Yesterday has been
a rather mild day. The snow started to melt, leaving a sludgy mess on the ground. This was great for bird photography because some of the ones who like feeding on the ground came up to the photo setup. And the prettiest of them all was this gorgeous Cardinal lady. Her hair game is top notch!
It is always nice
to get a little recognition, and this time around, it happens across the pond in the UK. The Daily Star, the Daily Telegraph and The Times have published one of the angry ones today.
The tiny ones
are very animated and adorable right now. Juncos and Goldfinches are a bit feisty with one another, resulting in lots of blurry photos when the SD card cannot compete with tempo and cold.
Another cold day,
but some beautiful little ones came to visit the feeders. I am happy about the Juncos and the Tree Sparrow, they usually feed on the ground. The Titmouse looked adorable as always. American Tree Sparrows can be easily confused with Chipping Sparrows, but one good ID sign is a spot on their chest.
They haven’t been visiting in a long time,
but along with the cold and snow, a large group of Starlings has found its way to the yard too. I do find their photos quite entertaining but truth be told, I could live without them pooping all over the place, trashing the bird baths and eating everything in sight… They kind of remind me of the Bumpus Hounds from A Christmas Story 🤪
Against the snow,
the Cardis continue to shine. There are several couples, and I think one of the males may be a youngster from last year, he has quite a bit of yellow/ orange still in his plumage.
We are now
in a nice stretch of very cold winter weather, with temperatures that make the inside of your nose feel funny when you go outside. It won’t be for long, so I am thoroughly enjoying. The snow makes for a great background, and there are lots of birds visiting. Each coping in their own way with the cold. A couple of Cowbirds have arrived, and yesterday I also saw a Grackle!
Finally a snow day today,
and since I knew things would thaw later, I got up really early. I was rewarded with sights of the new pretty Cardinal lady. She has so much red on her. She is in the first and last two photos. A male and another, less vibrant female, are in the other photos. I love the color combination of the female Cardinals, they are such elegant beauties.
We didn't get
any snow today but there is a lot of rain and temperatures are forecasted to go to freezing. The bird avalanche I was hoping for did not come but the week is not over yet. A good time to show off some Blue Jays from a couple of days ago. I love their expressions and patterns.
Happy National Bird Day
A new visitor this morning... The Birdsy AI identified and recorded the clip. I was in a meeting and only saw it later in my Birdsy account. What a magnificent bird! Apparently it is a she, a Sharp-shinned. And she left hungry.
A word about Birdsy... I have been using their cameras since 2019, and I love the convenience of using a camera that is AI driven rather than unsing motion detection. My photo setup is motion activated, and it takes me a lot of time and computer storage to handle and edit the photos. I have used security cams to get close to wildlife before too, but I found it very time-consuming to sift through the footage to see if they captured anything fun. The cool thing with Birdsy is that the AI is trained on wildlife and captures exactly that so you do not end up with tons of “empty” videos. You also don’t have to install emulators or wonky software in order to watch your clips or livestream. With Birdsy, you get an app as well as an online account in which all your videos are saved and sorted by ID and date. And you can share your clips and livestream with others or embed it on your website, like I am doing here as well. In my opinion, nothing beats the convenience of this system as opposed to trail cams or security cams. No SD cards needed, and you are not tied to a setup like the gadgety smart feeders that seem to be all the rage now. You can build your own setup. Check it out on their website birdsy.com. I am streaming there too 😊
Continuing the color scheme
was this much-beloved visitor today, one of the resident male Cardinals. There are several couples around but they usually stay on the ground or go to the bigger platform feeder that has no camera. After having been so low on variety recently, it is really nice to see my favorites back on photo.
To send you off into the new year,
here are the Judgy Gracks of July (a personal favorite), August, September and October. Be safe tonight and see you in the new one.
I will continue
to post the birds of the calendars in the coming days, but there are still some Gracks left for this year. July, August, September and October are always fun months. The babies emerge, and Grack babies are super cute, many birds undergo dramatic molts, and the landscape changes color too.
Goodbye, 2023!
There were fun moments this year and I absolutely enjoyed the garden this year but I hope that next year will be a bit more exciting again when it comes to birds. The last four months of the year show a Chipmunk, a Chickadee, a Bluebird and a Junco. I hope for some snow in January, just for some fun photo opportunities, and would love a return of a Chickadee nest and of course the Blues.
May for the Gracks
had to be something special, and in the non-judgy calendar, you see the OG, Count Grackula himself. He has stopped coming this season, and I think he may have just gotten too old, but his white markings made him very recognizable. The good thing is, the legacy is carried on, there are more like him with white spots. All other photos show why I had to make two Grackle calendars, I just like their poses but they are so awesomely goofy when they look straight into your face.
All calendars will be on sale from tomorrow until January 2nd 2024 here: https://tinyurl.com/ff6bj43m
The summer months
are one of my favorite times for birding because it is the height of variety, and there are so many baby birds too. For July and August, I had a hard time choosing photos, so here you see some of the alternatives I considered, along with the two final choices, the Red-bellied Woodpecker and the dramatic Blue Jay (taking a sun bath). The immature Orchard Oriole was a fabulous surprise, and I always love the look of the immature Red-winged Blackbirds. Well, and I love Blue Jay babies in all their loud, demanding and adorable glory.
When the warm weather returns,
Grackles also make a comeback here, they are one of the earliest migrants to arrive. The weather is wild during the early months of the warm season, which means that there are tons of great Grackle photos with rain but also their beauty sticking out in front of the barren yard. Here are March and April of the regular Grackle and the Judgy Grackle calendars. The top two are some of my favorites I have ever taken, and I absolutely love the last one.
I am a May child,
so naturally, the calendar bird of May is something I can identify with or find particularly fun, and this time, with the regulars, it is a MoDo. The June bird is a juvenile Rosebreasted Grosbeak. I love the mix of patterns and colors that are going on with this one while the baby plumage is still there but the adult one is coming through. (The red on his beak is grape jelly.)
