junco hyemalis mearnsi) or an Oregon Junco (Junco hyemalis oreganus)? If it was a bit darker in the head cap, I would lean to calling it an Oregon Junco, and if its cap was a bit lighter and there was a bit more rufous color below the wings, I would want to call it a Pink-Sided Junco. Whatever it really is, this particular bird found something interesting in the grass, now that almost all the snow has melted away.
07-MAR-2010
House Sparrow Drinking #7151
Although our House Sparrows are frequent back-yard visitors, a family of more than a dozen live in bushes around the house, I don't see them drinking or taking a bath in the pond very often. I rained some today, and I noticed that many of the regular birds decided to take baths after the rain -- I don't exactly understand why, because they are already wet from the rain. Maybe they figure since they are already wet, why not do it right?
06-MAR-2010
American Robin #7063
Saturday was a slow day for birds. The birds in the backyard scatter for 30 minutes or more, so I suspect they are seeing some predators in the area (most likely Sharp-Shinned Hawks here) and ducking under cover. This Robin just finished drinking from the pond, sat upright, then let out a squawk and took off in a very big hurry.
05-MAR-2010
Red-Shafted Northern Flicker #6979
Flickers are fairly common in this area, even to the point that they annoy some homeowners who don't like the birds pecking away at their houses. Although I have seen as many as three or four at one time, most often it's just this one bird and (what I assume to be) his mate. They spend a lot of time in the pinon tree next doors, and venture out several times a day to whack away at suet or the block of seed. Less often, they'll take a drink from the pond.
04-MAR-2010
Eurasian Collared Dove #6856
Eurasian Collared Doves are not my favorite bird, but that's mostly because they'll hog all the food you could possibly put out for them. They'll chase away other birds, intimidating them by their size. The especially seem to get annoyed with the White-Winged Doves, which are a bit smaller (but like the Collared Doves, White-Winged Doves are food hogs too). The doves sit patiently in the tops of trees, waiting to move in and help themselves to whatever they can get.
03-MAR-2010
Red-Tailed Hawk Lift Off #6756
I took a drive around the area today, and spotted this Red-Tailed Hawk sitting on the top of a telephone pole. He waited patiently while I pulled over to the side of the highway, got out my camera, and pointed it in his direction. That was more attention than he was comfortable with, so he took off for other parts.
02-MAR-2010
Townsend's Solitaire #6560
Birds get up with the sunlight, and since it is getting light earlier now in the morning, I have to get up pretty early to see the "interesting" birds. In almost the same pose as a picture I took almost 2 months ago (Jan 10), this Townsend's Solitaire makes an almost daily run to the pond for a drink. He stays for about 30 seconds and then flies off. Most of the time, I can't get a decent picture of him because it's just too dark, and all I get is a motion-blurred image of a gray blob. Today, he (she?) cooperated by holding still in a plane perpendicular to the camera (so he's all in the plane of focus) so that the picture is reasonably sharp.
Once the sun comes up high enough, pretty much all I see each day is a procession of finches, sparrows, and Juncos.
01-MAR-2010
White-Crowned Sparrow #6407
A flock of House Sparrows live in a juniper bush in our front yard, and regularly make noisy forays into the back yard for food and drink. Once every few days, I see this (single) White-Crowned Sparrow mixed in with them. This is admittedly not the world's greatest photo of this bird (a foreground obstruction blurs the lower part of the image), but he rarely gets to a place where I can get a clear photo, and this is the first chance I have had to post a picture of one this year. He's foraging in yesterday's snow for some seed, along with the other sparrows and Juncos.
28-FEB-2010
House Finch #6308
Why do I show more House Finches (and Juncos and American Goldfinches) than other birds? Because about 95% of the birds that hang around are among these types, and some days I don't get any pictures of other birds that I find interesting. I liked this fellow because his coloration is really a bright red (unlike the pinker colors that the Cassin's Finches show).
27-FEB-2010
American Goldfinch #6128
Not many "unusual" birds showed up today -- mostly the finches, Juncos, and sparrows. This Goldfinch is delicately perched on a blackberry cane.
26-FEB-2010
House Finches, Coming and Going #5991
I had so much fun yesterday trying to get pictures of the interactions around the seed feeder that I did some more of that today. The House Finches congregated around the feeder in the later afternoon, and while there was plenty of posturing going on, this picture shows a relatively tame exchange at one of the feeder perches.
25-FEB-2010
American Goldfinch Food Fight #5469
As I mentioned yesterday, the weather is warming up and the birds seem to be getting more colorful and as this picture illustrates, they are getting grumpier. I see the birds chasing each other around a lot, and fighting over perches on the feeders.
24-FEB-2010
Cassin's Finch #5385
It's been a few days since I have noticed any of the Cassin's Finches. The weather is warming perceptibly, and I suspect that many of the winter birds will leave and head up into the mountains. The other thing I notice is that the coloration on many of the birds is getting stronger -- this bird has a definite yellow tinge to the feathers on the head and wings.
23-FEB-2010
Dark-Eyed Junco (Oregon) #4650
We had a 5-6 inch snowfall overnight, and the sun came out this morning. The first birds to come out exploring are the Juncos (they are often called "snowbirds"). The dark black head, pink bill, white belly and buff coloration are typical of the Oregon group of Juncos. Grouping the Juncos is no simple matter, for they do interbreed. We see mostly Pink-Sided Juncos (very closely related to the Oregon Juncos), then Oregon Juncos, Gray-Headed Juncos, and only rarely see a Slate-Colored Junco.
22-FEB-2010
Canyon Towhee #4532
We had a snowy day today. The birds that like to feed on the ground have a rougher time when the snow covers up their seed. This Canyon Towhee is perched on a little rock and checking out fresh seed scattered (by sparrows and finches) from the hanging feeders.
21-FEB-2010
White-Breasted Nuthatch #4258
This is the first time I have seen a White-Breasted Nuthatch in our back yard. They are easier to find up higher in the mountains. The ponderosa forests near here are from 7500-8500 feet (2400 m), and our back yard is 6400 feet (1940 m) in elevation. This bird is inspecting the ash tree.
20-FEB-2010
Eurasian Collared Dove #4080
Today was cloudy/overcast most of the time. Snow expected tonight and tomorrow. The doves are discovering the seed feeders, and will monopolize it if I let them. This one has his "eyes on the prize."
19-FEB-2010
American Robin #3758
This Robin took advantage of a relatively warm afternoon (45F) for a water bath. Robins stay here all year long, and especially enjoy combing the ground of the vegetable garden when we plant in the spring. They have a field day with the earthworms.
18-FEB-2010
Pine Siskin #3589
Pine Siskins are more common in the Northern and mountain West of the USA, breeding in coniferous forests in spring. They are not anywhere as common as American Goldfinches or House Finches, to which they are related. Nevertheless, they appear in great numbers from year to year, apparently depending on local weather variations, and how the weather affects the seed-based diet they depend on.
17-FEB-2010
House Finch Drinking #3205
Not many birds showed up today -- some days are like that. We had Juncos, Finches, and Sparrows today, and little else. I was not able to get outdoors early enough to catch some of the early-morning visitors.
This House Finch took a break from the seed feeder long enough to get a drink. He must have liked the water, because after this he proceeded to splash around taking a bath until he got thoroughly drenched.
16-FEB-2010
Sandhill Cranes, Heading North #2994
In the last two days, we have seen waves of Sandhill Cranes flying north. A large population of these beautiful birds overwinters at the
Bosque del Apache south of Albuquerque, NM. I am not a good judge of heights, but I am guessing they are flying about 500 feet overhead here.
15-FEB-2010
Western Bluebird #2799
I never get tired of seeing our Western Bluebirds visiting. It's hard to describe how deep their blue coloration is -- almost fluorescent. We never see them eating anything, just drinking from the pond (see also the picture of Jan 14, very similar). They eat fruit and berries (juniper especially) in the winter, and dine on insects during the breeding season.
This was the last day of the "Great Backyard Bird Count," and was the only day the Bluebirds showed up. Other visitors were the back-yard regulars, Doves (Collared and White-Winged), Northern Flickers, Juncos, House Finches and American Goldfinches, and Sparrows. Only saw one Bushtit and one Robin. Less usual birds for today were a White-Crowned Sparrow, Mountain Chickadee, Canyon Towhees, and Pine Siskins. Then, around 3PM, a very large flock of Sandhill Cranes flew over, migrating back north from the Bosque del Apache (150 miles to the south of us). I took pictures of the flocks, and from the pictures counted over 400 in one wave alone.
14-FEB-2010
Brown Creeper #2654
Although Brown Creepers are fairly common birds, they are so well camouflaged against the bark of the trees they crawl around on, that they are very hard to see. They are even harder to get a decent picture of, because they are always moving around, circling the tree trunk looking for insects. I chased this little bird for about 5 minutes, as he circled the pear tree, and shot off a couple of hundred (mostly very blurry) pictures. Two of them were in good enough focus to keep.Today was the third day of the "
Great Backyard Bird Count," and I was happy to be able to add this fellow to my list. Other visitors today included the regulars: Collared and White-Winged Doves, House Finches, American Goldfinches, Juncos, and House Sparrows. Less common, but still frequent were our Northern Flickers, a Canyon Towhee, Bushtits, and Cassin's Finches. Even less common than these were a Townsend's Solitaire and a Bewick's Wren.
13-FEB-2010
Red-Shafted Northern Flicker #2303
It's the second day of the "
Great Backyard Bird Count," and although we had many of our usual visitors today, the best photo opportunity was provided by one of the regulars -- a Red-Shafted Northern Flicker crawling up the pear tree.
Other birds visiting today were Collared Doves, White-Winged Doves, Mr. and Mrs. Flicker, Bushtits, a Townsend's Solitaire (who did not hang around long enough to get his picture taken), some Robins, Juncos, Cassin's Finches, House Finches, Pine Siskins, American Goldfinches, and House Sparrows.
12-FEB-2010
Bushtit #2043
The Bushtits have discovered the suet feeder, and make daily passes through the area. This one appears to be a female, based on her yellow iris.
Today was also the first day of the "Great Backyard Bird Count," so my photo time doubled as bird-counting time. In all, over a couple of hours of watching, we had 13 different bird species visit (or fly over in the case of a Raven), including American Robins, Collared Doves, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Juncos (Oregon, Pink-Sided, Gray-Headed), House Finches, Pine Siskins, American Goldfinches and House Sparrows.
10-FEB-2010
Snowy Egret #1892
On Wednesday Feb 10, we traveled to the
Brazos Bend State Park, an excellent wildlife refuge just south of Houston, on a cool and overcast day. We saw a great variety of wildlife, mostly birds, white-tailed deer, and a few alligators. The area is covered by many marshy lakes, and so there are quite a variety of shorebirds to see. The Snowy Egret was hunted for its delicate plume feathers many years ago, but is of course a protected species today.
In addition to the Snowy Egret, we saw Great Egrets, Tricolored Herons, Great Blue Herons, White Ibis, numerous Northern Cardinals, Red-Winged Blackbirds, and smaller birds such as the Eastern Phoebe and Tufted Titmouse. Many types of ducks, a Red-Tailed Hawk, and several other raptors I could not get close enough to identify.
07-FEB-2010
Northern Mockingbird #1377
We took a week off and visited family in Texas, so no opportunity
to look for birds on a regular schedule. This common southern bird
was relatively unconcerned about visitors.
03-FEB-2010
House Sparrow #1121
Our House Sparrows are quite common, but it's hard for me to get many decent pictures of them, because the don't stay anywhere for very long. They flock in bushes, chatter all day long, and make short forays to the feeders or the pond. I saw this one early in the morning, before we had another snowfall (6-7 inches).
02-FEB-2010
Bushtit #0882
Bushtits are really very small birds, gray all over. The flock onto the suet feeder, where I have seen as many as 16 at a time. They feed right-side-up, or hanging upside down like a nuthatch or a chickadee. They travel in flocks, and the only reason this one was by himself is that the feeder was too crowded for him to fit, so he is waiting... Males have black eyes, and females have a yellow iris, so I think this one is male.
01-FEB-2010
American Goldfinch, Eating Algae #0763
The typical American Goldfinch diet consists primarily of seeds, with occasional insects taken opportunistically. If you have a pond, and if you have birds, then you also have algae. The Goldfinches usually just visit the pond to take a drink, but today I was very surprised to see this Goldfinch stripping algae growing on the rocks near the waterfall, and eating it!
31-JAN-2010
Bewick's Wren #0656
The only time I ever see this wren is when he visits the suet feeder. He's not a very striking bird, and is distinguished by the white stripe near his eyes and the checkered tail. This little wren is always moving about, and hacks away at the suet with enthusiasm.
30-JAN-2010
Female Cassin's Finch #0491
Saturday morning came with freezing fog, and there were almost no birds visiting in the early morning. Later in the afternoon, the sun came out, and this female Cassin's Finch decided it was warm enough for a bath. When she was all done, here's what we had (click on the thumbnail image below for larger version):
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29-JAN-2010
Downy Woodpecker #0384
We see Downy Woodpeckers once or twice a week, attracted to the suet feeder. These are small birds, as woodpeckers go, and the males have the bright red patch on the back of their heads. This one is checking out possibilities along the trunk of the pear tree.
28-JAN-2010
Dark-Eyed Junco (Pink-Sided) #0039
It snowed all day Thursday 1/28/2010, with a total accumulation of about three inches. The only birds that brave the weather (or was it me braving the weather?) were the Juncos, the finches and the Collared Doves. The Pink-Sided Juncos look a lot like the closely related Oregon Juncos, with more conspicuous brown on their flanks and a grayer head cap.
27-JAN-2010
Lesser Goldfinch #0010
This is the first Lesser Goldfinch I have seen this year. They are more of a summer visitor. They are about the same size as American Goldfinches, but are obviously much yellower in the winter, and have a black cap on their heads. This one is a green-backed form.
26-JAN-2010
Pine Siskin #9904
Pine Siskins look a lot like House Finches from a distance, until you see the smaller, more pointed dark bill, and the touch of yellow on their wingbars. They are attracted to the Nyjer thistle sock, but this one found a seedhead from last year's Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) to dine on.
25-JAN-2010
Western Bluebird #9741
After not seeing many Western Bluebirds last year, or the year before, this year we have enjoyed a group of about six who visit the pond every morning around 9 AM. It's hard to believe how blue these birds' wings are. I expect they'll be heading up higher into the mountains in February and March.
24-JAN-2010
Red-Shafted Northern Flicker #9644
It's late in the afternoon, the clouds have gone and the weather has been sunny today. We have a few of these Northern Flickers of the Red-Shafted variety that make the rounds almost every day. The males have the red mustache, and except for that, both males and females look pretty much the same. They take an occasional drink from the pond, try out some suet, and hack away at the trees. This one is waiting his turn at the pond.
23-JAN-2010
American Robin in White Pine Tree #9471
It looks like the cloudy and rainy/snowy weather has gone for a few days.
The robins have been flocking in puddles everywhere -- this fellow
is resting in the back yard tree before he goes out for another drink.
22-JAN-2010
Eurasian Collared Dove #9340
Friday was another cool day, with light mixed rain and snow. Our weather
was not as "interesting" as what went through Southern Arizona
and New Mexico. Collared Doves just hunker down and wait for things
to get better. This one was looking at the bird feeder for
quite a while, and finally decided it was not too small
for him to pounce on.
21-JAN-2010
Evening Grosbeak #9292
Coccothraustes vespertinus
Evening Grosbeaks move through this area, but rarely hang around very long. They have very distinctive coloration. This one (and an accompanying female) took a drink before the weather got too wet today.
20-JAN-2010
American Robin #9255
The snow from Tuesday (1/19) tapered off, then a second storm moved in on Wednesday morning, but by Wednesday afternoon, the sun was out and the birds started being a bit more active. This good-looking Robin paid a visit to the waterfall to get a drink.
19-JAN-2010
Dark-Eyed Junco in the Snow #9122
This dark-eyed Junco (Oregon, or maybe Pink-sided form) is taking a bit of cover
from the snow under some bushes near a fence line. This is the first snowstorm this year,
and we're expecting more tomorrow and more again on Friday.
18-JAN-2010
Male Cassin's Finch #9093
The male Cassin's Finch shows a general resemblance to a House Finch, but has more distinctive
light-and-dark markings around the head, and the red coloration tends more towards pink.
We have had two or three pairs of these finches as regular visitors over the last several days.
17-JAN-2010
Female Cassin's Finch #8912
These finches closely resemble House Finches, but have much higher contrast in the breast feathers of the female, and the males are a more rosy pink color. The markings around their eyes are also distinctive. This is the first year I have seen these finches in our yard.
16-JAN-2010
Amercican Goldfinches #8770
Our American Goldfinches are attracted to the sock filled with Nyjer Thistle seed.
Every time a new arrival comes to the sock, he is often "greeted" with a challenge
from the current sock residents.
15-JAN-2010
Eurasian Collared Dove #8671
The Eurasian Collared Dove is a recently introduced species in North America. We have several birds here that seem happy to stay around all year long. They forage for seed off the ground or from the feeder. We usually see them in pairs.
14-JAN-2010
Western Bluebird (Male) #8472
Thursday Jan 14 was a good day for birds. A handful of western bluebirds came by early in the morning. It was overcast and calm, and the birds were after a drink.
Also saw, for the first time, a female Cassin's Finch this morning, and got a picture or two of a swarm of bushtits on the suet feeder.
We did not see many of these bluebirds last winter, but have seen them a bit more often this winter. We have had a much colder winter this year.
13-JAN-2010
Northern Flicker (Female, Red-Shafted) #8399
Flickers are around -- we see one or two every couple of days. I like how the eyes show red when the sun hits them.
Our flickers are attracted to seed and suet, and are all the red-shafted variety -- both males and females have a crescent-shaped black shield on their throats, and the males have a red mustache on their cheeks. When they fly, their undersides show a definite reddish tint.
12-JAN-2010
Dark-Eyed Junco (Slate-colored) #8277
It is hard for me to tell which kind of Junco any particular bird is. They hybridize, so I understand. I first thought
this was a Junco of the Oregon flavor (Junco hyemalis oreganus), but Gale Owings' comment
suggests one of the less common Slate-colored Juncos (Junco hyemalis hyemalis).
04-JAN-2010
House Sparrow #7740
We have quite a few house sparrows, and they appreciate us putting out seed. They are a little bigger than house finches and goldfinches, and generally win when there are squabbles over access to the feeder.
11-JAN-2010
Canyon Towhee #8196
I don't like to take pictures of birds sitting on the feeder, but it's been hard to get these birds to hold still anywhere else. These over-sized sparrow-like birds come out early in the morning and late in the afternoon, and show an interest only in seed. In past years, they have nested in our chimney, and are pretty noisy. The young are not very skittish, so I guess skittishness is something they learn in time.
10-JAN-2010
Townsend's Solitaire #8077
This is only the second time I have ever seen one of these birds. I don't think it's because they are particularly rare, only that I would confuse them with American Robins unless I happen to notice they are gray in the front. Note also the black beak and the little brownish patch on its wingbars.
09-JAN-2010
American Robin #7953
We have robins all year around. This fellow is enjoying his bath at the top of the waterfall. We've seen as many as twenty robins crowding around and drinking in the early morning in the pond. It's late afternoon here.
08-JAN-2010
Male American Goldfinch #7879
These fellows flock to the feeders early in the morning, until midday. They like Nyjer thistle, millet, and sunflower seeds. I will be interested to see how long they hang around once the weather starts warming up.
07-JAN-2010
White-Winged Doves Drinking at the Waterfall #7837
The weather has been cold, and the waterfall skims over with ice at night unless the water is moving pretty fast. It's often funny watching the birds slip on the ice as they try to find a spot to get close to the water. The doves just stand in the water flow -- Obviously they don't mind cold feet.
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.