First up is a lovely lady cowbird, or a cowgirl cowbird...? My Mom and I were talking about cowbirds the other day, and how much we hate them. But then I had to revise my statement, because I remembered that I decided I don't hate cowbirds. I don't like them as much as other birds, but as I have previously discussed, they have a long history. It's not really their fault that they push out eggs from songbird nests and drop one of their own into it. And though I don't care much for the looks of the male cowbird, the female is beautiful in her graceful brown...
Next up are some closeup head shots of a Red-bellied Woodpecker. This guy is a frequent visitor at the feeder. He moves pretty fast, and the second he sees me move at my desk to take his photo, he's gone. I've taken tons and tons of photos of him, and I'd say about 3% of them actually turn out half-way decent. I was pleased with these 3 photos.
I've posted plenty of photos of White-breasted Nuthatches, like this guy...
And actually, I usually just call them Nuthatches, leaving off the further identification because White-breasted Nuthatches are the only kind we've had. In fact, I didn't realize there were other kinds until my sister, JoAnne, told me how her favorite bird is the Red-breasted Nuthatch. Nuthatches are so cool anyway; I love how they hang upside-down. The Red-breasted Nuthatch is quite a bit smaller than the White-breasted, and as I recently discovered, very flighty and quick... because one showed up at the feeder! He's been around quite a bit, but since he's so fast, he's difficult to photograph...
We don't have an Oriole feeder out, but my folks' keep one filled at their house. They have a lot of Baltimore Orioles (aka Northern Orioles). I was super surprised to see this guy show up at the feeder... unfortunately, he stayed only for a few seconds, and I barely had time to get his photo, so they didn't turn out that well. But here's proof we had at least one at the feeder!
I had also mentioned previously about the Rose-breasted Grosbeak youngster that's such a vicious thing... here he is...
How do I know he's a youngster? Well, here is an adult male... notice the rich, rose-red color...
The juvenile Rose-breasted Grosbeak has a less vibrantly colored breast; it's more along the lines of rose-pink, not rose-red, and he's a bit spotty...
This year, there have been lots of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks at the feeder, males and females...
And it's the youngster that's most ferocious about guarding his stash of seeds... I think he believes the feeder belongs to him. This is what he does often; he goes at any other bird that tries to feed near him...
And guarding one side of the feeder isn't enough for him... here he is noticing an intruder trying to invade the other side of his feeder...
and the attack!
It's entertaining to watch him. Silly bird. If he'd just ignore the other birds and concentrate on filling his face, he'd sure get a lot more eating done. As you can imagine, guarding the feeder is a never-ending, pointless battle. Give it up, baby.
I'm including this last photo just because I think it's awesome... gorgeous birds... love that color...
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