... a day with the birds.

Today I spent most of the morning watching all the birds in the yard. It always amazes me the variety we have here, just in the backyard. (Having lots of trees helps, I'm sure). The quality isn't that great on a lot of these pictures, but the interesting part is that I took them all today.

European Starling
This is probably the bird we see the most often. They are flocking birds so we see them in groups all the time. They have yellow beaks in the spring and grey in the fall.

Common Grackle
Slightly larger than the Starling, the males have green iridescent heads that look really neat in the sun. (It was overcast today and rained a lot.)

Juvenile Cowbird
This one took a long time to figure out. It's got really brown and black mottled feathers right now. Cowbirds are parasitic - they don't build nests, instead they lay their eggs in the nests of other birds thus abandoning their young to be raised by other birds.

House Finch.
This is my favorite picture. I stepped outside to take some other pictures just as this finch was flying toward the feeder. I expected her to wave off, but instead she landed right on the hook and struck a pose.

Mockingbird
They make lots of different calls.

Robin
Besides Starlings, a frequent visitor to the yard. I don't usually photograph them because there are always a couple around.

Baby Barn Swallows!
The intrepid barn swallows rebuilt a nest after a neighborhood cat destroyed the first one. I can make these babies open their mouths by firing the flash at them.

Blue Jay (and a Robin)
The bluejays sound like hawks. One morning one landed in a tree outside my bedroom window and woke me up at 6 am. Not so much fun.

Cardinal (male)

Cardinal (female)
We have two different pairs that spend a lot of time at the feeder.

Juvenile Cardinal
It's not a female because the head is red, but not quite a full grown male. Notice the grey spots on the beak - young cardinal beaks are grey.

Carolina Chickadee

The newest visitors to the feeder, these are tiny 5" birds. Very pretty.