Writing will resume soon

Haven't had much time with family and work obligations to write.  Plus, we became much more involved with our new cat, with new cichlids in the fish tank, and our semi-wild polish bunnies in the backyard.  Just started refilling birdfeeders again now that the weather has dipped to the 40's and hope to see the birds return.  We really haven't seen any birds around except an occasional woodpecker and lots of vultures.  Stay posted!

Perfect birding morning--blue skies, comfortable temps!

We are still watching this Osprey carefully!

I'm not sure why an Osprey would be hanging around our suburban neighborhood.  The pond is over a mile away and their are no good fishing rivers nearby.  He's enormous and beautiful, but a little scary when circling over and over.  We keep checking on the bunnies!

Caught Daddy Cardinal and the Kinglet in flight.  Pretty awesome how they maneuver in between the feeders : )

We're so happy that a pair of Goldfinches has decided they like our backyard this year.  Of course they get along well with the other finches in the yard, too!

I have never seen a finch this shade before and wonder if it is the elusive Purple Finch we've been reading about.

This Carolina Wren is the life of our backyard.  Always in a good mood and usually singing!

Savannah River loneliness

While waiting for my son to finish his stint with the Augusta Rowing Club today, my daughter and I marveled at the Great Blue Heron who was looking so lonely on the dock.  It was almost as if he, too, were waiting anxiously for the teens to return ; )

Bluejay Extravaganza

My son had just been complaining that there were never any colorful birds in the yard other than the Cardinals when we had an explosion of color.  Not only did the Ruby Throated Hummingbird reappear repeatedly at the feeder in the front and back yards yesterday, but we had a paid of Goldfinches lighting the trees yellow.  But, the highlight this morning was the Blue Jay.

I heard him long before I spotted him in the yard.  He went right to the nut feeder.

Look at how beautiful his wings are.  Like, wow!!!

He was almost too big for the suet feeder.  I just wish he had turned around!

Oh yeah, and Mama Eastern Towhee was brave and came out into the yard.  Something rare for her.

Osprey!!! Wow, and over suburbia!

I cannot believe we saw an Osprey.  First thought it was a white headed-Vulture, then thought it was a Cooper's Hawk.  But, then there were two and they circled lower and lower over our yard and neighborhood and I caught two photos!

I bought a new camera--first time trying it out!

Chipping Sparrow

Hummingbird in Flight 

I know that these photos are nothing too too interesting.  I mean, everyone has sparrows, finches, mockingbirds, and squirrels in their yard.  But, these are the normal rhythms of the morning for us and typical of who would be visiting the feeders between 8-9am while I'm sitting by the back door and drinking a cup of tea.

Female House Finch 

Male and Female Chipping Sparrow; she's yelling at him for hogging all the seeds!

A typical image of squirrels in our yard. This feeder has nuts in it.

This female Cardinal is very small and I'm wondering if she is a juvenile. 

Do you see the mockingbird debating on whether or not to go for the suet?

Nature has been exceptionally beautiful this month!

 Wish I knew something about butterflies and moths (or, well, anything at all really).  This was next to the Savannah River near the lock and dam at the Rapids.

This little guy keeps coming back to visit, and with friends.  I swear he's coming to this feeder, because he "matches".  I mean, is it really all about the style of being lemon yellow?  Really!

 I was so happy that the mums bloomed early and was thinking to take photos, when I realized that my son's rabbit, Willow, had found a chosen spot right next to them.  So, here's Willow in the flowers.  Where's Maple, the other bunny, you say?  She was hiding under the shed.

I don't care what my neighbor, Ms. Alice, says about how Mimosa is a terrible plant, that it drips, that I should never have it in my yard, etc. etc. etc.  I think the blossoms are beautiful, the butterflies and the hummingbirds love it, and it gives us shade.  This happens to be in the yard of the neighbor behind us (not Ms. Alice), but it hangs over our fence and it's branches house some of our feeders.  See the black butterfly up towards the top right?  Also, heard that it's related to the Acacia tree, so maybe we'll take some to feed the giraffes at the zoo next time!

Wow...the rain stops & new birds arrive!!!

 We have never had an American Goldfinch at our feeders before.  I didn't think we would get them without Nijer seed, but this little guy came about 4 times to the feeder with the sunflower hearts.  I wish I could have gotten a closer photo or better quality, but, even from across the yard, he was so lemony yellow as to be blindingly bright.  So beautiful!

We had such heavy rains here today, it was a roar of water for hours.  When it was all done, a lot of wet birds came out, like little Mama here.

We also had a paid of Chickadees tag-teaming back and forth to eat a single seed from the flat feeder and then hide in the tree and eat it.  I wish I could have gotten an image of his head, but he was having such a good time munching, he didn't look up.

This squirrel got rather peeved with me for interrupting his theft of seeds at the flat feeder since I was sitting in the gazebo.  So I caught his photo while he was chittering and squawking at me.  At least someone is making use of this empty birdhouse!

Killdeer? (Nope, doesn't have anything to do with the Deer itself)

 Can you believe how cute this little guy is?  Look at that pathetically gazing eye!  My daughter thought this was a little lost sea bird.  We were on the corner of the frontage road to a major highway, I-20, and waiting at the light; I saw him and could tell he was something special.  We actually circled, turned around, and did it again, to find a break in the traffic where I could take a photo without getting into a car accident; I couldn't tell what he really looked like, though, until coming home and seeing on the computer.  A "Killdeer"--what a strange name for a bird, though I read it comes from the call it makes.

 

Anyway, he was just chilling in the parking lot for T-Mobile.  Guess he just wanted a cell phone to call all his other seabird buddies down in Savannah ; )

Fewer geese this year

The kids and I had gotten used to the Springtime hatching of Canadian geese in the Spring Lakes neighborhood. in the past it was like _Make way for Ducklings_ as they would shut down our route to school in the morning while crossing the road. I hope the only reason there were fewer was because of a warmer than average winter. I'd hate to see them go.

Very active birding day today!

Well, we were all content with seeing the regular round of folks at the feeders this morning, then with seeing Geese and a Heron while walking near the Savannah River, but we were unprepared for the afternoon's events.  I left the back door open while potting plants and a Chipping Sparrow flew in and got stuck.  We had a time catching him without hurting him or giving him a heart attack around the Foozball table and Ping Pong table and exercise equipment!  Finally netted him, we all gave him a good looking over, then opened hands and let him fly away.  He zipped in 1/2 a second!

The next excitement was hearing a strange sound and my daughter spotted the Hawk in our pine tree above the gazebo.  He was there for a minute making his chirping sounds, then flew beautifully away.  After downloading the pictures we decided he was a juvenile Cooper's Hawk. Bunnies and backyard birds beware!

Finally!!! Something to write about!

The kids were bored for more than a month with our favorite birds gone away when the weather abruptly went into the '80s and '90s.  But, in the past two weeks we've seen a pair of hummingbirds, the Chickadee has returned as has the Tufted Titmouse, but mostly it was the usual round of Chipping Sparrows, Cardinals, Mourning Doves, Mockingbirds and the like.  We got a quick glimpse of the Towhee, but he was too hard to catch with the camera like all the others.  But today was different.

We had torrential rains since last night and, since we've been in drought conditions for years, it was really unusual because it lasted for 24 hours.  Well today we had a hawk (who caught what I suspect was originally a dove) leave a pile of feathers and intestines in the middle of the yard.  And, I suspect because of the rain, we had a new visitor to the back yard.  We had to look it up, but it is a Gray Catbird!  

Distractions in the window

OK, these are my short video clips of who kept interrupting me today while grading papers.  But, it was much to my children's delight, since the light was so strong outside that the birds did not notice us, even when right next to the window.

Brown-headed cowbirds, 2 females, then males...

It was funny to see how skittish they were : )

Brown-headed Cow Bird vs. Oropendola

Ok, so this is not my own video, but it captures the glistening color of what sounds like a dull bird and there are a couple places where you can hear the call. For those of you who have been to Central America, what do you think?  Does there sound like any similarity between the Cow Bird and the Oropendola?  Let me know in a comment.

Cow Bird video

Oropedola call

OK, I'm probably just wistfully thinking about this ; )

New visitor to entertain us

So, I'm now fully convinced that the bird in one of my earliest posts for this blog was actually a cowbird.  We had four of them today in the yard and after some silly prancing with wings wide open, one of them hung around for a long time at our millet and black oil sunflower seed feeder.  Long enough for the kids and I to enjoy in the backyard swing and for me to snap a few photos.  What pretty sounds they made--reminded me of a smaller version of the sound of the Oropendula from Costa Rica.

Someone needs to wipe those little millet seeds off his beak.  It's kind of embarrassing the lack of table manners ; ) 

Seriously, we haven't seen the Towhee family in a week.  There have been turkey vultures and other vultures circling all over town.  We still have plenty of cardinals, finches, mourning doves, sparrows, and chickadees.  Every couple days a group of red wing blackbirds shows up.  I haven't seen as many woodpeckers lately and no one special like an Oriole in quite a while.  Can't wait to see Spring birds!

Birds in a zoo-zany experience

This is an "Out of My Way" kind of moment!

Had the opportunity to take the kids to the small, but charming, Columbia, SC Riverbanks Zoo this weekend in between rainy days.  We hadn't been there in almost a year, and it was a nice return.  We had some funny bird antics on display.

The flamingos were hilarious strutting their stuff, showing off wings!

Come on, who doesn't get a kick out of orangey-red birds with backward knees?!?

These vultures looked a bit sad and pathetic on their perch.

Up close, they were actually cute?  Who knew? 

Highlight of every zoo trip--The Lorikeets : )

Turkey, we mean, "Chicken" Vultures

Well, my daughter and I were driving close to the Savannah River on Sand Bar Ferry Road when it seemed as though there were dozens of vultures swirling in the sky.  We couldn't stop for a closer look at what some were fighting over on the side of the road because I needed to stop for gas and food, but on the way back I pulled over and we clicked some photos.  It was the closest we had ever been to these big birds.

 As soon as I went to the other side of the road it was funny to see most of them quickly fly off.  What a bunch of chickens!  Only 3-4 hung on a bit longer, but they still wouldn't let me get within 25 feet.  Still can't decide if they are ugly birds or note.

I know, I know, it's pretty gross.  But look at the stance of the vulture near the deer carcass.  He's like, "What?  You want a piece of this?  Come and get it, tough gal!"  Two seconds later he flew away, too.  My daughter was upset about the deer, though it had most likely been hit by a car.