This and That

Last night we had a really pretty sky while I was sitting here playing on the computer. I tried to walk outside and get a good picture of it, but the camera wouldn't focus on any of the pictures. But, here's the best one.

We have been having all kinds of new birds since we got our tray feeder and since we put the two bird feeders out front. In the past, all we had were finches, cardinals, doves, and carolina chickadees. Everyone once in a while, we'd have a goldfinch or a pine warbler. When we first put the tray feeder out, we had a red-headed woodpecker. Scott and I both saw it at different times but neither of us could get a picture of it. Apparently it is camera shy. But, he was beautiful! Also, we have had common grackles, brown-headed cowbirds, eastern bluebirds, tufted titmice, and sparrows (several kinds-song, chipping, field). I believe that we have had some white-breasted nuthatches, but they don't stick around long enough for me to get the book and look at them and the book at the same time. I also think that we had a rose-breasted grosbeak one day. I think that another factor in our increased bird activity is that Nan, our neighbor across the street has also put out a feeder. Nan's house is against the woods, so she kind of pulls them out of hiding and they realize there is all this free food and they should explore. The weirdest thing is that I haven't seen our carolina chickadees or the pine warblers since the winter time. They may be coming during the day and I miss them, but it's strange. I was telling the guy at Wild Birds Unlimited this the other day and he didn't know why either. He figures something must have changed. Maybe because we have such big birds coming around now they are intimidated. Who knows.

So, I was at Wild Birds Unlimited to make a new purchase that we had been considering for a while (since the last time I was at WBU a month or so ago). I bought a humming bird feeder. I had one before, but it was a little too high maintenance for me. This one is perfect for the lazy bird-watcher. We bought it on Saturday and yesterday we saw a humming bird at the feeder! I was so excited they found it so fast! According to the people at WBU, the humming birds are nesting right now, but once the babies leave the nests around July, we'll have tons of humming birds through early September. I am so excited! The cats seem pretty excited too!

Here's the brown-headed cowbird. I think they are very pretty birds.

I love this picture of this cardinal. You can see the sunflower seed in his mouth. We have a male and female that hang out together all the time, but it's hard to get a picture of them together.

This is the best picture I can get of the common grackle. They are pretty camera shy. But, look at those colors. They are really pretty in the right light. In the wrong light, they look like crows with yellow eyes.

Look at this cute little baby finch! Every year we get a new batch of baby finches. Aw! Isn't he (probably she, actually) cute!

See how many pine warblers we were getting back when it was cold? Do you know if they migrate? Now that I think of it, it seems like we only see yellow birds (goldfinches or pine warblers) when it is cold or just starting to warm up. Hmmmm....oh, my book says that they like insects, but since there aren't many in the winter, they'll come to the feeder in the winter. That makes sense. So, they are probably around, they just don't need us in the summer when we have lots of tasty bugs around.