Bluejay Babies

These bluejay fleglings have been hanging out in my cottonwood tree the past couple afternoons.

A Good Father

I was delighted to see these downy woodpeckers in the tree in my backyard this afternoon. The fledgling waited patiently for Dad to find some food while I took her picture.

The Hummers Have Arrived

Finally! More than a month after hanging the hummingbird feeder I finally had my first hummer of the season. It was a male ruby-throated hummingbird and he was teeny tiny! I'm surprised the wind didn't blow him away! I'm looking forward to watching them flit around the yard this summer.

Here are a couple mute swans I saw last week at one of the local metroparks. They are not native to this area but are appearing here more frequently.

I also saw an osprey looking for his dinner and a rose-breasted grosbeak while out earlier this week.

At the Park

I saw my first Baltimore Oriole today. They are very pretty birds, although my picture is not the sharpest. Ron made me an oriole feeder from these plans. I hung it yesterday and am hoping we'll soon have our own orange & black visitors.

Who Are You Lookin' At?!

At the Park

I went on my first "official" bird watching outing yesterday. I am not very good at finding the birds, and when I do find them, I can only recognize a handful, but it is still a lot of fun. I didn't know ahead of time, but the place I went is home to a great horned owl. There were two great horned owl "babies" that were quite visible.

At the Park

I spent some time this morning watching the birds at a freshly filled feeder at a local metropark. I saw lots of red-wing blackbirds, several brown-headed cowbirds, a pair of goldfinches, cardinals, bluejays, eastern bluebirds, and a red bellied woodpecker. I also saw a tufted titmouse for the first time. It was a cute little bird.




I also revisited the park from my previous post and saw several pairs of tree swallows. The mommy killeer was still sitting on her nest.