There seems to be no bird in my yard
with more “facial expressions” than the Tufted Titmouse. I also think puppy eyes should be renamed to Titter eyes 😆 Cause who could say No to that?
It was picture day,
and everybody had their portrait taken. Those who are small in size got a full-body one 😃
(Eastern Bluebird, American Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Redbellied Woodpecker, Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, House Finch, Northern Cardinal, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Blue Jay)
The Goldfinches are back,
and and as usual, are creating a little drama whenever they come across a fellow Goldfinch. They do play nice with the House Finches and others. The House Finch in the middle is the most interesting guy, and he seems to be a local. He has fantastic hues of red, brown and even orange in his feathers.
Bird traffic
continues to be slow, but this morning we had the first slight frost of the season, so winter is slowly coming. The sun continues to give her all, making some of the otherwise more dull visitors like this Starling appear in a new light. Making me forgive them their bad table and nesting manners for a bit.
A proud Titter
with a big price. I have enjoyed these warm November days. We did some yard maintenance today because the temps are about to drop, including mowing some of the leaves. Did you know not raking all leaves will help increase the population of insects like glow bugs in the following season?
Greetings from the small crowd.
They are enjoying te relative calm at the feeders and preparing their winter stashes of nuts and seeds. Left to right: American Goldfinch, Black-capped Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Tufted Titmouse.
White-breasted Nuthatches
might be hard to tell apart from afar, but there are way to differentiate the males from the females. The males have a black head cap, while the markings of the females are more subtle. The same is true for Red-breasted Nuthatches, by the way. Here, you have the male in the first photo and the female in the second (with added Chickie photobomb).
It is an awkward time
with those very mild temperatures. The birds are finding an abundance of food all over the place and don’t really frequent the feeders much, except maybe for the MoDos. So I am happy for every visitor that is not a Dove. Today, the Bluebirds showed up during the golden morning hours. I think the cameras love them as much as I do. Come good into the week!
A blue beauty
to end this day on a nice note. The angle of the sun has changed, and it just illuminates the birds in a wonderful way for a couple of hours during the day. Good night!
A nice little surprise
during these rather dull times at the feeders was this Pine Siskin today (in the second pic, there is also a Goldfinch). I used to have lots during the cold season but none in the last two years. Due to the irruption, they are back in lower Michigan, but I haven’t seen larger numbers. They are feisty and entertaining little bird, and I hope there will be more. and that they tell their northern friends the Evening Grosbeaks of my yard.
One more time...
Because it is so important. Please make your voice heard, go and vote! And be safe tomorrow.
Eastern Bluebirds
can be trained to come at your signal if you feed live mealworms. I have done that before and made the neighbors laugh a lot… Now they have their own caged feeder for the mealies and come and go as they please, with the occasional stop at the camera feeder. Here is a male. I like to think it is Ragnar from this summer.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend! Please make sure to know how to vote if you haven’t yet. Iwillvote.com has all the info you need.
Every walk to refill the feeders
currently happens with a stop to watch one of these guys, Red-breasted Nuthatches. I am fascinated by the fearlessness of these tiny birds and thankful that they let me look at them in such close distance. They make me smile every time I see them, and I think they are doing the same to the rest of Michigan. This is the female. She looks a bit rough, but appears very active and healthy otherwise.
Since we are talking couples,
here’s the King and Queen of the Yard. I know in reality there are more than two, and they love to go to the bath in the early mornings and late evenings. It is going to be fun to see them all against a snowy backdrop.
Days with rain
or snow have bad lighting but I love them still because they draw the birds to the feeders and make them look more interesting. Here we have Peanut and Hazel, the Red-bellied Woodpeckers. She has been a very frequent visitor lately but he only made rare appearances. You can nicely see the name-giving belly. (She has the grey forehead.)
Amongst the several Titmice
that are here right now, there is one that is more distinguishable than the others, it looks like it has eyeliner on. It is the one in the middle. They are all very good at guilt-tripping! Don’t let that get to you though, I hope you all have a fantastic start into the week.
