Showing posts with label bird photographs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bird photographs. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Spring Birds in the U.P.!!

Enough of the Florida photos!!

On to finally seeing the Spring unfold in the Upper Peninsula (U.P.)
of 
Michigan.

As usual, we get Spring much later than the entire rest of the nation,
due to the fact that we are very far north and on the chilly shores
of
Lake Superior.


The photos below were taken the end of April.

We had a snowstorm then (our last one!)
and it seemed that every type of bird within 100 miles
started flying into our area.

I don't have photos of every kind of bird we saw within a few days, but we had so many different
migrating birds coming in..it was amazing.

Some of these birds stay all year round but some we only see for a little while
and they go even farther north.





The Flickers are still here, but we hadn't seen any until April this year:







We  had pretty Juncos this winter, but now in June they are all gone.








This little sparrow was hiding from the storm:







The grackles showed up late April and even more came in May:







We had a family of 13 blue jays that stayed with us all winter.  Then, they started nesting in late April and disappeared for a while..Now, in June we have seen 4 back:






We have several of these little chipping sparrows to keep us company:







I am amazed by the colors in the European Starlings...they showed back up in May:









Our 11 doves stayed here all winter!:







This fuzzy European Starling did NOT like the snowstorm either!:







We weren't sure what kind of bird this was...we thought a female finch, as it loved the thistle!:






We heard the distinct call of the Red Winged Blackbird before we actually saw one!  Now, in June, we haven't seen them come to the feeders much...but are still seeing them out in fields:








A Flicker and a European Starling sharing the suet!:








Two doves snuggling on the branch during the last snow storm of the season!:

We have been enjoying many more birds coming our way this spring....goldfinches, purple finches, hummingbirds, robins, house wrens, catbirds, and our biggest thrill at our feeders: Baltimore Orioles....
but
THAT is a story for a different day.......

Thursday, April 29, 2010

For the Birds.....

One thing that I love most about Spring is watching birds.

Actually, strike that....

I love watching birds pretty much ANY time of the year!!

So today, I thought I would post some photos I have taken of some birds sighted over the past few weeks.


I love the "rainbow colors" hidden in the European Starling's black feathers, and when walking by this old building,  I caught them peeking out of the roofline:



The European Starlings look very black. At first.  But if you catch them in the light?: WOW!:


Now, I see tons of Cardinals on everybody else's blogs.

And I whine.

A. Lot.

About never seeing them here.

About how shy they are when I DO see them.

So, a few weeks ago, my hubby called me away from the computer (the NERVE!)
to tell me to hurry up, he spied one lone Cardinal, hiding near our lilac bush.

So I ran for the camera and shot this shot:
(Gosh, I never get over the thrill of seeing one. They are magnificent!!)





Oooooo, I was in HEAVEN!:
But, true to form...as soon as I took this shot, off he flew....and we haven't seen any since!






We have had woodpeckers visiting us all winter and still this spring. Just look at this cute face!:
(Maybe a little Nair around the chin might be in order?  Just sayin'...)





Love that shot of red on his head!:






And, we have been blessed all winter and still this spring with Evening Grosbeaks.
I love the males' bright yellow feathers!:


These little creatures (birds) truly enrich our lives....
next time you are outside, look up, down and all around....
at these wonders of Nature...

********************************************************************************
Time is RUNNING OUT!
Don't forget to enter a photo into my FREE PHOTO CONTEST by midnight, April 30th.

You DO KNOW that is tomorrow, don't you folks?

This month's theme is:
"Rain, Mist, Fog or Dark Skies"

It is easy....just follow THESE SIMPLE RULES...
Hurry!....
if you don't have dark skies or mist or rain or fog where you are today (or tomorrow) , dig in your archives...
go ahead...
I will even remove one rule for this month...it's okay if you already published your prized photo on your blog, you can use it for April's contest as a bonus!

So, get it in to me by midnight tomorrow night......
I'm waitttttttttting...............................