Winter finches

Just a quick post with a couple of pictures of our latest winter visitors.

Redpolls were one of my favorites birds when I was a kid, and I've only seen them a handful of times since then. We had one lonely little Redpoll show up in our yard last winter, but then this weekend we had a flock of 40-50 thoroughly enjoying our sunflower chip feeder. And they're back today, so hopefully they'll stick around for a little bit!

Anyway, I was able to take a break from Christmas prep yesterday to set up my blind and try to get a few pictures of these pretty little festive visitors. Hope you enjoy. :)

And Happy Holidays to everyone!

Fall is here

The last of our sweet little hummingbirds disappeared from our yard on September 24. I miss them already. *sigh*

We had our first Dark-eyed Juncos of the season at the feeder last night. I love those little birds - so pretty! I actually thought I saw one flitting around the pine trees out back about a week and a half ago (the white side tail feathers are pretty telling), but couldn't confirm it. But now they seem to be here to stay, since they were bopping around on the driveway this morning.

Haven't seen that many migrants passing through, really. We had our annual October Eastern Phoebe stop by briefly, and there was some kind of mystery warbler in the yard on Monday, but we didn't get a good enough look at it for an ID.

So yes, the season change is definitely upon us. Come ooooooon, snowy owls! :D

Yardbird species #60, #61, and #62

It's been a productive migration so far, in terms of visitors to our yard.

First we had a House Wren. Next, a juvenile Common Yellowthroat. And tonight, a Red-breasted Nuthatch was fighting the Goldfinches for sunflower seeds at one of our feeders.

Also, some exciting news for me. One of my hummingbird photos was published in Photo News Magazine. My first credited magazine publication! :)

On another note, we've got somewhere in the range of... oh, a billion Goldfinches in our yard right now. If anyone wants any, you're welcome to them. I love those little birds, but they're eating us out of house and home in the numbers they're in!

Biiiiiig yawn!

Biiiiiig yawn!, a photo by Jen St. Louis on Flickr.

This little guy was far too cute to watch. He kept getting puffier and puffier as he settled onto the stick, and his blinking was getting slower... and then yawning. I've never seen a hummingbird yawn before, and was really lucky to get this shot. :)

Killdeer babies - found!

I finally managed to track down the little fluff balls of cuteness known as baby Killdeer. They - and their parents - are pretty skittish, so I wasn't able to get very close. But I was able to work with the lighting conditions and distance as best as I could to get a few shots of them.

Crippled hummingbird

Discovered something very sad yesterday - our male hummingbird has a broken leg/foot. He seems to be doing okay - flies and feeds no problem, and still does the courtship dive for the females - but when he perches, he straddles the branch and his bad leg just dangles. It breaks my little heart to see him like this. :(

Yard bird species #58 and #59

Two new yard birds in the span of 24 hours. Not bad!

#58 - Cedar Waxwing. I know, it's a very common garden bird for a lot of people, but it's a first in ours.
#59 - Pine Siskin. This guy has been hanging out with the Goldfinches and House Finches, and I thought it was a female House Finch. But then I got a better look at it, and I realized the beak was completely wrong and it had a yellow tint to its wings.

Yesterday morning I was outside trying to get some more pictures of my tree swallows, and I got to witness the babies fledge! It was pretty special to be able to see these little guys take flight for the first time ever. I felt a bit like a proud mom. They spent about half an hour working up their courage - first squeezing their shoulders out of the hole, then perching there with their little feet grasping the ledge, and then - jump and lift off! Now they're gone, and the nesting box will be empty until next spring. Maybe one of those babies will come back and start a family of its own. :)

I also reached new levels of bird nerdiness yesterday. I bought a small photography blind to set up in the backyard to allow me to photograph our birds more closely without disturbing them. Tried it out yesterday afternoon, and from a preliminary review of my pictures, I'd say it was a success! (That's actually how I realized the Pine Siskin wasn't a House Finch - I was able to get some pretty close-up pictures of it in our pond.) So we'll see how this works out. Hopefully I'll be able to get some pictures of yard birds who have eluded me so far - like the Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and House Finches. I also really, really want to get some good Oriole pictures - NOT with them sitting on the feeder. Wish me luck!