Photographable Birds!

Hey, did you hear that the phantom woodpecker is in the news again? This time it seems a bit more promising. Time will tell, eh? You know, it's pretty challenging keeping a birding blog interesting when backyard birds give you as much thrill as a Pomarine Jaeger. But hey, that's just me. What else should I do with this blog? I've checked my website statistics, so I know I have your attention (tap-tap-tap, "Is this thing on?").

And now back to photographable birds...

The Red-breasted Nuthatches were very busy making peanut and suet runs this evening. Lighting was reasonably good and the birds didn't seem to mind Becky and I observing them from a close distance, so I decided to take a few pictures.

There were a lot of other birds to watch as well, including Golden-crowned Kinglets, Yellow-rumped Warblers, White-throated Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, Chipping Sparrows and more. Cedar Waxwings took turns drinking from one of the birdbaths and a few of them hopped in to clean their feathers. After the waxwings finished, other birds seemed to think it was a pretty good idea. House Finches and American Goldfinches were at the bath for a few minutes, but I didn't take their pictures. The nuthatches drank, too, but they were pretty darn quick about it and escaped my lens. Just goes to show you how many birds you can attract with a birdbath. That's why we have two!











All images © 2006 Mike McDowell