Red-breasted, Red-headed, Red-spotted, Red-winged, Red-tailed

Yesterday was a dreary day, snowing most of the day. Many of the birds used the feeders as a sort of refuge from the snowy weather. The Red-breasted Nuthatches used the suet to shield themselves from the snow, and were just kind of frozen there. The Pine Siskin roosted for quite some time on the black sunflower seed feeder that is under the eaves and clear of any falling moisture on my, as I like to call it, bird balcony.

Another bird who I haven't seen come to the balcony feeder, spent a good deal of time there while it snowed.  I had only seen the red-headed male House Finch once this  year, perched on my bird tree.  He stared me down as I took a few photos of him through the glass slider door.

Handsome House Finch

A male Hairy Woodpecker with a red-spotted crown, showed up in the hood a couple of days ago, and was back again.  Up until now, there was only one female Downy Woodpecker that frequented the suet feeders just about daily. So it's kind of nice to see a male and a Hairy for some variety. In the following picture you can see the size difference between the male Hairy on the left and the female Downy on the right.  They look very similar except for the body and beak size.

When I get away from home, it seems much closer to spring when I'm out and about, away from my snowy wonderland here on the backside of the lake. Today on my way home, I took the back roads and was able to stop and take some snapshots of some birds that remind me of spring. Like the Robin Red-breast (American Robin), I've been seeing more and more while out. Today, there were a dozen or more of robins hanging out with a 'cloud' of blackbirds. A few of them were Starlings, but then there were plenty of Red-winged Blackbirds staking out their territory in the small ponds with spent cat tails. I was able to catch this guy as I pulled up under him with the sun roof open. He started zinging and whizzing and showing me how big he was with his wings and tail all fanned out.

Red-winged Blackbird

Another bird I like to stalk with the sun roof open is the Red-tailed hawk. I always count the Red-tails I encounter along the highway and today was no different (I counted 11), except that since I was on the back roads, I could actually pull over and snap some pics! This hawk was sunning itself in the last couple of minutes before sunset. I got one quick shot in before it flew off (and one really fuzzy one after it took flight).

Red-tailed Hawk

Oh, and how could I forget, the last bird sighting of the day was a highway hawk, but not my typical Red-tailed.  It was smaller, with a long barred tail. I swung back around and did a u-turn to go back and check it out.  The little hawk flew off before I could get a photo, but I did get a good look. After I got home, I consulted my trusty bird reference book and it was indeed a Sharp-shinned Hawk. A new bird for 2013 and for my life list!

All the RED birds featured in today's post...

Red-breasted Nuthatch

(Red-headed & Red-breasted) House Finch

(Red-spotted) Hairy Woodpecker

American Robin (Red-breast)

Red-winged Blackbird

Red-tailed Hawk

Old Man Winter ~ First Week of 2013

Well, the first week of 2013 has been cold, snowy, and icy. Just when we were getting used to it, the roads had been plowed and we could get around once again, Old Man Winter brought us several more inches of new snow overnight.  It doesn't make for the best birding.  Who wants to get out in the frigid cold when it's down to 1 degree Fahrenheit or snowing all day long?  Not this little chickadee!  

It's times like this that I am thankful for my yard birds that are attracted by my suet feeders.  For this first week in my 2013 Big Year it has been the trusty Red-breasted Nuthatches, between 1 and 4 of them visiting the suet each day.  Along with them is a female Downy Woodpecker.  Those were the only birds I had seen until Sunday, when two new birdies came to the suet feeders. I was excited to see a couple of Black-capped Chickadees and a White-breasted Nuthatch in the yard.

White-breasted Nuthatch

These four species of social birds often winter together in small mixed feeding flocks, so it is not unusual for them to be seen together.  The flocks are better able to keep an eye out for predators and can send warning signals to the other members.  They are also better able to find food and are less wary about visiting feeders.  A group of nuthatches are called a "jar" of nuthatches.  A group of chickadees is a "banditry" or "dissimulation".  Woodpeckers are known as a "descent" or a "drumming".  So what are these mixed flocks known as?  A "jar of drumming banditry"?  I get a kick out of some of these collective nouns they come up with for groups of birds.

An interesting fact about the White-breasted Nuthatch is that they are usually quiet during breeding season and in the summer.  But certainly not in the winter and spring.  They have a nasal sounding 'yank-yank' that is quite distinguishable of the nuthatches when you hear it.  The Black-capped Chickadee have their own cute little song... 'Chick-a-dee-dee-dee', hence the name.

Black-capped Chickadee

To sum up my 'Big Week' of 15 birds, (giggle)...                                                                                                            

Sherrie's Lakefront Yard Birds

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Downy Woodpecker

White-breasted Nuthatch

Black-capped Chickadee

Sherrie's Big Year Birds

American Crow

Red-tailed Hawk

Black-billed Magpie

Rock Pigeon

Herring Gull

American Kestrel

Canada Goose

Common Merganser

Mallard

American Coot

Wild Turkey

New Features on Bird Lady Blog

The days have been cold and long and boring.  Not many birds now that the lake is frozen.  So I decided to add some new features to the Bird Lady Blog.  Now, there is a Photo Gallery page in addition to a Home page where all of my blog posts appear.  The Photo Gallery page has most of my photography that I have shared here on the blog.  Each picture is linked to the original blog post that was associated with the photo.  Here you can scroll through the pictures, and if something catches your attention, you can go right to the post, which will open in a new window.

Also, new on the Bird Lady Blog, is the BirdTrax gadget.  Yes, more tech gadgets for birders! You will find it on the right hand column above my life list of birds.  BirdTrax displays eBird sightings and data, and can be customized to your liking.  I have mine set to show sightings in a 30 mile radius around my Loon Lake home in the last 30 days.  I was going to change up the settings, but have found I can't get access to the code like I did when I put it on here.  So I guess for now, we are stuck with it like it is.  Oh well, it shows my sightings and others in the community that have submitted to eBird, so it's all good.

A view counter is now located to the right above the archive directory, so you can see how many visitors the Bird Lady Blog has been getting.  I am thankful to my Facebook and Google+ followers for my increased traffic lately.  In just the last month, Bird Lady Blog has had over 500 page views for a total of 1454 as of this moment.

Recently I also added a couple of ways to quickly become a Bird Lady Blog follower on the right hand column.  You can submit your email address and become a follower, or you can subscribe to posts and/or comments. I'm always interested in other bird bloggers and photographers and would love for you to become a follower. Be sure to leave me a comment on the blog to let me know you stopped by!

A couple of cosmetic changes were made, like enlarging the headings so they are easier to see, and I made them look just a tad fancier :o)  Also planning on changing up the header and footer photos, but I'm having a hard time deciding which ones to use.  So it will be a bit yet before you see those.

Hopefully, you will enjoy these newly added features here on the Bird Lady Blog!

As I'm finishing up the final touches on the pictures for this blog post, my husband was flicking through the T.V. channels and happened to stumble on one of my favorite movies "The Notebook".  My favorite part just played where they are at the beach with all the seagulls and she is talking about wondering if in another life she was a bird.  She starts "ka ka ka'ing" and flapping her wings, and makes him say she is a bird.  Then she says "Now say you're a bird".  He replies, "If you're a bird, I'm a bird".  Love that part!

The only visitors to my yard in 2013 have been four Red-breasted Nuthatches and a female Downy Woodpecker.  They have been there each day so far.

The Beginning of Summer 2012

Memorial Weekend 2012...

Here it is Memorial Weekend again, and 2012! Another long winter behind us, another anticipated summer in front of us! It is this time of year I especially enjoy the nature around me. Some excitement here recently, I wish I had some pictures to go along with, but sometimes I just decide to enjoy the moment, instead of missing much of it, because I am trying to get my camera and a picture snapped off before it ends. One of those moments happened yesterday morning, when my husband woke me up at 6 a.m. to tell me there was a moose swimming in the bay. Even I would get up for that exciting news. So cool to watch the young moose swim across the middle of the bay, headed out into the vast lake. It was right out in front of our cabin when it started, and we stood there and watched how quickly it swam out to the middle of the lake. Wondering where it thought it was headed? There was no land in the direction it was going! A neat early morning experience we have shared more than once before. We figured this was at least the 3rd moose we've seen swimming in our bay. Then there is also the moose rescued by my husband, and other moose sightings I can remember. The moose love to hang here in Moose Bay.

June 2012 - Frequent visitors

Today, when I was cleaning out the "storage" corner of our patio, a dear sweet hummingbird hit the large picture window where I was working and landed on the step. I went to see if it was okay, and it fluttered into the shrubs when I approached. I still wanted to check to see if it was okay, so I went around the other side of the bush, and the poor thing was hanging by a foot upsidedown. I reached in to see if I could free it's foot, and it got loose and flew off. I was happy it was able to flee, yet just a little disappointed I didn't get to see it a little better. It all happened so quick.  These little birds are so courageous, and not afraid of much.  In the past, I have been able to get some video footage of the hummers as they dine on my feeder hung on my "birding balcony".  So I will share that with you today...

A few days after the hummingbird incident, I had another little birdie hit our window. This time I was inside with the slider door open, and the birdie flew into the house and hit the window beside me. I got up out of my chair to see if I could find it, and it flew and landed on my husband's chair. It was a sweet little baby Red-Breasted Nuthatch! So darling! A family of six red's have been feeding at my suet lately. Four babies and the parents often visit for feedings. So cute to watch the babies flutter their wings for their share of the food. Sometimes the babies will stay up the tree a ways and the parents have to run back and forth from the suet to the baby. Other times, the baby will follow the parent to the suet but still wait for mamma or daddy to feed them. Then sometimes, eventually, they will start picking at the suet themselves.

1/2 of the family of Red-Breasted Nuthatches

I love it when families come to the feeders.  Here is a pair of Downy Woodpeckers coming to the feeder.  I know it was a male and female, but not sure if it was a mating pair, or possibly a parent with a baby.  You have to watch them for awhile to tell, and usually the babies act like babies.  Shivering, fluffing up, begging for food, etc.

A pair of Downy Woodpeckers

Another family of birds I've been watching is the Tree Swallows.  They arrive every year as soon as the ice melts off the lake.  This year, I am happy that a pair has chosen my balcony bird house for nesting.  It's been vacant for the last couple of years, when the swallows have taken up residency in my wooden bird houses, or the many other neighborhood bird houses, and any nook and cranny they can find!  When they nest in the balcony bird  house, it's perfect for picture taking when the baby birds emerge!  One of my best baby bird shots was from this bird house.  I even got the photo published in the Birds & Blooms magazine!  Here is a more recent photo of one of the parent Tree Swallows watching me and waiting to go into the balcony bird house.

Tree Swallow (the one nesting in my balcony bird house)

Also frequent visitors my bird tree are the Black-headed Grosbeaks.  This pair look nothing like each other.  The male looks like a Black-headed Grosbeak, but the female has very muted coloring and blends well into the background so she can hide and protect the baby Grosbeaks when she's on the nest.

A pair of Black-headed Grosbeaks

This song sparrow has the sweetest melody he chirps from the branch of my bird tree.  You can tell it is a song sparrow by the brown 'spot' on the chest.  You can many times hear them first, because their song is so sweet!  Next time you hear a lovely melody being chirped from the trees... look around, you may be able to spot one!

Song Sparrow

And one last visitor that I never get tired of seeing, the majestic Great Blue Heron.  No longer do we have a fish pen in the bay for the heron to hang out daily, but they still visit the bay frequently.  The wingspan on these birds is incredible!  I caught this guy, just as he was taking off from the neighbor's dock.  Since his wings are just out of the shot, you can't quite see the impressive spread.  But I love flying heron pics!

Great Blue Heron

So there is my blog update for now.  I'll try to be better at grabbing my camera to get some more wonderful bird adventures to share with you!

- Sherrie (Bird Lady)

Mid-winter Blues

I don't know about you, but I've had about enough of winter. Spring has been on my mind lately. Ice covers the ground and the lake. Well, almost all of the lake. The neighborhood fish pen stays unfrozen, as they keep the water moving inside the pen. So like I've said before, there is a Belted Kingfisher that hangs out at the fish pen, and catches a snack or two every day. Now the last couple of days, we have a new visitor to the fish pen... a Great Blue Heron! It's an unusual time of year to see one of these magnificant birds here on the lake. I am loving the added wildlife and birds that have been attracted by the fish pen. If you haven't already, check out the otter that visited before the ice took over the lake in my earlier blog. This Great Blue Heron spends hours patiently waiting on the ledge of the fish pen. And I have spent quite some time patiently waiting for the heron to do something exciting like catch a fish! I have seen it about to strike, but then doesn't. I couldn't get quite close enough on my balcony to get a decent shot, so I decided today to get my boots on, and some warm clothes and head outside with my camera and tripod. Now this is quite the feat, because it is very icy around my house, and now we have a new cover of snow, so it's hard to see where exactly the ice is. So I grab my ski-pole, and head out with my gear. Unfortunely, the little dog gets out when I open the door to get my tripod through. Darn it, I didn't want the dog to scare the bird. But I continue on my task, and head across the icy ground and sneak behind the bushes and hide behind a boat house on the beach. Here I set up my tri-pod and get all focused in on my special winter visitor. I snap a couple shots. Maybe half a dozen, and our big dog comes to see what's up. Oh hello! I see you are trying to photograph that big bird over there... Let me help by running out on the ice and scaring him off! Do you think I might have been lucky enough to get a flight shot? No, no, no. I was in the middle of saving a 7-shot series, and missed the window of opportunity. Thanks doggy!

Well, at least the shots were a little better than the ones way up from my balcony. I still plan to stalk this fella to get a better shot. Would be nice if the weather wasn't quite so gloomy!

After the dogs had scared away my chances of getting any more heron pictures for the time being, I still wanted to take advantage of being out in the snow in the woods. So I set up my tripod on the patio and decided to get a few shots of the Red-breasted nuthatches that were at my suet feeders. There were 4 of them there at one time, how fun! Do you think I could get a shot of them, before little dog, and his Unlce kitty ran over to the tree and off went the nuthatches. Next time I will have to be more careful about the pets getting outside! But hey, they were excited about the bird visitors too! Little dog barks at the birds when he sees them outside. All is not lost, there is a Song Sparrow that has been in the gang with the nuthatches, and it is still in the bushes. I take a couple of crappy shots of it, before I hear a Raven overhead bickering at it's partner. This causes the Song Sparrow to freeze and hide behind the branches for a couple of minutes or more. The Raven takes off, and down the tree comes a Downy Woodpecker. They seem to hang with the nuthatches and the sparrow, all of them coming to the feeders at the same time. I am happy to be on the patio, with the tripod and the camera all ready to go. Didn't last long with my friends the pets outside. Oh well, it was an adventure that I enjoyed. Got me out of the house, and was good for the winter blues.

Definition of "A Good Birding Day"

Sometimes, when my husband gets home from work, I will say to him "It's been a good bird day". Usually this means, I have seen several types of birds throughout the day, participating in various birding activities. Yesterday, was one of those days... and it also just happened to be our 24th anniversary! I can remember back to our 5th anniversary. We were staying in a rental apartment in Leavenworth, a sweet little German town in central Washington, while on a white-water river rafting trip with some friends. I happened to visit a quaint little bookstore, where a bought myself my very first bird identification book, in hopes it would help me identify a couple of birds I had seen at our home in Poulsbo. The book was called "The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds (Western Region)", and I still use it to this day, as well as some others I have added to the collection. The birds, I finally identified where a Pileated Woodpecker and a Red-shafted Flicker, also of the woodpecker family. They are still exciting birds for me to see, even after all these years.

Back to my "Good Bird Day", on our anniversary day, I spent quite some time out on my balcony trying to get the perfect action photo of the Great Blue Heron that was patiently fishing on our ski dock. I set my camera up to take multiple shots at once, so I could get some pictures of the heron flying when he decided to leave. I even got my mini-tripod and setup on the railing of the balcony so I could get just the right shot. As, I was getting things prepared, the family of white-breasted nuthatches showed up to feast again. They make several visits each day.

Also visiting, were the Black-headed Grosebeaks and a Downy Woodpecker.

A female hummingbird kept buzzing me while I setup my tripod, as it was right below the hummingbird feeder. While I was taking pictures of the heron, the hummer would be right there by my hand. When I have someone to help with the camera, I can film the hummers landing on my fingers to drink. Such a cool feeling for sure. But today, I was snapping away at the heron, who several times flew off of the dock and dove into the water to try to catch a fish, only to come up with nothing, and then fly right back to the ski dock. Each time he did this, I took bunches of photos, or so I thought. I was sure I had my camera set to take multiple snap shots, but found out later, it was only saving the last 3 of the shots. So all my action shots of it flying and diving were not recorded. I only ended up with this one shot.

I try not to judge my good bird days by pictures alone, because some of the best birding adventures happen too quickly for the camera. Sometimes, it is worth just sitting and enjoying the moment, rather than trying to capture it with the lens. Now if you can do both, that is the BEST!