Here are a couple of my back yard birdies...






I am still trying to get my hummingbird to hover long enough to get a pic of him...

Ahhhh! You have a Brown Thrasher and a Northern Cardinal Male. It's weird to see them in sand.

Awww, dust bath time! Looks like a thrush. I have a hard time discerning thrushes and thrashers tho' and I'm not sure which are more common to NC. Is your soil very sandy in those pics? Mr Cardinal is sooooo pretty isn't he?

You know whats coming.... Can I use the pics on my site?
I really have to go there and add more today.

Great pics Tonya!!

I think that's a Brown Thrasher, Wrennie. I don't think they Southeast U.S. has any thrushes this time of year. We have the Hermit Thrush in the Winter. Tonya is on the atlantic Coast of North Carolina. I had a Brown Thrasher at my feeders just this morning here in Tennessee.

I must have been typing as you were posting Thorny. i do get them confused and didnt have a book nearby to look in. I had a wood thrush(I'm prett sure) once ruffling up leaf litter at the edge of my yard looking for dinner. Never saw one again, or ant thrashers.

Wrennie- you may use any of my pics you see...always!

i've had that tonya. my male feeds the female. if i hadn't seen it with my own eyes...

Thank you sweetie!

The Cardinals were performing a mating ritual. the male offers the female a seed and when she accepts it, he feeds it to her and they are 'pinned'(?) 'engaged'(?) 'hitched' (?)
The female wasnt wagging her tail or fluttering her wings, right? Only 'cause that would be a jeuveniles way of still asking to be fed. If she put her head back a bit and he fed her from above (a dominant position) woo-hoo we have a wedding!

I have seen that Cardinal behavior myself. I even had a female "come on" to me once she flew down to the feeder, turned her back to me, raised her tail, Looked back over her shoulder at me, and in her most seductive Cardinal voice said, "CHIRP! "

Nat, you are a mess....(of fun!)

Dianna

She knew where her seeds were coming from..... you stud you!

The next day a male Northern Cardinal showed up at my feeders chirping furiously. I have studied bird communication for years and although I am not too fluent in understanding Cardinal, I could under stand the chirps that said something about, "Pecking/Kicking", my, "Vent/Cloaca". I guess I had an infuriated beau or hubby on my hands.

CHIRP!

Too funny, thorny!

Cool! Now if I can find the nest, maybe I can see some babies!

I don't know what this is .. It was dark gray with red on the under side of its tail? Anyone know what this different looking bird is ??
Ohh and it is very sleek and a bit smaller than a robin

that is a catbird

Really never heard of one.. It was a pretty one though! I am hoping to get some better pics of it!

Spring, Gray Catbirds are CLOSE relatives of Northern Mockingbirds and Brown Thrashers. All three species are Mimics, meaning they love to imitate sounds they hear. Northern Mockingbirds repeat phrases they sing over and over; Brown Thrashers have a more nasal quality to their song and repeat each phrase TWICE; Gray Catbirds sing each phrase only ONCE with frequent, catlike calls of. "MEW!" mixed in with their song, hence giving them the name, Catbird. I have heard Mockingbirds imitate this Mew call also. I have all three species in my yard but I have lived here for four years and did not get a Catbird until this year. My Catbird usually shows up in a large mulberry tree at dusk.

This guy was a very happy camper at mom's this weekend!

And this little guy as well...

Is that top picure a gold finch on a chickory plant Tonya?

I Bought that SAME hummingbird feeder at Big Lots this Spring but it fell apart on me.

Cool pictures Tonya! That's one of my fav. parts of summer, being able to sit outside and watch all the birdies.

I've had a big influx of Pigeons lately.....and I never used to see any at all.

Sure is Thorny....You are good! After posting it, I realized that the pic wasn't that great!

I almost got a pic of my little hummer tonight...I did get to look at it closer and it has a red neck. It should fit right in here!

Looking at your location , you have a male Ruby-Throated Hummingbird. You're lucky! A lot of the males have already left to migrate back to South America.

He certainly is pretty! I'll try to get a pic today!

The artline strawberry fell apart on you Thory? I've never had anyone tell me theirs fell apart...

I still have male rubythroats here too.Lots of them.

Squirrels got to my Strawberry feeder and knocked it down and cracked the base. Those Wascally squiwwels.

They are so cute Tonya!

OK, so I didn't get a pic of my hummer just now, but I would've SWORN he/she(not sure as this one didn't have a red neck band) was watching us...

It flew to the feeder and went from one hole to the next until settling at one. I stood very still and watched. When it was done, it flew to the window and hovered looking in and ws there for about 30 seconds or so and then flew off... It was really cool!!

A close encounter of the bird kind!

Too funny, Loz!

I have many male ruby throated hummingbirds at my feeder also. I'm not sure when they leave. I seem to have them well into September.

I STILL don't have any yet!

Thorny, what did you do to scare them off? Did Mr Cardinal spread rumors??

I've had them EVERY year but this one. (Thorn removes his bill enhancer)

Hmphf. Where'd they go? Different species do disappear from an area unexpectedly and for no apparent reason sometimes.
Maybe it was the bill enhancer.

I'veseen hummers just last week about two miles from my house so i KNOW there all around me. They're just NOT in my yard

have you changed anyhting in your yard? Have the neighbors used lawn doctor? {ick} What DID youy do to that cardinal? {tee-hee}

Does the fact my neighbor uses lawn doctor...a reason I can't get them in my yard?

For the last 6 years I have tried!

Wrennie, I've added a whole forest of Red Flowers this year: Balsams, Verbena, Salvia, Gladiolus and 30 RED Cannas. I also put up Three new feeders. No Hummers! But last year one didn't show up until August.

We have a cat bird at our new house. Funniest thing I've ever heard - we really were looking all over for a cat until we realized the thing was a bird in the tree!

That little "Mew!" they make fools me every time. This is the first year I've had a Catbird in my yard. They are rather pretty but rather shy, too. I haven't been able to get a picture, good or bad, of mine yet.

Rita, It could be a factor. If you arent supposed to walk on a lawn sprayed by lawn Dr. (for 24 hours or something)imagine what it would do to a bird whose right down there on the grass.

While walking with my grandson today, I saw an odd looking bird in the grass. Going to investigate, I saw a baby Blue Jay that had JUST left the nest not a minute before. I started to snap pictures when I heard a screech and something slapped my head! Mama or Papa Jay had attacked me! I quickly moved out of the way much to the relief of ALL the birds involved......but not before getting some good pictures of the baby. Another odd thing was thwe fact that there were THREE adult jays attacking me! Perhaps Jays raise their young in common communally.

BABY BLUE JAY

Sounds like the male cardinal is spreading the word about you Thorny... Great pic!

Nice pic Thorny! I have many blue jays at my feeders but have yet to see one of their babies.

The Mockingbird parents have finally started bringing the juvies to the birdbath and seem to also be teaching them how to dig around in the flowerbeds...something I've never known them to do. This little guy\girl(?) followed me around yesterday every time I was outdoors.

Oh Rosie, what a great picture! It is so cute! Do you know how many babies there are?

Patti, as far as I can determine, there is just this one juvie being watched over by two adults. I have another pair of adults that fledged their baby about a month ago and he's a friendly little guy, too. They stay here year round and are a real pleasure to watch, especially eating the red berries from a big Holly out front.

Yesterday they were a hoot to watch trying to eat a half rotten Zuccini. I had put it out there by one of the watering dishes just to see what would happen. That juvie worked and worked with mom and dad trying to figure it out. Every time I slipped outside with the camera, they would take off so I never did get a picture. Hopefully they'll work on it again today and I'll get a lucky shot.

Isn't it amazing how little it takes to keep me entertained? lol!

Rosie, I've got a pair here that are regulars and they seem to know the sound of my voice. They can become pretty friendly, but they still keep their distance. Mine stay here year round too. I just planted a Holly this year and it's getting red berries too, but I haven't seen them checking it out yet. :rolleyes:

I understand, Rosie, because you sound a lot like me. I can get more enjoyment watching my birds and squirrels than going to movies or shows like my friends do.

If you have a new Holly with berries, prepare to be amused. I hope it's near a window so you can watch the action. Once the Mockers find the berries, they will fight off Godzilla to protect that bush and claim it as their own. My mailman won't even walk near the Holly once it has set berries. lol! He has been bombarded on many occasions because they see him as a threat.

I have a window near the Holly that I keep open, weather permitting, and they will sit on the window ledge and look in the house and jabber away like they are talking to me. I LOVE IT!!!

It's dangerous to sit out by the hummingbird feeders in our yard. It is like sitting on the landing strip of a national airport. I think we have counted 12 so far...



In the back yard yesterday evening, there were about 7 fighting over two feeders.



In the front yard, we had 5 and they all wanted to eat at once. They were crashing together in mid-air trying to protect their spot...



We have only seen one male here. I guess that if we had any other, that they abandoned their family when they found more females were hatching than males. Wasn't about to take chances on being hen-pecked...

Sorry for the blurry photos. I forgot to change the mode of the camera before I started snapping pics...

Dianna

Those are so neat..thanks for sharing Dianna!

Love the hummer pictures, Dianna. Thanks for posting for all of us to share. It's fun when they start whizzing around you like that.

Oh, Rosie, I hope you're right! This will give me something to look forward to this fall!

Dainne, those are some awesome pictures of your Hummers!

It was 105f yesterday (heat index 110) and the birds were really suffering. I took numerous pictures and they were all so hot, I really felt sorry for them. I'm especially concerned about this juvie Mockingbird as he seems to be a little "slow" if you know what I mean. He does some of the weirdest things I've ever seen for an almost adult bird. Maybe he fell out of the nest as a baby and landed on his head?

It's been a while since anyone posted a bird picture. So, it's about time.
This is my lucky shot of the day
It is a dark-eyed junco. He is a winter guest and we have had as many as 50 at a time (ground feeding)


It took Thorny's juncos until mid january to show up because I stole them all

Ahhhh....that ones so cute...he blends with the fence too!!!

I heard the lovely sound of a woodpecker rat-tat-tatting on a tree this morning and was delighted to find this guy!

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...ies/pileatedwoodpecker4.jpg?t=1169567916[/img]

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...ies/pileatedwoodpecker2.jpg?t=1169567968[/img]

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...ies/pileatedwoodpecker1.jpg?t=1169568020[/img]

OMG! You've got a male Pileated Woodpecker! One of my favorite birds......and what GREAT pictures!!!

OH, Thorny, I knew you'd love that one!

Woodpeckers are one of the two groups of birds I specialize in the most.

we get a wood pecker here, dont know what kind, but you can hear him peckin away,in the summer

Melcon.... cool beans! Hubby lives to try to lure this guy into picture range. Nice shots.

melcon

woow! what a beauty,very nice pictures.