October 2008

Latest Pics

I won't bore you today, just some pics!

I was beginning to think there wasn't any female cardinals around, but I finally saw this. And a better pic of a male. And how many birds can fit in the birdbath?? How many doves? The jay looks like he is posing. I like robins! And finally, the Wingscapes camera caught a pic of birds in flight.

Three Return

Today there are three birds that I haven't seen in a long time, and they all showed up in the last week or so.

In the spring, I saw a pair of robins in my yard all the time, but I haven't see them since. I guess because they are so prevalent I never looked at them too closely. Looking at this pic, they are a very pretty bird! Whenever I have a group of something and I don't know what it's called, I say a gaggle. Know what a gaggle of robins is called? A worm. A group of robins are collectively known as a "worm" of robins. And in the "early bird catches the worm" category- Robins eat different types of food depending on the time of day; they eat earthworms early in the day and more fruit later in the day.

After the worm thing, I discovered this tidbit: A group of house sparrows are collectively known as a "humiliation". I still haven't decided what this bird is. I am wondering if the yellow color is caused by the camera? Also, I said this was a different pic of the same type of bird. I am not too sure about that.

The other day I thought I caught a glimpse of a cardinal, another bird not seen here recently. I wasn't sure it was one though, all I saw was a flash of red. It could have been a male finch. The next day this showed up at the birdbath. Still no female, however.

The goldfinch has been a favorite, ever since I first saw a pair while I was out riding bicycle. Usually I see two of them together, but this is the only one I've seen.

More Birdbath Pics

I saw a blog on the Audubon web site that had a couple of things of interest to me. It was under the title "Spoiling Birds?" One was "Delayed Migration:" This addressed the issue I raised on 9/07/08, and they do not feel that feeders cause birds to halt their migration. The other issue is titled, "Predation:" This assuaged my fear that, I am setting up the birds to be easy kills, for all the wild cats that my neighbor is feeding.

I saw this pic, and I am not sure what it is. I guess it is an ordinary house sparrow, but it has a yellow belly. Birds Of Pa mentions a dickcissel, a similar species with a yellow belly, but I do not believe that is what this one is. Here is another pic.

Here is a little one looking at the camera. A mocker enjoying a bath. A dove, and a duck- OK, maybe it isn't a duck.