A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Hobbies, Crafts and Creativity The Bird Lovers Forum New camera and what kind of birds?

I got a new camera for christmas and yesterday we got lucky and were visited by tons of birds. Very odd considering our weather lately and today they are not to be found. Anyone know who my visitor's were?

These first two are the same type of bird, different angles.




This one I found up in the tree, it didn't match the others but I still don't know what it is.

Hi Cheryl. it's good to see you. I didn't know you lived in a different time zone than I do but since you've already OPENED your Christmas presents you certainly must.

the first bird looks like a robin and the second some type of woodpecker. Thornius or dodge will know more than I.

I love taking pictures of birds.

Forgot my question. What type of camera?

Haha, my present wasn't even wrapped. I was dragged into the camera store and it was bought for me as a surprise.

I had thought robin at first too, except that we don't have robins here right now and these don't look the same as the robins we see in the warmer months. And the fact that they were only here for one day. They are nowhere to be found today and yesterday there were easily at least 30 of them around our house. We also had 3 stellar's jays in our yard yesterday and we've never seen more than one at a time before.

I also thought that other one might be a woodpecker, it was way up in the tree and trying to hide from me so I didn't get the greatest picture of it.

My new camera is a nikon coolpix p80. It's an upgrade from my old coolpix camera. This one has 18x zoom and 10.1 megapixels.

SUPERB CAMERA!!! Your first bird is, INDEED, an American Robin! Your second bird IS a Woodpecker, a Flicker, the Red-Shafted variety, and a male to boot! These birds are more of a DIRTpecker, rather than a Woodpecker, as the main part of their diet is ants, and they spend much of the time on the ground for that reason.

This also tells me that you are in the Western U.S. and most likely in the southern part of the U.S. Red-Shafted Flickers are found in the Western U.S. And the Northern AMerican Robins spend the Winter in the Southern U.S. So you are in the Southwest U.S.

Haha, I'm in Seattle. Not southern at all, but west it is. They didn't look at all to us like the american robins we're used to seeing in the warmer months. Maybe because they are fat and migrating? Like I said, they were only here for a day.

Thanks for the compliment on my camera, I really love it!

those robins look extra puffy...down right fat.
we have a ton right now around our place. they seem to migrate or flock together around here this time of year???

congrats on your new camera.

come back Thorn. Why are those birds in Seattle? What's going on with the universe?

very clear pictures by the way.

Just late migrators I guess.

In Winter Robins form up in LARGE flocks and move AWAY from cites and Suburbs and into the forests. Their diet then changes from earthworms to berries. In spring they break up into singles and pairs, the Northern Robins move back north, and ALL Robins then move into suburban lawns and yards and start eating earthworms again.