Birding through a window – July 2017

I didn’t do much birding through the window in July because I wasn’t home enough….but there was a startling visit by an American goldfinch. It flew right up to the window and perched on the frame and – seemingly – looking directly at me! I was fortunate to have my camera near the keyboard of my computer so I moved as little possible to pick it up and take some pictures! Birding through the window is always opportunistic but this month it seemed to be even more than usual. I haven’t noticed the bird returning so it must have satisfied whatever prompted it to look through my window.

Through Window Photography Frustration – May 2017

I’ve already posted about the Great Crested Flycatcher I photographed through my office window earlier this month. Others I saw were ones I’d seen many time before: blue jays, chipping sparrows, nuthatches, goldfinches, house finches, crows, robins, grackles, cowbirds. But this month – there was one I saw and identified….but didn’t get a good photograph: a scarlet tanager. The best photograph I got shows it hiding behind sycamore leaves. Aargh!

Photographs through my Office Window – April 2017

There has been a lot of activity through my office window this month. The squirrels are feasting on the tender samaras in the maple – early in the month

And then a couple of weeks later when the leaves are unfurling.

The squirrels have a pathway around our yard via trees and fence…rarely on the ground.

The robins are around but don’t seem as numerous as previous years.

We now have two kinds of sparrows: chipping sparrows and

White throated sparrows (with the dash of yellow above their eye).

The blue jays are still frequent visitors to the bird bath.

I haven’t seen a lot of grackles but there was one that visited our yard long enough for a picture.

We have a pair of cardinals again this year – probably nesting nearby.

Mourning doves like the birdbath and the roof line of our covered deck. This one seemed to want its picture taken!

Photographs through my Office Window – March 2017

I travelled enough during March that I missed seeing some birds that visited our backyard. I did see a Northern Flicker that seemed very interested in the area where a large branch was torn from a forest tree behind our house…probably insects there.

The crows come to inspect the debris in the gutter of our neighbor’s house. There are plenty of tulip poplar seeds still flying from the trees.

The blue jays are frequent visitors. This one is fluffed against the cold.

The juncos are still around and chase other birds away from our feeder. They’ll be leaving to head north soon. This one was in the maple tree…on a cold day.

The doves were around to get a drink of water from our heated bird bath…this one flue up to the roof of our covered deck afterward.

The most exciting visitor was the pileated woodpecker. My husband saw the bird first – in our sycamore…and then it flew to a pine. It inspected all the pots on a neighbor’s deck then flew to the roof of our covered deck.

I managed to photograph a squirrel in the sycamore just before it made the leap to our deck. It gets a drink at the heated bird bath and sometimes tries to get seed from our feeder (but has not succeeded in dumping the feeder yet!).

And then there was the landscape pictures of our backyard: highlighted tracks (human) through the snow and

The forest on a foggy day (yesterday).

Photographs through my Office Window – February 2017

Our February has been very mild so far – some cold mornings but generally warmer than usual – and not snow. The birds frequent both our bird bath and feeder. The cardinal likes the maple or sycamore.

The chickadee comes when it can get a drink or a few seeds when the juncos are not around.

The doves are sporting a sheen to their feathers.

I don’t see flickers every day but there was one that must have been very thirsty. It arrived and kept the juncos away from the bird bath --- and I had time to take some portraits. My favorite is the last one of this sequence that shows the feathers fluffed against the cold.

The red-tailed hawk is still around. I first saw him peering from the black walnut tree through the pine. He flew to another tree where I could only see his front and the beak; can you see him in the jumble of branches?

The blue jays are around every day. They have quite an attitude! The second picture shows the varying shades of blue and note the way the feather look on the top of the head (almost like scales).

Starlings don’t come around our deck very often – and I’m glad since they usually travel in flocks. Our feeder is squirrel proof…and apparently starling proof too since it closes down if too much weight is on it (2 or more starlings!).

I observed two different types of sparrows this month…didn’t realize it until I looked more closely at the pictures. The first was a house sparrow.

And the second was a white-throated sparrow which is only in our area during the winter. Note the yellow marking between the eye and beak.

The downy woodpecker comes for very short visits to our feeder. It finds most of what it needs in the forest behind our house.

February was a good month for birdwatching through my office window!

Photographs through my Office Window – January 2017

My office window continues to be a great vantage point for photography. The heated bird bath and a usually well supplied bird feeder attract quite a few birds. Some are occasional visitors (or I don’t catch them on their rounds very frequently): Chickadees,

House finches,

Starlings (the sun was just right to catch this bird’s coloring), and

A downy wood pecker (because of the chisel-like bill….otherwise it could be a Hairy Woodpecker).

The cardinals I see more often…but they seem to be more nervous than usual (perhaps because of the red-tailed hawk frequenting the forest behind out house).

The juncos I see all the time – they are the most frequent visitors to our deck.

The mourning doves have been arriving in larger groups this month. They look very fat on cold days when they have their feathers fluffed out.

We do have a hawk that comes to the edge of the forest. The blue jays usually make a big ruckus when it is in the area…making it easier to photograph.

The jays themselves seemed to enjoy the heated bird bath more than any other bird. The stop for water and then fly off to the maple or tulip poplar.

Yesterday we woke up to a dusting of snow (this has been a warm January with less snow than usual for our area). As soon as it was light enough I took some pictures of the bird bath (no bird tracks) and the feeder (a few tracks on the nearby railing.

An hour later – it was obvious that a lot of birds were out and about!

Grackles and Mockingbirds – Grapevine, TX

Earlier this week I posted some sunrise pictures taken through the hotel window in Grapevine, Texas. I was at the hotel later one day during our stay and enjoyed photographing grackles and mockingbirds through the second-floor window of our room. It was a very cold and breezy day. All the mockingbird pictures show them looking fat with fluffed feathers. It’s always surprising how much bigger and rounder a bird can look when it’s cold.

The grackles (probably Great-tailed Grackles based on their size, tail, and location in north central Texas) didn’t seem bothered by the cold. They are all sleek and full of assertiveness. They seemed to be aware that they were being watched…and they glared back at the camera! Notice how robust the toes/talons are; they make the mockingbird look delicate.

Birding through a window…the way to go on bitterly cold days!