White Throated Sparrow

Believe it or not, this little guy is pretty hard to catch a descent photo of. He doesn't often fly up into the dogwood tree above the feeder and outside my window, like the other birds. He tends to stay low, and doesn't come to the feeder as often as the other birds. He rather hop around the ground looking for scraps. This photo of the White Throated Sparrow was taken at 9:37 am, December 30, 2006. It is 42 degrees out. For those of you who are wondering, there is a stand of a few pine trees nearby, where I see these guys most of the time.

Here you see the Carolina wren at the top of the bowl with a Dark eyed Junco behind it, and a Tufted titmouse at the base of the bowl, with his wings fluttering. This photo was taken at 9:24 am on Saturday December 30, 2006. It is currently 42 degrees out.

Female Downy Woodpecker

Here is a photo of the female Downy woodpecker that visits. 9:07 am, 39 degrees out onf Thursday, December, 28, 2006. I also saw a female mergancer handing out with the 11 Canadian geese that are still hanging around. Then later 9:30 am I saw two male mergancers with a female mergancer. The Great Blue Heron was also by this morning. The one female mallard, with her escort of 4 (sometimes 5 males) is out there right now too!

Tufted Titmouse

There are around 8+ Tufted titmouse(s) that come to the feeder each morning. These photos were taken at 9:20 on the morning of December 28. It is 39 degrees out. There was frost on the grass this morning. Burr! This second photo is a titmouse diving down to the feeder.

"Good Eats" at the Dogwood Tree.

The Brown Creeper was back again today, thus I got some better photos. Here he dines with his friend the male Downy Woodpecker (who I am not speaking too since he put some holes in my house trying to call he girlfriend to tell her there is some good food here!) :.)

Black-capped chickadee

One a few chickadee's that come daily to the feeder.

Deer on the Island

While watching birds outside my bedroom window, I saw three deer wandering on the edge of the island! I don't think I have ever seen deer or even evidence of deer on the island before. The water today is high for it rained last night. It is about 3-4 feet above the normal height.
What a guess! I just checked the offical creek data online and it isaw it is up 3-1/2 feet. This is the real time data site, for a point a bit above where we are.
(http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?cb_00065=on&format=gif&period=1&site_no=01473000)

Brown Creeper

The photo is rather blury, but this is the first time I have seen this guy, a Brown Creeper, here. 8 AM 12/23/06 56 degrees out.

Winter Wren

It is very hard to get a photo of this Winter Wren. This photo was taken at 8:40 am, December 23, 2006. It was 56 degrees out this morning.

Mergansers!

I usually see these guys in the spring. But this overcast morning, December 21, 2006 at 9:10 AM they were cruising around. It is 45 degrees out. I saw at least one male and four females. There may have been two males though.

Attacking a Red Tailed Hawk

Yesterday, December 19, 2006. It appeared that a group of crows were attacking what I assume was the Red tailed Hawk that is around here. What was interesting, what I assumed was another Red tailed hawk, appeared at a lower altitude.

Mourning Dove

Today's bird is the Mourning Dove. This guy is quite a poser. This was taken on December 20, 2006 at 1:42 PM. 45 degrees and sunny out.

The usual gang showed up to the feeder. I saw four Dark Eyed Juncos. The White-Breasted Nut Hatches, Tufted Titmouses, the Northern Cardnial (male and female) and Downy Woodpeckers (male and female), and the Blacked-Capped Chickadees.

Sharp Shinned Hawk? or Coopers Hawk?

We finally purchase bird food again, and I have been watching the activity each morning as Josh wakes up and does his morning routine. This morning I was reading to him and I saw a brown blur drop from the dogwood tree above the feeder. I grabbed the camera and saw this hawk, who had pinned one of the smaller birds to the the ground. Moment later he flew off with his prey, toward the island. My guess would be he or she is a Sharp Shinned Hawk? But I understand it may be impossible from this photo to determine if he/she may have been a Coopers Hawk. Any educated guesses?

This photo was taken today, December 19, 2006 at 8:57 am. It is now 10:30 am as I post this and 42 degrees out, and sunny!

Red bellied woodpecker

This guy is a regular morning visitor. This was taken December 18, 2006, about 9 am.

Froth

I have been told that this froth is natural and normal. This past year it has been relatively constant and not burning off when the sun comes out, like it did last year. If anyone knows anything about it, please let me know. As you see here the geese are wondering what this huge blob is floating down the creek, let alone all the little ones that cover the waters.

This photo was taken December 18, in the morning. You can click on the image to see a larger photo.