Hear, hear, Zach! Bird watching is good for the birds, and it's good for the human beings!

Here are links to some of the things Zach talks about above!

This is eBird! It's free and anybody can submit a report of the birds they saw-- anywhere! My "location" is "Skybird's Yard!"

http://ebird.org/content/ebird/about/

This is this year's info about the Great Backyard Bird Count! It started out just in the U. S., but now people count all over the world, and they have a "live" map you can watch where a "light" lights up every time somebody submits a report! It's kind of amazing--I think--to watch the lights come on all over the world! When I was watching one year a light came on in the middle of the ocean! I couldn't let that go, and when I zoomed in close enough on a map I discovered there was a tiny island there! It's February 12-15 this year, and I'll be starting a separate thread when we get closer to this one to remind everybody about it!

http://gbbc.birdcount.org/

There's also the Christmas Bird Count! It used to cost a few dollars to join this one, but it's free now. This year it's from December 14 to January 5.

http://www.audubon.org/content/join-christmas-bird-count

http://www.audubon.org/content/history-christmas-bird-count

And this is Project Feeder Watch that Zach mentioned. It's $18 a year to join this one.

http://feederwatch.org/about/how-to-participate/

And for anyone who isn't "playing with the birds" yet, but might be interested, this is the best online bird ID site I've found so far! On the top where it says "search" you can enter the name of a specific bird, or you can click on "family" or "name or shape" to browse the different birds.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/

Since Zach posted with wood peckers, here's the woodpecker page!

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/search/?q=woodpecker

I still have trouble telling Hairy's from Downy's, Zach, but knowing how big my suet feeder is sure helps to "measure" them!

I put my suet out for the first time when it got cold a few weeks ago, but the blackbirds showed up almost immediately, so I took it back down again! Need to get my Blackbird Dispersal System set up again so I can put it out and leave it out! Haven't seen any woodpeckers or flickers yet, but they'll be showing up soon! Hope I have a yellow flicker or two show up again this year. They're pretty amazing!

I'll be stocking up my safflower with 40 more pounds this weekend! Barb and I are going "shopping!" I got Barb hooked on the birds! Boy, did I get Barb hooked on the birds!!!

EVERYBODY should get hooked on the birds!

Skybird

I heard an interview with the author of this book, "Welcome to Subirdia". It sounded like a really interesting book. I plan to get it for my father for Christmas. He is the one who taught me the love of birds/bird watching. Every time I see some exciting bird, he's the person I call. He just got me a membership to the Audubon Society. Inside the little membership notice card, there was a hand-written note from my dad that said, "Let's keep sharing bird stories." It made me cry. I love that we have that in common. I've managed to pass it along to one of my children. Fifty-percent is pretty good!

P.S. Last week I had a Cooper's hawk right in my backyard. That was a first!

My downy's seem to be year round, or nearly year round visitors. We have a dead aspen in the back yard and several narrowleaf cottonwood snags in the creek just beyond the fence. There is several "nest holes" in all of them from the woodpeckers. It's nice to have them calling my place "home."

The flickers, yes, lots of them! Back in February I counted 5-6 clinging to the brick chimney on the neighbors house all at one time. They seem much more seasonal then the downy's, late winter and spring visitors, once the natural grub has been used up is when I start seeing the big numbers of them, and breeding season.

I tie all my suet cages closed with wires in the rare occasion a squirrel gets the gumption to leap from the tree to the feeder. In the past they will just open the cage and take the entire suet cake off into the trees. Of course they don;t get on the feeders themselves very often, I suspect the birds drop enough food for them to eat. They usually just hang out on the ground with the doves and juncos. They are also tend to be averse to safflower so, the "leap of faith" it takes to get to the feeder is probably not worth it to them for a food they don't prefer. I reckon they would do it for suet though.

I also keep a roof over the top of the tray feeder this time of year so it doesn't get buried in snow. Along with the baffle, it helps deter squirrels (as well as Eurasian doves which I would just as soon make one of MY food sources).

Bird watching is VERY good for this human in particular. I don't know how else I could survive the dreary days of winter without SOMETHING to occupy my time with. Course, Skybird, your post earlier in the year for the GBBC really set off the trigger. Once I realized there was a handy-dandy list maker on eBird for me to use, I has been a yearlong competition with myself to see how many birds I could get... A paltry 52, but that just means it's an easy record to beat next year. You'd think having spent 40 hours a week in a state park for 6 months would be a real boost my numbers, but, I find the wild birds are far harder to see, identify, and count that the relatively tame ones that visit my house. Hopefully I get a call from the Department of the Interior for the job up at Rocky Mountain Arsenal next year, I can hone my birding skills a little more ;).

Yes the Christmas bird counts! They hold several along the Front Range (and throughout the State....and Nation) at different dates and different locations, so, if anyone is interested, there's bound to be one nearby you can join! In the Spring/Summer there are also bird-banding's that they take volunteers for as well!

One of the tricks for me in IDing the Downy's vs. the Hairy's Skybird is in the beak. The Hairy's have a much longer one, especially in relation to it's own size compared the the Downy's which just have a little needle like beak.

It also helps that the ones that have shown up here at my house don't have much in the way of white spots, the wings are nearly solid black. According to Stokes Guide, that is characteristic of subspecies within the "Interior Western Group" as opposed to the heavy spotting of the "Eastern Group" subspecies.

I have a couple (awful) pictures of the Hairy woodpecker on my camera, I'll post them later.

The blackbirds don't bother my suet feeders. If I put out the mixed birdseed that attracts them and the starlings, the starlings will eat it, but since I feed almost exclusively safflower, the blackbirds and starlings don't come around in the first place.

Thats fantastic about you and your Dad Mama. What a great story. My mother is the one who first started with the bird feeders, and she must spend more time with them than me. Every time I tell her "We had a new one today!" and show her a picture she always says "Oh, I saw that one a couple days ago." She also got a nice picture of the white breasted nuthatch that was hanging around (but wouldn't come to the feeder) WITH HER PHONE and I couldn't get a single one that wasn't blurry with my camera! She thought was pretty funny.

How do you tell the difference between the coopers and sharp shinned hawks? I never can and we have 1-2 that come around pretty regularly looking for fat lazy finches and chickadees.

It looks like were getting a great bird thread going here, so let's just run with it! Much like my bird feeders this time of year, it's often the only activity around here through the slow winter months until it's time to start gardening again.

I hear you, Zach about birdwatching being a good pastime in the Winter months. In fact, I trim many of my tall shrubs so they don't block the view of my feeders. I've heard it's the wrong time to trim them but they seem to recover just fine and I can see the birds.

When I look at the difference between Cooper's and Sharp-shinned, I see a significant difference in size. I also see a difference in the shape of the tail. The SS being more squared-off while the Cooper's is rounded. I've been going by that. This seems to be an excellent reference for comparing:

http://feederwatch.org/learn/tricky-bird-ids/coopers-hawk-and-sharp-shinned-hawk/

Since this one sat right on top of one of the bird feeder hooks, it was pretty easy to tell his size. I happened to snap that picture to use for other identifying factors.

The biggest problem I have with the birds is they don't like me sticking my camera at them. They do better if I keep the window closed, but then I'm trying to take a picture through the darn window! You can probably guess most don't turn out too well.

I have seen a juvenile hawk around here (this past February) that was a lot bigger than the adult I saw a couple weeks later. The adult was super tiny, seemed to me to be not a whole heck of a lot bigger than a blue jay or flicker! Of course, this was almost a year ago, so, my memory might not be remembering it correctly...but he sure seemed tiny for hawk! I'll have to go back and look at the pictures, but from that description "similar in size to a jay or a dove" from the link you gave me, I'm guessing that one was a sharp shinned hawk, and a juvenile I saw was a coopers since it seemed so much larger. But again, my "minds eye" might be failing me.

So here's the picture of the hairy woodpecker I promised and I am almost too embarrassed to post these... These are some of the (majority) of pictures that don't even make it off the SD card, let alone on a public forum. Bare with me...

This one you can see that he only has spots along the very edge of his wings. and the rest is solid black.

And here you can see that his beak is much bigger in relation to his size vs. the downy's.

You know, this was the ONLY day he showed up and let me see him and I failed! Usually he comes to the hanging suet feeder that the female downy woodpecker is on in the first picture I posted in the original message. AND HE LANDS ON THE BACK and just pecks through the plastic to get the food. Th only way I know he is there is by the sound of him tapping and the suet cage is swinging to and fro.

NOW! To make up for those horrible pictures, I am obliged to put u at least ONE good one so those blurred out duds don't get too burned into your retinas.

This is a pine siskin (Spinus pinus) which is a type of finch in the same genus as goldfinches (which is there at the top, lol). The first time I saw it, I was just walking by and glanced out the window and said "that's weird, there's a female house finch on the nyjer feeder" then I was reading about the kinds of birds that eat nyjer and boom, there it was! Kind of neat because I have never seen these guys before, and actually it hasn't been back since I got the picture a few days ago.

Zach, your pine siskin makes me think about a bird I saw last year. I thought I had identified it as a wintering goldfinch because it was not yellow but had the very same distinctive black/white stripes on the wings. I do know that goldfinches lose their color in the winter. But now that I see your siskin picture, I'm not positive if it was a goldfinch or a pine siskin. Although, I do think pine siskin would be highly unusual in my elevation/area. But one never knows!

That's definitely a Hairy! I see his long beak.

So here's some shots of wintering goldfinches Mama.

This is an American goldfinch (Spinus tristis) it's more chestnut (or it "roufus? I don't know all these fancy color names lol) and somewhat larger that the lesser gold finches and has more distinct black and white banding on the wings.

And the lesser goldfinches (Spinus psaltria) are more olive/grey colored in the winter. Unlike the American goldfinch, these guys only live in the western U.S. with the Front Range being almost their northern and eastern limit. These are the most common Spinus species at my feeder by far. There are actually two groups of lesser goldfinch, the "Texas" and the "Western." I believe I have seen both here.

And you can see that the siskin is very "striped" all over opposed to the goldfinches which are a more solid color.

I would bet you do have pine siskins, Mama. I am down here in Littleton, pretty much due south of Arvada if you take Kipling or Wads. Oftentimes birds that are mostly associated with the foothills and mountains do come down to the lower elevations, especially in winter to find food. We have several mountain chickadees every winter and one year even had 2-3 Stellar's Jays! That was unusual because they almost never come down this low and because Stellar's and scrub jays will not compete with blue jays which are the dominant jay's east of the Hogback. This year was such an awful year for larger forage like acorns and fruits however that I would not be surprised to see them, scrub jays especially, in the western suburbs. In fact we HAD a scrub jay at the feeder back in September! I'll have to dig up the picture...

Fantastic comparisons, Zach! If / when I ever see that bird again, I will be much more likely to identify him/her as one or the other. Funny my dad never mentioned pine siskin as a possibility considering he probably has tons of them. My dad lives at about 6500 foot elevation across the highway from Carbondale facing Mount Sopris.

I had a lot of Eastern blue jays this year. I typed out a whole story about them, but then deleted it because it was getting a bit long-winded. Suffice it to say, they were quite entertaining and then promptly and completely disappeared a little over two weeks ago. I guess it was time for them to migrate.

You should've published it, popmama! I've just haunted the strings about birds here for the last several years as I'm not dedicated enough to research names of the ones we see here. I do enjoy seeing the pictures you all post and reading about them. I did finally do enough digging to identify that we have several Stellar's Jays mainly because my husband exclaimed on them every time he saw them. I'm more of the "oohh, that bird song sounds nice, let me see which feeder it likes so I can keep it around" bird watcher for the most part......

Well, it's easy at first then you can have real problems identifying some of them. Or, at least, I can.

Right now, I may be more confused about goldfinches and siskins than ever! I had just decided that the many, many goldfinches in my summer garden had not only lost their gold coloring in the fall but been joined by pine siskins. I'm more accustomed to seeing siskins where there is a lot of second growth, little pines.

I'm trusting Zach that we are too far north here to have finches with that much winter gold! (as in Zach's fine photography)

Now, I'd talked myself into believing that altho there is a fair number sharp-shinned hawks, Cooper hawks aren't common here. I'm sticking to that, at least until I can get a better look at a few. That won't be too hard unless there really is a mixed population of the two!

The little brown jobs are a different story ... Patience. I don't have to be + we don't have to be + the greatest bird experts to enjoy them. Remember, Audubon used to shoot the dang things to get a good look at them!

Steve

Wow those woodpecker pics are stunning, Zach! You should submit one of those to Birds and Blooms magazine along with your really nifty feeder idea.

I especially like the picture of my garden buddy, the Song Sparrow. You get a quick ID with them by their behavior. If you find yourself kind of dancing around to check if that low-flying bird you just caught sight of out of the corner of your eye might have flown up your pants' leg --- that was probably a Song Sparrow.

What do we know about Vireos (link)? I believe that there are 5 species that might be around in the central or northern Rockies during summer months. I would have trouble even ID'ing one by genus! I mean, the only one I was sure about, must have crashed into the window of a downtown building. I found him dead long after his soul had flown off to the happy bug hunting ground in the sky!

Vireos are insectivores so we should be happy to have them around but may not see them at feeders.

Steve

Who was once stopped by a highway patrol officer in the Deep South, "Got any ID?" He says. I play along, trying hard to be cooperative, "'bout what?"

I don't know if they're that Good, Mama! I look at a lot of bird photography that people put up on the Cornell facebook page, I'm pretty much amateur hour here LOL. But thank you! I'm glad every here at the good ol' RMG enjoys my pictures, I sure like sharing them with you guys!

Steve, I love your description of the song sparrow! It's perfect! They are amazingly colorful for one of the "brown ones," I think they, along with the other native sparrows, are some of the coolest birds around. They have such striking patterns I just wish I saw more of them more often at the house....

I had the day to myself today so instead of my usual eBird counts through the kitchen window, where I tell Cornell how many house finches I have (I'm sure they could almost care less to be honest) I decided to be a little more adventurous.

I saw a report on eBird from this past Tuesday where a couple people had seen cedar waxwings at an office park near South Table Mountain. I have only ever seen one of them, it landed in my chokecherry bushes, ate 3-4 and promptly took off, never to be seen again. I would love to get a picture of them so I went hunting, mostly expecting that they had moved on by now. I didn't find them, so I took a trip up north of there a little bit, to a Jefferson County Open Space, the Wheatridge Green Belt Trail along Clear Creek. I spent three hours there, not getting very many good pictures, but I did see a lot of birds, and several new ones, too!

Your buddies, Steve, were thriving there. I saw upwards of a dozen throughout the day, when usually I only see one on rare occasion. They don't let me get nearly as close as when I'm hiding behind double-panes though.

There was also several white crowned sparrows (my personal favorite of the sparrow group). I have this new-fangled smart phone that lets me get on the internet wherever I go. Well, the Cornell website lets you play bird songs. So, if I sat real still like, and played the songs, often times the birds would come out of hiding for me! How neat is that!

This American dipper was just laughing his backside off at me, I'm sure. I was stumbling and falling off loose rocks and boulders along the creek to get a good picture of him. He kept looking at me, and then would go right back to what he was doing, didn't bother him a bit that I was crashing along right at him. These guys are SUPER easy to ID even if you have no clue what they look like, (I sure didn't until this afternoon) they spend all their time bouncing up and down on their knees and dipping their faces into the water. Nothing has ever been more appropriately named IMHO.

Funny you should mention, vireos, too Steve. I was trying to get a picture of a song sparrow that I had called on the phone and this little yellow-green bird shows up. I thought it was just another lesser goldfinch like I see a bajillion of every day. On closer inspection, it wasn't a finch at all, it was a vireo! They aren't even supposed to be here, at least not at this time of year! I had to click on the "show rare species" button when I was filling out my eBird list!

They might be more common in your area, Like you said, they spend all summer up there in the Northern Rockies. Do you see them often? We are only on their migration path, and I guess they should have done migrated on through by now. I DO welcome the bug eaters to my garden though, and nice enough, many (most) birds are insectivores in the spring and summer when there lots of bugs around! Chickadees and wrens feed their babies exclusively on buggies. (the vireo picture doesn't want to load so I'll have to do that one separately.)

Apparently I also saw a yellow rumped warbler today, though I didn't know it until I got home. I got a terrible picture of, it was sitting right in front of the sun, so it was nothing but a silhouette, even when I was looking at it in real life. I had to completely blow out the shadows in photoshop just to tell what it was I had a picture of, surprise surprise, another rarity, at least according to Cornell.

At least I THINK its a YR warbler, judging by the shape of the face, the steaking pattern and the yellow you can barely see under the wing and right above the tail) if anyone else knows differently than me, please do correct me ;).

The picture of the warbler was an unexpected treasure, eh?!

House finches are okay, Zach. There should be a budding ornithologist somewhere right now, writing a thesis on those guys. Goldfinches get too much press. You know, Cornell that tells us that they are strictly seed-eaters. Relying on their personality, good looks, and dining on seedcake ..!

White-crowned sparrows are supposed to form large flocks - somewhere. I've never seen them do that.

I don't know what it takes for me to find vireos. I think they like the water. Different locations are important to birds. I think I've seen them along the river and along those little mountain creeks where we see wrens, etc. The river is the place to see the cedar waxwings during the summer months, anyway. Bohemian waxwings show up once in awhile for the mountain ash berries in the winter.

My big veggie garden is about 300 yards from the river. I've seen one cedar waxwing there in 10 years. Those birds work their way back and forth among the bushes along the river, constantly.

Steve

It sure was. Although, somewhat bittersweet. Had I known what I was seeing, I would have tried harder to get a better picture of it.

My problem with house finches is not that I dislike them. They are fine little birds, well mannered and such. The problem is I'm bored with them, you can only take so many pictures of the exact same bird you know, and I bird for primarily that selfish reason.

You're right about the goldfinches, a little overrated. Strictly seed eaters they say? Well, every summer they hover over the lavender bushes and dive-bomb the bees all day long. Cornell also tells us they shouldn't be here in the winter months, but at my house even they are here in full force year round.

I have found that along rivers is the most productive locations for birding, at least when I go out in winter. I guess I shouldn't say ALL water, we have a green belt and open space that runs behind the house, a tributary of one of the streams that feeds into one of the irrigation ditches they dug back in the farming days. Plenty of shrubby cover and a reliable water source in winter, but not a lot of birds. Perhaps if they didn't shave the prairie grasses to the ground all summer long we would see more.

Ceder waxwings are somewhat of a rarity, a winter visitor, here as I understand it. Not incredibly rare, people see them regularly, but not terribly frequently. The bohemian ones even less so. I was thinking of planting some fruiting trees or shrubs to bring them in, but I don't know if that would work or not. The raccoons would probably be the only ones to benefit from that idea.

So, sadly, I cannot show you a picture of vireo. Because it is NOT a picture of vireo at all, but instead a ruby crowned kinglet. Still, a cool new bird for me, though, not deemed "rare."

Zach, I have a downy woodpecker in my yard today! I didn't think they were here this time of year, but they are. He's been perusing the new suet feeder. Now I want to make one of those peanutbutter logs like you have. I'm quite jealous of it!

I THINK they are around all year. That is, I don't believe they migrate. With such beautiful weather, I'm surprised we've got any birds at the feeders. But hey, how cool you've got a downy! They are adorable little things. I haven't seen the male in a couple days, and the hairy woodpecker hasn't been around since I got those pictures, bit they both might show up this weekend with the bad weather.

Hey, I've got lots of those aspen splints if you want, I can whip one up for you pretty easy.

I've gotten some decent pictures over the past few days!

The male downy doesn't come around as often as the female I've noticed. I see her pretty much every day. She is also much more tolerant of me than he is, and doesn't mind getting her picture taken. So, It was nice that he allowed me this shot the other day!

Like I said, his girlfriend is much more friendly and doesn't take off at the slightest hint of me standing at the window with my camera. Shes probably more habituated to me since she comes around so much more often.


"Harry" as become less shy since we first met, even though I only see him about once a week. I guess he can be bought pretty easily with crunchy peanut butter.


Cornell has now deemed the lesser goldfinch as "rare" for our neck of the woods, at least until springtime when they migrate back north. But I still see mine every single day. One of the area coordinators for Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count even contacted me yesterday about them, he said that for the past 60 years, they have only been counted during the Denver CBC 16 times and really wants me to be a "feeder watcher" for this years CBC so that they get included. I feel kinda special!



There was a dead raccoon out behind the fence that was attracting all manner of ravens, crows, and magpies. Then the strong winds we had knocked over the trashcan and we had an entire "murder" of them in the front lawn!

The raven has good taste, or either just a really rough morning (he needed SOMETHING to wash down rotting coon). Course, eight AM is a little early, even for me.

And if you didn't know the difference between ravens and crows, here's an okay guide for you:

Notice the larger size, and shaggy neck feathers of the raven, as opposed to the smaller, smoother crows.

And a magpie who might have been just a little too excited about the raccoon carcass... to me it even looks like he's smiling!



And the great white breasted nuthatch has finally been captured! He eluded me for weeks and weeks, never coming to the feeder where he would be close enough for me to photograph, so this weekend, I went out to find HIM! He was hanging out in the cottonwoods picking for bugs in the bark and he didn't care at all as I crept closer and closer to get his picture. He stared me down hard for a good minute (which allowed me to get a lot of pictures) and I guess he decided I was pretty harmless cuz he just went back to picking at the bark.

Amazing pics again, Zach. I never put out my thistle feeders this time of year. Maybe I should. I've decided my dad should make me a peanutbutter log feeder. I hope he agrees! Ha.

Good Heavens, Zach!

You did great with that camera and these birds.

I could spend hours just looking at the pictures you have posted ... yeah!

Steve

Zach, I’m sorry I haven’t had a chance to get back here to
comment yet, but I’m absolutely loving all your pics! I have no idea why you don’t think they’re
“good enough” to submit to different places!
I think they’re amazing!
Truly! I like them all, but a
favorite of mine is the one that’s “flying!”
The Ruby Crowned Kinglet in the 12.07 post. WOW!

I love all the pics of the hairy/downy woodpeckers—including
the blurry one of the hairy hanging upside down off of the feeder eating the
suet that’s dropped!

I love the pine siskin pic where you can see the chaff from
the seed falling away from his mouth!

I love your “hairy behind the dried arrangement” pic way up
on top too! It looks professionally set
up with the “bird” on top of the feeder pole and the seedheads!

I love that you can “play birdsongs” to call them in to
you! Way cool! I used to be able to whistle to call the
chickadees into my yard—but I can’t whistle anymore since I got the Bell’s
Palsy!!! Can’t tell you how
disappointing that is! All I can do is listen to the chickadees in the
neighbor’s yards all around me and HOPE they’ll decide to come check out my
Buffet!

When I’m out in the National Parks I always find it pretty
funny when the “tourists” are standing around watching and talking about the
“crows” in the parking lots that are begging for food! I don’t believe I’ve EVER seen a “crow” out
in a National Park—in the hills. But the
ravens are usually almost tame enough that you could maybe walk right up to
them to pet them!

You know way more than I do about birds! I’ve never even heard of a lesser
goldfinch! Guess I’ll need to keep an
eye out for them now that I know what they are and what they look like! I do keep three thistle socks out all winter,
but they’re only used a little bit by the house finches—apparently when they’re
looking for a change of taste!

Mostly in my yard I only get house finches and chickadees—my
favorites, with juncos when there’s snow cover, and “occasionally” flickers,
downy woodpeckers—rarely hairys, American goldfinches in summer, but VERY few
in the last couple years. I have very
little variety, but enjoy watching what I do have. I don’t even seem to have my winter robins
around this year, and very, very few doves—either type, and not even any bluejays
recently! The blackbirds will, of
course, show up again when I put the suet back out! Your pics make me envious, but it’s nice to
see there are so many other birds around, even if I don’t get to see them! You have the advantage of being nearer the
foothills and open space which I’m sure brings the wider variety than most of
us “in the city” have. I do occasionally
get a hawk sitting on my fence trolling for dinner!

Over the years I’ve managed to spot—one or two times—a brown
creeper, a white breasted nuthatch, and a red breasted nuthatch, along with a
black-headed grosbeak on my suet one time.
Pretty sure I spotted a white-crowned sparrow one time, but when it
comes to the “little brown birds,” I have a heck of a time telling them apart! Pretty sure I had a Cassin’s sparrow in
summer of ’13! I really scored one time
when I was at Paulino’s when, right after closing, a black-crowned night heron
showed up at the pond in the display garden in perennials and sat there for a
while scoping out the koi! That one was
a WOW!

My Hairy Woodpeckers, BTW, are named similarly to yours, but
spelled like this! Hairy and
Hairyette! Then there’s Downy and
Downette! Flickadoo and
Flickarette! Chicka-Chicka, Chicka Too,
Chicka Three, etc—can’t tell males from females with the Chickadees! Anyway, I’m saying hello and talking to them all the time!!!

I don’t know how you manage to get close enough to get such
Up Close And Personal pics! Tho I seem
to remember that you have a “real” camera so you can zoom in way more than I
can with my little pocket cameras! When
I get anywhere near the window—which is still 10-12’ away from the
feeders—everybody goes away really fast—well, except for the squirrels! It seems like no matter how slowly I move
they see me and vanish! Also, even if I
do get anywhere near the windows, at this time of the year the feeders are in
shade most of the day, so getting “good” pics is almost impossible! Hey! I
have the pics in my head!!! Hard to show
to somebody else—but I can look at them over and over!

I put peanut butter out last year in a “little cup,” trying
to get “something” to eat it, but it was a complete failure! After seeing your “peanut butter log” I
picked a really cool log off of my firewood pile, but haven’t had time to drill
holes in it and put a hook on it yet! I
think I might drill some “big” holes in it and fill them with nuts to see if I
get any takers on that! Will report
back—sometime—about if and how it works!
Having something “natural” for them to cling onto just might work! Cool idea!!!
(And blackbirds probably won’t be able to hang onto it!)

Your idea to tie the Rudbeckia seedheads into bunches and
hang them works for you since you have goldfinches, but since the only thing
that’s shown any interest in them here are the juncos, and since they’re not
clingers, I think leaving them on the plant will be more effective for me. The juncos seem to hang onto the tops of the
stems long enough to “shake/peck” some of the seeds out of them, and then they
go down to the ground to find them and eat them there! Works for me if it works for them!

Keep the pics coming, Zach!

Skybird

Here are (links to) "some" of my Definitely Not Professional
Looking bird pics! Quality
notwithstanding, I’m glad to have them!
Memories!

This is one of my “best” pics! It’s my red tail hawk pic taken on Wetherill
Mesa at Mesa Verde. I’ve posted this one
before! A guy at a “Birds of Colorado”
site helped me positively identify this hawk, and I was going to link the site,
but it’s not there anymore! Too bad! He was a really cool and helpful guy!!!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/MffjEj8Kson3NsfC3HN2ITXOWC84uOzz_SUFrOB4Ios?feat=directlink

And another red tail hawk—way up in the sky!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/a5oENfYtB3yseAaDGv579zyYSD5telCfXwXDTcTl_2U?feat=directlink

Steller’s Jays 20 miles northwest of Pagosa! (And a couple chipmunks too!)

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/layOV-2sXMEoQq2ibsKpw25FAzG0rHLiD8t3U0i29VU?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/GS1ZLhdj2IaoPJIIGEcVhG5FAzG0rHLiD8t3U0i29VU?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/8SYZ40hrGBQPgoO6GGkHOJczWxF2Gp7vK_a52GaQbUY?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/EowFjrRNyFGLZ_vkuw2rwpczWxF2Gp7vK_a52GaQbUY?feat=directlink

My bird’s prettier than your bird!!! ;-D
[BOY! Do these things ever make a
racket in the middle of the nite!!!]

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/pxqR1rwBlZKHqO6zD0jQcpYq2Q02YpF084JbIC0W3l8?feat=directlink

Feed me!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/uBud1L-K_yX8pSWnF8ow608aHZo2AKNLaB0EYKBV5cc?feat=directlink

Scared!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/BJO1k_CAkj_Sfy7A--_QL5kZDVK0WzTGVwZstVf6jKg?feat=directlink

Time for a swim!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/O32745NS47BMj_0jSkV05vbTyqLL-biY_jZ6cLXVW9E?feat=directlink

Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/CMRpwF670urBiBeNBc_7UfbTyqLL-biY_jZ6cLXVW9E?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/HQnhxHNVZKv9NqwcxROq-_bTyqLL-biY_jZ6cLXVW9E?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/pFtCAnqHeV4esq5Z1GbePPbTyqLL-biY_jZ6cLXVW9E?feat=directlink

Anybody home???

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/yC_krAbR1dCP8IxI7jRwPPbTyqLL-biY_jZ6cLXVW9E?feat=directlink

Interloper!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/NriVRSsqpTXRwergRb_ff_bTyqLL-biY_jZ6cLXVW9E?feat=directlink

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Ic0mdUBTGSq5wLcSiSpO5fbTyqLL-biY_jZ6cLXVW9E?feat=directlink

Blurry Red-Bellied Woodpecker!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Rjqnh8eW7Ct5dIViAiTQxPbTyqLL-biY_jZ6cLXVW9E?feat=directlink

Wisconsin is a GOOD place for bird watching! Others I saw that I couldn’t get good pics of
were Orioles, Cardinals, American Goldfinches, and a few other things I
couldn’t even begin to identify!

But I was able to identify this guy—UNDER the biggest
feeder!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/emx11PosPzvHxfXmb7RVJPbTyqLL-biY_jZ6cLXVW9E?feat=directlink

AND this guy!!!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/x2_TVzADo7-O3KOqIU1gjfbTyqLL-biY_jZ6cLXVW9E?feat=directlink

You’ll need to take my word for it on this one, but this is
a pic of an eaglet in its nest, about to fledge! I stood there for over an hour waiting to get
even THIS pic! I took a whole bunch when
“he” woke up and stood up—and this is the BEST one! (More info in the caption)

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/oL01x1ybvi_1XxYO5FC6NVqvoAuicPBydgcrUvokjRI?feat=directlink

Some Goldfinches in the middle of Nebraska—with a really
terrible background! The feeder in this case
is a little cheapie one I take with me when I go trippin’ so I can try to
attract as many birds as possible!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/x5CPqSGjQvdCg5nQd1uXcVqvoAuicPBydgcrUvokjRI?feat=directlink

A Red Bird! Ay
Caramba! See why I think your pics are
so good, Zach!!! I can only wish!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/cZTLzE7Ylq-15CZUIXWSyFqvoAuicPBydgcrUvokjRI?feat=directlink

A Blurry Blue Bird!
Without a white eye stripe it doesn’t look right, but I don’t see how
this could be anything other than a Western Scrub Jay! If anybody has any other ideas, I’d be
interested to hear them! (Pretty sure
the tail is too long for it to be a Pinyon Jay)

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/fJOe9ieQZVlUQ5_jObDTSZ5h-XJIiF49W2wOUZdk0NQ?feat=directlink

When I was in Kanab I also saw a Juniper Titmouse, some
Mountain Bluebirds, and a Cassin’s Finch, but I wasn’t able to get even blurry
pics of those!

Mountain Bluebird

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/geK9OXF9HphW7-2SsvvX99yxJi0Je93XNPK9Z-Nvbl0?feat=directlink

Feed me!!! This guy
must be following me around!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/i3NL6b0wrLF3dWOst8rXqmVY7bTWTqbxp-YJkmJRdpU?feat=directlink

Closer to home!

A Red Shafted Flicker –and- a (blurry) ROW of Red Shafted
Flickers!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/X0Vu-exrTSoZ4CquKxIi3BDdOdVx-6KTyqo-pK6qwOA?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/moALaJojZ0GUOkgUR5DE0hDdOdVx-6KTyqo-pK6qwOA?feat=directlink

A Downy and a House Finch

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/YBDtZYOTGlbDsau0aH7u1hDdOdVx-6KTyqo-pK6qwOA?feat=directlink

Hello!!!! Looking at
me from right on the other side of the window!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/lSbStdZmRIX4ecmXsuQepRDdOdVx-6KTyqo-pK6qwOA?feat=directlink

A plethora of house Finches!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/xsq62uDS_0hodfZnjt9dlBDdOdVx-6KTyqo-pK6qwOA?feat=directlink

Dove, Dove, Dove, Dove.....

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ij3Oy__A2tv33vWKjugwLRDdOdVx-6KTyqo-pK6qwOA?feat=directlink

Flicker vs. blackbirds—in a snow storm! (thru screen!)

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/jGre7wN5ylh91BCixVU-5BDdOdVx-6KTyqo-pK6qwOA?feat=directlink

Bath time!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/CETMyrwWPgPviEmYIYI_nxDdOdVx-6KTyqo-pK6qwOA?feat=directlink

“Mixed Race” Flicker

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/CGZ7HuouQyNXCHeA-rVXPRDdOdVx-6KTyqo-pK6qwOA?feat=directlink

And one of my favorites!
A Junco in the snow!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/E_D2GH4-88CaVlYEhPqpbhDdOdVx-6KTyqo-pK6qwOA?feat=directlink

I kind of wonder how many of you made it all the way thru
those! Really sorry I can’t put the pics
directly in the thread anymore! It sure
was more fun when I could!!!

Skybird

Edited to add this one! I forgot my Golden Eagle picture!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/lKmHq6gaCDC_S3BtFXaMIQPPcO__tq0XI6jlKd1A8Lg?feat=directlink

Well, I made it thru, Skybird!

However, I want to let you know that the Western Scrub Jay or Pinyon Jay picture click got an error message.

I like seeing the Stellar Jays. They seem to want to stay back in the trees and away from the magpies, I guess. I seldom see them.

In our long hours of darkness, I'm enjoying seeing pictures of our little daylight critters. Even the rabbit didn't look all that bad! I think the Mountain cottontail must be somewhat smaller than the Eastern cottontail ...

Steve

Professional quality...hmm, well, when I last posted my "batting average" it was at somewhere around 1%. Turns out I actually have about 4,000 photos starting back in February of this year. There are 27 photos I have posted here, 25 minus the first hairy woodpecker pics. So, 27 is what percent of 4,000? HAHA I would say, it's not that I'm good, it's that every once in a while I get lucky. Plus the equipment helps a lot too. I can count on less than one whole hand the amount of material possessions that would truly devastate me if I were to lose them, that camera is one of them.

If anyone was curious, right now I'm using a 55-250mm Canon zoom lens. Which is on the low end of magnification for telephoto. For birds, especially the much less tame ones out in the wild, I would definitely prefer a 4-500mm telephoto lens, but were talking about mucho dollars there.... Well, just in case anyone was looking for any last minute Christmas gift ideas ;)

Thank you though, to all of you for the compliments. To be honest, even if you all told me that they stink, I would still post them, cuz I think the birds themselves are much cooler than any pictures I take. And no matter how good or bad, surely you'd get bored after looking at them for hours Steve, lol "oh, another woodpecker, or house finch......"

As for the flying kinglet, that shot was PURE 100% ACCIDENT! It was perched when the camera focused on it and just started to take off as soon as I hit the button a millisecond later! Remember I said sometimes I just get lucky? Even luckier was that it was bright enough for me to have a high enough shutter speed to catch the action. Usually when they take off right when I hit the button, all I get is the tip of their tail exiting the frame because lighting is poor because of where the feeders are located.

They are set up between two houses in a spot that only gets hit by the sun for a few fleeting minutes in the morning. I up the ISO, the stuff that makes pictures "grainy" but allows faster shutter speeds in low light. For the longest time I didn't want to because I was scared of the "snow" interfering, but I've noticed that even at 200-400 it's not really noticeable. It has really made my success rate reach that 1%. Before I would go through entire cards with only 1-2 good pictures.

The bird songs on the phone don't always work, I have to admit. Although, I did get a magpie to "talk" to me, he would never fly in. I tried it with the nuthatch before I decided to go looking for him, but it never worked. Likewise, I guess you have to already be right up on the sparrows for it work since try as I might, I almost never get any of the cool little guys at the house. I think they like millet...or milo, spread out on the ground, but that is also the stuff that attracts blackbirds, starlings and house sparrows so I'm hesitant to try that.

The only bid song I can do myself is a mourning dove, but they rarely need enticing to come around. Course anymore we get more of the collard "pigeons" than mourning doves around here, especially now that it's winter.

The chickadees I have been noticing don't particularly care for the morning "feeding frenzy." I don't usually see them until later in the afternoon when things have quieted down. I do a short count for eBird every morning while I'm eating breakfast and chickadees rarely show up on my list, but I will always see 3-4 at a time later in the day.

Location probably does help, and I don't know if its the open space itself, or that Bergen Ditch (which is what the greenbelt behind me is properly called) is a nice, nearly uninterrupted corridor all the way from the west side of 4-70. Plus we have Bear Creek, and Bear Creek Lake just a couple miles north. Another nice corridor for wildlife into town. Course, as this place continues to expand at the rate it is, all the mountain critters won't have any access down here anymore, the narrow little bands of streams and old irrigation ditches wont be enough for them. I'm sure right now they are mostly supporting sink populations as it is. But for now, we do get some "hill birds," mostly the mountain chickadees, which we get a handful of every year in late winter, and a couple years ago we had a single black-headed grosbeak, plus the lone scrub jay, and the small band of Steller's jays. I wish we got more of them, my feeders are fairly mundane as well. According my "lists" I have seen 22 species at my feeder since this past February when you tuned me into eBird.

I've seen a couple more that didn't get listed, but not many. Most notably was the spring of 2014 when we had a rose breasted grosbeak that showed up at the same time as the dark headed. I didn't know it at the time, but we're just on the very extreme western fringe of their migration path here on the Front Range, so seeing him was pretty unique. He also turned out to be a total ham and loved posing for the camera, but unfortunately the picture is not on this computer, though I could dig it out if you guys want me to (I might have posted it in the bird topic from February actually).

If you want to attract blue jays, raw peanuts are almost a sure bet. We stopped putting them out for about 3 months and I didn't even hear a single jay. About an hour after we put them out after that three month wait, there was a whole gang of blue jays! I don't like to have them around every day because they startle the little birds with their size and volume (plus they will mimic the sound of a hawk as they approach feeders so they can have the whole place to themselves). So, I put the peanuts out only about once a month. Not to mention, they go through them so darn quick we would be spending more on blue jay food than people food around here! But, they are cool to see every once in a while, though, I like the Steller's jays better (they are my favorite jay actually). Steve, you are lucky that you get to them more often, they seldom come down this far for us, like I said, they don't like to compete with the blue jays.

"Harry" is the only bird I have named, because writing "hairy woodpecker" not only gets tedious, but also sounds mildly inappropriate LOL!

If you want to hear about birds not running off when you get close, you should meet a bushtit! They showed up this morning when I was coming up the steps on the back deck and I got so close my camera wouldn't focus on them! I was less than a foot away! They just kept looking at me like "what the heck are you looking at!" Unfortunately one of my hands was occupied with carrying eggs from the coop, so trying to take one handed photos was a challenge. The chickadees are pretty fearless as well. They will come hang out with me while I'm filling the feeders while all the other birds hide in the trees. As long as I keep the window shut, most of the the birds don't startle too easy. Some of them are more flighty than others though, woodpeckers topping the list. Most of the time the flickers wont even land if they see me watching. The feeder itself is actually really close to the window, about 2 feet away. There is a big elm tree just beyond that, about another 5-8 feet, if a cool bird shows up in there, even if it's not hidden by branches, my picture quality goes downhill fast, partially because of the fact I'm shooting THROUGH the window panes rather than having it open. Much to my dismay, that's where the towhee likes to hang out when he comes around (very rarely), so, I've yet to get a good picture of him! Same with birds that feed on the ground, shooting pictures at that sharp of an angle though the glass really gets messed up. When they perch at the feeder or the tree next to it its a straight shot of only about 1-3 feet, so as long as I don't mess up and take 50 pictures of the same bird, I might get one that turns out okay.

And I "made it through" all those pictures as well Skybird! But that makes it sound like I didn't enjoy it! I loved it! And like you said, great memories of getting to see some really cool birds that we just plain don't have around here! I'm super jealous you have gotten to see, AND photograph these guys! And I'm really glad you shared them, too! I really, really, REALLY like your Steller's jays! Like I said, they are my favorite jays, but I almost never, ever see them. And I would agree that that your picture is a scrub jay, though, I haven't met any pinyon jays. I also love your idea of bringing a feeder with you on trips! How neat is that! I keep trying to get nice junco pictures for you, since I remember you said you liked them so much, but, they are far less numerous, and like to hang out in the back, under the elm tree, where I can't get a good picture of them!

In fact I didn't get very many good pictures today at all because my battery died and it was on the charger the rest of the day. But when I went out to close up the chicken coop this evening, I looked up and saw this guy!

After I took those pictures I thought I probably shouldn't take pictures of him with the flash in case it hurts his eyes, so, these are probably the only owl pictures I will ever take.

Oh, and one more thing concerning the "peanut butter logs"... The squirrels love them. Our fedder is fairly squirrel resistant, but they still manage to find their way up there just to eat the peanut butter! Well, its a heck of a lot cheaper than bird seed so not a huge ordeal just to let you know:)

It isn't an accident to be persistent, Zach.

So now there is a photo of a Western Scrub Jay or Pinyon Jay from Skybird where as before I has an error message? I cannot account for the reason at 3:45 am ...

Steve

The storm yesterday brought in lots of birds to the feeders once the wind quit blowing the stuff sideways. My eBird list had 15 species between 1:45-2:30 in the afternoon. Most of those were ones I see all the time, like house and gold finches, downy woodpeckers, and Eurasian collard rats... err, doves. But a few were ones I don't see all the time, like a towhee, who I only see about once a month, and a mountain chickadee, which usually don't start to appear until late January or February.

The towhee is one of my favorites. He reminds me of working at the park and they would be rustling around the leaves and I'd think there was a grizzly bear or mountain cougar watching me. Or when they would sit at the top of the scrub oaks and sing to me all day (not as nicely as the grosbeaks, but it's not too bad, lol).

I also like the mountain chickadees, with their eyebrows making them look mad all the time. Sort of reminds me of...me!

And this little fella showed up, too. I'm fairly certain it's a sharp shinned hawk, thanks to Mama's helpful guide!

I got a lot of junco pictures, too. But most of them didn't turn out.

I think this is a female "Oregon" group, but you know, I can never be sure of the differences between all the different junco groups.

And this little one is showing off some Colorado pride in another one of my signature "Sanford and Son" homemade feeders. Once again, no clue on which group this one is, there's too many similarities between them all.


Persistent... That has a lot better than what my wife calls me Steve. Obsessive is how she describes it lol. Course, she says the same thing about my gardening once spring comes around.

I had a few that wouldn't load for me, either. I closed them out and tried again they they worked. I think it was a poor connection or something. And what in the world are you doing up at 3:45?

I love your Sanford and Son feeder, Zach! Post another picture of it and I'll put it on the Garden Junk forum and pin it to my Pinterest page!

Speaking of obsessive. My son went with me to an estate sale a couple weeks ago where I bought a plant. He says, "Geez do we have to get a plant everywhere we go?" I'm pretty sure he would describe my plant/garden love as obsessive as well. I simply said, "You know how video games make you happy? Well, plants do that for me."

How many peanuts can one crow carry?

I just got a Cornell birds email, and it links to this cute video! You go, crow!!! (Be sure you watch the last few seconds to see who's waiting in the wings!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4pi3XC5CIE&feature=youtu.be

It also explained something I've been wondering for a LONG time! Why don't bird's feet freeze!

While the reasons behind one-legged perching may include simple
preference, there is also an underlying physiological adaptation (called
the "rete mirabile") that birds and some other vertebrates use to fight
heat loss. Essentially, the blood vessels going to and from the feet
are very close together, so blood flowing back to the body is warmed by
blood flowing to the feet. This keeps the feet supplied with just enough
heat to prevent them from freezing, while substantially decreasing heat
loss in the bird's core.

There's also a very short video of a barn owl perching on one leg! Here's a link to the email!

http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=b35ddb671faf4a16c0ce32406&id=16dde87667&e=cb6f4a5944

Skybird

That crow was very clever, but we know they are. If you notice, that jay also already had some peanuts in his gullet. I could see how expanded it was. I watched the blue jays go through this peanut selection dilemma all the time. It was quite amusing watching them try to figure out if they could get more than one peanut or which peanut they preferred. Then they would go in the nearby tree and take the shell off the, then come right back and try to take another peanut.

Neat videos! When I put out the peanuts for the jays, they will often grab several at a time. Usually they are "caching" them for later use, and then in the spring I have peanut and corn sprouts all over the place from the ones they forgot! The chickadees do the same thing with sunflower seeds (I moved an old log once with loose bark and the whole thing was full of black sunflower that poured all overy feet lol).

The lady at Wild Birds, where we buy our seeds, said to only fill the peanut ring about a quarter of the way full then so they eat more of them instead of collecting them to store. I don't know how it makes sense, but it works! They will clean out an entire ring of peanuts in under an hour. I only put in a couple handfuls in there this morning and we still have some left in the ring this evening! Funny little critters.

I have always wondered that about their feet. Well, I don't really worry about the wild birds, I figure they were designed for the places they live, and whatever the weather happens to be there. I do often think about the chickens feet though, they really hate walking in the snow, and there toes are always red after spending all day in it. They are descended from jungle birds, not temperate species.

I'm glad you like the feeder Mama! I will get a picture of it for you soon... Holidays are keeping me busy right now, as I'm sure is the case for everyone else, too.

Went looking for Steller's Jays today up in the Doug fir through Deer Creek Canyon. I used to see them up there all the time when I was a kid so I figured it would be a good place to go. No dice, the search continues!

But, there was gobs of robins hanging out along Plymouth Creek, down where it was still all scub oak and juniper scrub (no doubt lured by the juniper berries). They were pretty much the only birds I could find at all really. I HEARD lots of birds tweeting in the trees, but none of them were feeling especially photogenic I guess. Matter of fact, after three hours of hiking, I came away with only three pictures worth looking at (and even that's a bit of a stretch).

One of the bazillion robins hanging around.


I fairly certain this is a Townsend's solitaire, but not 100%.

Wait! This guy here isn't a bird at all! Well, as uneventful of a "birding" hike as today was, I'll take what I can get!

Cute little pine squirrel that was screaming at me when I walked by. Even with his mouth full of fir bark he was still loud as heck!

I have very, very seldom seen Townsend Solitaires, Zach.

What was especially noteworthy was the length of their tailfeathers. They are noticeably longer than those of a that other thrush, the robin. Of course, the birds are also grey. I can't identify from your picture because I'm just too unfamiliar with them.

You still have robins?! Wow ... cold and snowy, here. Haven't seen a robin in weeks & weeks.

Steve

What a difference a camera makes!

Ok, none of these are spectacular, but when I
saw the difference I was astounded!

When I looked out of my windows one time on Saturday I was
surprised to see that there wasn’t even ONE bird at my feeders—or anywhere else
in the yard! The absence of birds was so
complete that I pretty much immediately thought: HAWK!
Then I caught a bit of movement in my perennial bed out of the corner of
my eye, looked over there, and, lo and behold, what to my wondering eyes should
appear but a HAWK—with DINNER at its feet!
Pretty sure Dinner was a House Finch!
I grabbed the closest camera I could, got as close to the window as I
dared, and started taking pictures!
These first two are REALLY bad—it’s hard to make out that it’s even a
bird--but I’m gonna link them anyway!

Hawk on the edge of the railroad ties standing on its
dinner! The second one has text to show
you what’s where!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/-i-V0XyAdlIrUeV85O6i9xDdOdVx-6KTyqo-pK6qwOA?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/BdWQr0v2xLDIIJkBFoOLkxDdOdVx-6KTyqo-pK6qwOA?feat=directlink

After the first four pics it must have seen me move—and it
decided to have dinner elsewhere! With
dinner in its feet it moved high up into the branches of a cottonwood behind
me. These two pics I took with a
different—still little pocket size—camera!
After it flew into the tree I got right up against the window and I sat
there for about 15 minutes, holding the camera up the whole time. That’s harder, I discovered, than one might
think! And it wasn’t made any easier by
the fact that I was sitting sideways on the narrow windowsill with my feet on
the couch! At one point I got up
quickly to grab my binoculars, and also grabbed a different camera. Once reseated I decided to try the second
camera, but I couldn’t zoom in as much with that one, so I decided to go back
to the first camera! Also, the camera I
had started with has a rechargeable battery, so I could keep the button pressed
down halfway, to keep it in focus, without “wasting batteries.” If only I had known how much of a difference
in resolution there was between the two of them! Here are two (of the three) pics I took with
the second camera! They’re not great
either—this thing was LONG way away from
me—but they’re leaps and bounds better than all the others I took!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/GoEYvgeSvwmXTUV2VwcecRDdOdVx-6KTyqo-pK6qwOA?feat=directlink

In this one, the “dark stuff” sticking out to the left of
the hawk is the tail of Dinner!!!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/VdY373xkFLxu1O02HDKbZBDdOdVx-6KTyqo-pK6qwOA?feat=directlink

Going back to the first camera! After about five minutes I noticed there was
a squirrel sitting on the top of one of my fence posts—NOT MOVING! Ya know how squirrels ALWAYS have their tails
flicking around! This squirrel’s tail
was NOT moving—at all! I watched it for
a bit but then went back to the hawk—I was hoping to get a pic as it flew
away! A few minutes later I noticed that
the squirrel had left the fence post and was going up the tree—still with a subdued tail! Keeping an eye out, it moved up into the tree
where it is in this pic—and, again, sat there without moving—ANYTHING! (Because the pic’s so blurry, the squirrel
and the hawk are pointed out!)

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/q9QKwaIHSyFLRosBcm6i0RDdOdVx-6KTyqo-pK6qwOA?feat=directlink

After another five minutes or so the hawk finished Dinner
and left! I was still holding the camera
up with the button half depressed, but I glanced away for a split second and by
the time I saw the bird going I only got “part” of him in the pic! His head is missing! Oh, how I wish I had decided to waste
batteries in the second camera! Next
time I’ll know!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Z9KMY1pztDQ4HalPBQAbBBDdOdVx-6KTyqo-pK6qwOA?feat=directlink

The hawk did have a barred tail, but, even with the
binoculars, I really don’t have any idea what kind it was. Maybe it’ll come back! I’ll sure be watching! Good news for ME, bad news for the House
Finches!

Skybird

P.S. Digit, here’s a
few more Steller’s Jay pics for you. In
these pics I had some stale brownies and some grapes out along with the
peanuts. There were chipmunks and some
TINY squirrels eating the brownies and some of the grapes, but the jays were
getting some of the grapes too—especially when I wasn’t keeping the peanuts
stocked up well enough for them! Because
the pics are taken on the gravel drive, it can be kind of hard to see them, but
there are a bunch of peanuts in most of the pics!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/imBB7l8XRQbXF5589vmltW5FAzG0rHLiD8t3U0i29VU?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/XOJdYxhyQuJt8ptDfCzXum5FAzG0rHLiD8t3U0i29VU?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/0ZIo7a2p24s6LWHRVziRFG5FAzG0rHLiD8t3U0i29VU?feat=directlink

New Feeder!

It was nice enough outside for me to get my Nut and
Peanut Butter Bird Feeder built today, and here are the results!

The first four pics are the four sides of my log!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/pkJQvJlbN-cSJNm0tb66mRDdOdVx-6KTyqo-pK6qwOA?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Ijq9AipkXS50GupuOj5_5xDdOdVx-6KTyqo-pK6qwOA?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/gSSm1wIOEyyrTdt6mQqohRDdOdVx-6KTyqo-pK6qwOA?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/1TsgUjoN7B7acO3KyIJdiRDdOdVx-6KTyqo-pK6qwOA?feat=directlink

This pic is of it laying down where you can see into the
“holes” a little better! The holes range
from 1/2” to 1” diameter and are about an inch deep—give or take! There are three of the 1” holes which I plan
to fill with nuts, and the other holes can either have peanut butter stuffed in
them or have a few nuts in them too—I’ll decide when I see what the birds are interested
in—if anything! One thing I didn’t think
of when I was drilling the holes is that I drilled them all at a downward
angle—so I COULD put nuts in them if the birds reject the peanut butter, but
now I’m wondering if that might just allow them to fill up with water! Will have to wait to see what happens! If it doesn’t work I’ll just find another
piece of firewood and start over again—tho I really do like this particular piece
of wood with all the little branch stubs sticking out! I'm planning to get my Blackbird Dispersal System installed for the rest of winter again tomorrow and then I'll be filling my new feeder and putting it out--and putting my suet feeder back out again!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/veQ31diTGi20ngz0kHJkahDdOdVx-6KTyqo-pK6qwOA?feat=directlink

And here’s something else I’ve been wanting to take pics of
for a long time—that I finally got around to doing! It’s a “Genuine Hairy Woodpecker Nest!” This is all explained in the captions, so I’m
not gonna repeat it all here again, but this nest was in a tree next to the
house I used to live in—and I got it when the tree was taken down! More in the captions!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/vkTEZfKv_td_Are6EiIdLxDdOdVx-6KTyqo-pK6qwOA?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/NKfvrCXcBEFbC2qqux6MFhDdOdVx-6KTyqo-pK6qwOA?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/QpREoj9srft0hQ_cJNNJ-xDdOdVx-6KTyqo-pK6qwOA?feat=directlink

Originally I planned to hang this thing up somewhere to see
if “anything” would decide to live in it again, but at this house I really
don’t have anywhere to “hang” it! Don’t
know if I’ll try to figure something out at some point or not! Before I’d take the time to try to figure out
how to hang the woodpecker nest I want to find a way to hang a wood house I
have that has a Chickadee door! That one
I really do want to hang up!

Skybird

Zach, still lovin' your pics! I really love the robin one! I love it when you can get "stop action" and can see the wings "in motion!" And, squirrels are people too! Nothin' wrong with squirrels--as long as they're not eating my birdseed! And since I've found a solution for that--not a problem anymore! That's a dern cute squirrel you got a pic of!

Skybird

P.S. Don't wanna dis the Little Brown Bird in the middle! He's good lookin' too! Very nice!

You have been busy, Skybird.

I wonder if your first picture of "Hawk in the Cottonwood" wouldn't be clear enough for cropping and enlargement.

Good luck with your feeders! Maybe there could be small drainage holes. Sorry for coming up with extra work for the Skybird!

Steve

Been there, done that, Digit! They're already cropped down considerably, and, actually, I discovered that they lose even more resolution when they're cropped so I decided to not go any further. But they were "so far away" without cropping them that all you saw was A Tree! I also edited them a little bit with something called "highlights," which sometimes seems to sharpen things a little, but they're just plain too bad for that to even help in this case! Next time I'll use the "better" camera--even if it means going thru more batteries. (The two "better" hawk pics are cropped in closer than the Really Bad ones, and going further makes them look worse.)

I don't think drainage holes are gonna work. There are close to a couple dozen holes in it, and I don't think there's any chance at all of hitting most of them if I tried to drill in from the "other side," and drilling a hole all the way straight up the center? Problem. I don't have a 16" drill bit--and I'd be scared to use it if I did! ;-) And I still probably wouldn't hit most of them since they're all kind of angled different directions and I don't think most of them go that far into the "log." I've decided that for now I'm just gonna count on our dry climate to dry them out fairly quickly if they do get much water in them. But thanks for trying to help come up with a solution to my potential problem!

Skybird

What a cool experience Skybird! We get the sharp shinned hawk here not infrequently but I have never seen it with it's supper, just perched on the fence or in the tree. A lot of people really dislike them hanging around their feeders, but I think it's cool! Sure they eat songbirds, but that just the way it goes, they have to eat too.

I really like the pictures of it in the tree! How cool you can see it with it's prey! You know, I have noticed, hawks and other raptors must be pretty much the top of the avian food chain, especially the red tails, which are undoubtedly the largest birds I regularly see around here. But, they are surprisingly skittish. The red tails never let me get within 100 feet of them before they are off and that's just way too far to get a decent picture (unless I had one of those national geographic type lenses that are the size of me).

IF I had to guess (and remember, I'm not good at these guys at all) I would say it's a sharp shinned, if only because that's what I see the most of here.

I see robins around here all winter long. Before we put the feeders up we had one that "lived" in the tree right outside the kitchen window. All along the medians on the main street they planted hawthornes, come late January or February, when we get nasty weather, the robins all flock there to eat the berries. Course, they really have to be strapped for food to be desperate enough to eat hawthorne berries.

Nothing beats the day I had a robin flying around the house though. I found two of them laying in the gutter this summer. One was dead, but the other was still moving his head a little bit. So, I wrapped it in a towel and put it in a milk crate and gave it some water. About 15 minutes later it got up, started chirping and then took off, flying around the house! I finally was able to catch it and brought it outside where it took off into the trees.

I love the feeder! It will be perfect for peanut butter and nuts! Blue jays are not good "clingers" so they may not use it as a much, if you have a tray feeder, I would put some in that for the jays if you are trying to attract them. However, if they have a chance, chickadees love peanuts as much as the jays and since they are very good "clingers" they will love the opportunity to get some stashed in those holes! It's funny to watch such a tiny bird take a peanut that is nearly as big as it is! Nuthatches, another "clinger," like peanuts, too so, I think your log will be great!

Other than squirrels, some of the birds I have observed enjoying the peanut butter is the hairy woodpecker, chickadees, and bushtits. Just remember that it takes some time for birds to recognize a new food source. Even if it's hanging right next to their regular feeders it may be a while before they realize that it's there for them to eat.

As for the bird house, if you don't have a good tree branch to hang your chickadee house from, you could always mount it to like a 4x4 post and set it out in the yard. Of course "purists" will say the post is the only way to set up a bird house. In fact, for those types, of folks count putting bird houses in trees among the cardinal sins of home birding. But I disagree. Birds have been nesting in trees ever since there was birds and trees in the same place, and that's an awful lot longer than people have been making 4x4 posts and setting birdhouses on them. We had a pair of house wrens use our nest box this summer hanging from a tree branch with no problems that I could tell.

Oh! Before I forget, Cornell has confirmed that it is in fact a Townsend's solitaire that I got a picture of. Not the most exciting birds, just kind of a gray robin I guess. But they are interesting to listen to. Their sharp, piercing whistle call was echoing across the valleys and it sounded like they were right next to you.

Now, Skybird, you're making me super jealous with those Steller's jay pictures. I only ever see scrub jays (if I go hiking) or blue jays (eating peanuts at the house). Dd you know we have five different jays here in the Rockies? Blue jays, which are a relatively recent arrival, only showing up this far west within the past 100 years or so. Scrub and pinon jays, Steller's jays, and a gray jays! We also have the distinction of having the Clark's nutcracker, another member of the corvid (or 'crow') family that only lives in the mountain west.

Steller's are still my favorite though, and I think there was even some debate to make it the state bird of Colorado back when they were choosing such things. The reason they picked the lark bunting, which is neither a lark nor a bunting, but a sparrow is really cool however. It's singing and dancing in the spring is reminiscent of "the glory that was and the everlasting joy that is living in Colorado."

Well look what I woke up to this morning!

The sharp shinned having his breakfast right outside the kitchen window! If only he wasn't hiding in all the shrubbery, it would have been a nicer picture. Looks like a collard dove he got himself, which I don't mind at all. He can eat every last one as far as I'm concerned. Pretty amazing, the doves are every bit as big as he is (though, they are kind of slow movers, especially after gorging themselves on our *expensive* bird seeds).

And remember when I said That owl pic was probably the last one I'd ever take? Well, I wasn't counting on finding them in the middle of the day! I was walking around Chatfield SP this afternoon and came across three of them napping in the cottonwoods (one burst out of the dead branches and took off before I even knew it was there).

The smaller one flew away after it decided it had had enough me, and smacked the one next to it right in the face as it took off (which was pretty funny) but the bigger one stuck around and I got quite a few pictures of it before letting it get it's rest for a long night of looking for mice and stuff.

And these fuzzy mulies were hanging out right next to the truck when I got back to the parking lot. Awwww!

A couple of birds from my dad's neck of the woods, Missouri Heights.

His nesting Hairy woodpeckers. Not the best picture, but they take up residence in this Aspen tree on his property. I hope he gets better pics next time.

And this adorable Saw Whet owl came to visit last week. I love this picture, especially the way the snow is falling all around him. Sorry it's so small. My dad emailed it to me and his email program "resized" it.

Awesome! What I want to know is, how long did it take the woodpeckers to drill through that knothole with their heads?! Don't they know knots should be avoided when woodworking?

And what a gorgeous picture of the owl! Some of my favorite shots are the ones when the snow is falling, and they all look kind of silly with snow piled up on their heads after they've been sitting for a while!

Been kind of a "bust" on my end of the camera lately. Saw some elk up at Staunton State Park last week, and an Abert's squirrel (which was very cool, I haven't seen one of those guys in many, many years). I also FOUND Steller's jays up there, and pygmy nuthatches too, but, nothing wanted to come, or let me get, close enough for a picture. And around the house I haven't seen a new bird in weeks, or even any of my rare visitors like the sparrows and towhees.

I guess I should mention for those who don't know, Missouri Heights is not in Missouri. It's near Carbondale, CO, opposite Sopris mountain.

My only unusual bird sighting recently was what I think was a Sharp-shinned hawk emerging from a flock of pigeons. He didn't get a meal, but he was certainly out of place.

It is a super owl picture, PopMama! There is a Spokane, Missouri. "Spokane" was the name of an Indian chief and came to be assigned to the tribe, here abouts. My homesteading ancestors, who came to Idaho in the nineteenth century, were coming from western Missouri.

"New Bird?" What kind are those?

I hardly see Olde Birds! Of course, I don't have a feeder and I'm not sure if my good neighbor over the back fence does either, this winter.

I'm not getting out much. Necessary trips. The side roads have been bad even after they were plowed, about a week ago. I live on a "side road" feel like I'm risking life and limb walking across it. I can then walk the equivalent of 8 blocks (2,400 feet, in this case :o) - mostly on school district plowed sidewalks. Then, sneak back across the road ...

Steve

Zach,

Here are the two peanutbutter feeders my dad made with my kids last week. I'm not sure if they drilled big enough holes, but I can fix that later if necessary. One is made from an Aspen log and the other from a Pinion pine.

(some of my Winter sowing experiments in the background)

Looks great Mama! I bet the birds will love Wow, I never thought I'd be such a trendsetter!

With that rough bark, the pinon log should hold peanut butter just fine! I switched to something called "bark butter" which is designed as a bird food as an experiment... I don't think they like it as much as regular old, Kroger brand peanut butter lol.

I also keep forgetting to get a picture of my licence plate feeder for you, but I have some new pictures to put up, so when I get around to that I will also get a picture of the feeder for you!

You are a trendsetter, Zach! Thanks for all the fun ideas.

Haha, well you're welcome! Heres the licence plate feeder. All I did was fold each plate in half and cut out a piece of wood for the bottom. I then aligned the holes in the plates (that you use to screw it onto your car) and drilled holes in the wood to run a bolt through and put a nut on the bolt. Viola! A tray feeder! You could also add more holes in the bottom for drainage. You could also probably screw it to a short post or something if you didn't want to "hang" it.

I also got some pictures! With the help of a friend who has a cabin south of Jefferson (in South Park) and some peanuts I brought along with me! I'm not a huge fan of these, but they are the best I've got so far.




And then this guy came along and ate up all my peanuts. The jay's were not happy at all!


And this little guy, a pygmy nuthatch, I got up at Staunton State Park, just little bit west of Conifer. I would have gotten some really good ones, but, some guy came through yelling at his dog and scared them all away... the joy of public lands...