Through my office window – September 2022

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I am finally situated to do ‘through the window’ photography from my home office in Missouri. The last tweaks were to put the screen in storage and clean the window. I also moved one of the bird baths for easier viewing. My husband and I moved a bird feeder to be surrounded on three sides by hollies….the open side being visible from my window; the other feeder, in a more open space, has become secondary based on bird traffic. Here are the best images from this month:

House finches at the bird bath

Rain drops pelting the bird bath

A chickadee that seemed to be looking at me!

Goldfinches at the feeder

A downy woodpecker at the feeder

Doves taking over one of the patio chairs

Through my Office Window – August 2022

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I am enjoying the office windows not having screens. It’s much easier to take pictures! The view from the sitting area in my office includes hollies, a bird bath, a rhododendron, and, if I look a little more to the left, a bird feeder.

After a rain I photographed some drops of water on one of the plants right outside the window…and the drops have reflections of the leaves!

More birds have discovered the bird bath recently. The most numerous birds I see there are the female and juvenile finches.

The doves and squirrel often share the shady place under the hollies in the hot afternoons.

I noticed a scruffy looking male cardinal that seemed to be displaying with his tail spread out and feathers fluffed…or maybe the behavior was just part of molting. The bird was under the bird feeder enjoying the seeds dropped by finches.

Another odd-looking bird was on the feeder this past week. I think it was a juvenile male grackle since I saw it with adult grackles….and the plumage does look like it is coming in black (the male color).

Finally, the one window that still has a screen on it looks out mostly to grass….and there was a butterfly hiding in the now lush green blades! I’ll take off the screen next time I do some yard work!

Through my Office Window – January 2020

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It’s easy to photograph birds through my office window – when I am in the office and not totally focused on something else. I’ve positioned my computer and raised the bird feeder slightly so I can see activity in my peripheral vision while I am working at the computer. I just grab my camera, stand up, make a few steps, and take pictures!

The Dark-eyed Juncos are around all the time although I rarely photograph them. We have our own little neighborhood flock. They are fast moving…like they are nervous all the time.

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We have a pair of Northern Cardinals that are around every day. Their color and sounds stand out.

The raucous groups of Blue Jays come to our trees and sometimes to our bird bath. I go to the window based on the sounds. One day this month there was a big thump on the roof above my office. Three blue jays (silent) flew off to the sycamore as I made it to the window and a single blue jay feather drifted down. Was there a fight? Did there used to be four blue jays and a hawk got one?

The Carolina Wren is at the feeder and the bath almost every day. Sometimes I am drawn to by their song and it takes some looking to find the bird. We have at least two around. We’ve had several instances where they’ve found their way into our screened deck….and we open the door for a while to help them escape.

The Red-bellied Woodpeckers come to the feeder almost every day. We have at least one pair….although the female comes more than the male (Could there be more than one female?...Maybe). The dig around for the larger seeds they like at the feeder.

Mourning Doves are frequent visitors as well. They are too big for the feeder, but they do clean up the seed underneath and they drink from the birdbath.

The House Finches have returned after a hiatus of a few years.

I like the White-breasted Nuthatch for its orientation and postures. It is head down on the feeder more than upright!

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The Downy Woodpecker comes to our feeder less frequently although I see them in the trees. Maybe that’s a positive indicator that they are finding enough food they favor in our forest.

There are birds that don’t come to our feeder but are probably frequent visitors to our yard since we are at the edge of a forest. Common Grackles pass through frequently. They look like small black birds at first glance but with a little zooming the different coloring is distinctive…and the yellow eye.

There are also flocks of Red-winged Blackbirds that come through. They very rarely come to the feeder. They must be finding plenty of food elsewhere.

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We have the Reolink camera monitoring our birdfeeder all the time these days; that gives us a great opportunity to catch more bird interaction. I’m saving that for an upcoming blog post!

Through my Office Window – December 2019

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We are seeing more birds come to our deck for the bird bath now that the weather is cold enough that other water sources are frozen most mornings. Having a heated bird bath is a big draw.. The jays are too big for the feeder….but they come for the water and feel secure enough to sit a bit. Otherwise they are further away in the trees.

The titmouse is at the feeder and the water…but nervous enough in both locations to require a quick response to capture an image.

The Carolina Wren likes the deck railing as a stage for song…but it also likes the seeds in the feeder.

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The Cardinals frequent the new feeder. Our previous one was a little smaller and they tended to only get seed that fell to the ground from it.

The finches and juncos can sometimes share the feeder….sometimes it is a contentious situation.

The doves are too big for any feeder that is squirrel-proof, but they like the survey the yard from our deck railing, get a drink of water, and clean up any scattered feed.

The starlings could probably get seed from our feeder but, so far, they haven’t found it. They tend to stay in the treetops in the forest.

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The nuthatch seems to not be around as much right now. Maybe it’s found another nearby feeder.

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My favorite birds right down are the woodpeckers. The downy is around and occasionally comes to the feeder.

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The red-bellied is s frequently visitor…both male and female enjoy the bounty of the feeder. They are big enough that when they come, they are the only bird at the feeder.

Mourning Doves in the Spring

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We have mourning doves that frequent our back deck all during the year but there seem to be more of them in the spring and summer. I love their gentle coo sounds. Sometimes they are a nuisance – building their nests in a gutter resulting in a clogged downspout in the next heavy rain.

Back in 2016 it seemed like they were using our deck railing as a favorite courting/mating spot…and it’s happening again this year! I have been away from how so much recently that I was surprised to catch them in the act!

I wonder if the occasional red tailed and red shouldered hawks that we see are attracted to our area by the doves that seem so plentiful already (and are evidently prolific too).

Birding through a Window – March 2018

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I was out and about more during March than earlier in the year so I wasn’t around to see birds through my office window as much. I did catch the birds that seem to always bee around: the blue jays,

The cardinals,

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The mourning doves,

The juncos (they’ll be leaving for their nesting grounds in the north soon),

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The titmouse, and

The Carolina wren.

There are the ones I see less often – so continue to view them as special:

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the pileated woodpecker and

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The northern flicker.

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There seemed to be more flocks of birds in the yard and around the feeder/bath: cowbirds,

Crows,

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Grackles,

Starlings, and

Robins of course (I always associate springtime and flocks of robins coming through…some staying for the season and others continuing northward).

All in all – a good number of birds around in March through high winds and snow….the swings of temperature. It’s been a wild weather month.

Blooming Maple

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The red maple in our backyard is blooming and has been since earlier this month. I photographed it from my window on the 3rd (with a dove looking back toward my window. Maybe it sensed it was being watched.),

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With snow on the 7th (there were doves in the tree again…fluffed to keep warm.  I wondered if the weather was going to damage the flowers, but it didn’t get below freezing for very long.)

And yesterday (when the flowers looked even more numerous than before).

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I went outside yesterday to get a closeup of the flowers.

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The red maple is probably one of my favorite trees in the spring because it blooms before just about everything except the earliest of bulbs…and it’s the only red in the scene!

After the Great Backyard Bird Count

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This year was by first time to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count. It started last Friday (see my post from Friday) and ended yesterday…and was a learning experience in several ways.

I was glad I had decided to simply observe from my office window because the weather was not very cooperative. It rained and snowed! There were lots of times I looked out and saw no birds at all. I felt lucky to see 15 species. The pileated woodpecker was not one of them…but the downy woodpecker visited twice.

The juncos and doves were the most frequent visitors.

I didn’t take as many pictures because the light was so poor….but I did capture several ‘personalities: bluebirds (sometimes they look affronted…like they know someone is looking at them).

And a Carolina Wren (it seemed like the bird noticed me through the window and interrupted singing to check…then continued singing).

Birding through a Window – January 2018 (1)

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I was at home more in January than December…and saw a lot more birds through the window. I posted about the bluebirds back on the 16th but they have continued to visit our bird bath and deck; most of the time I don’t have my camera but I did manage to photograph one just yesterday – perched on the old weather station pole.

The blue jays are regular visitors too. They come to the bird path, the maple, the sycamore and the tulip poplar…staying still long enough for good pictures.

The cardinals alert me to their presence with their chirps. Both the male and female come to the deck for seed and I often see them in the trees around the yard and into the forest.

When we had the very cold days, the Carolina Wrens were entirely missing; I didn’t see them or hear them. But they have returned now that it is a little warmer. They are heard more often than seen.

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The doves were missing during the cold days as well but now they are back and frequent visitors to our deck.

More birding through the window from this month in tomorrow’s post.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 11, 2017

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Water striders illustrate evolutionary processes -- ScienceDaily – Water striders are one of the favorite of elementary school aged students on field trip hikes…next time I’ll have them look for ‘fans’ on the tips of their legs!

New Google Maps Feature Lets You Explore Planetary Maps – Google maps going outside of this world!

Virtual Library Card Gives Access to 2,000 Architecture Books Online – There are a lot of books on Internet Archive that are new enough to still be under copyright protection…but they are available for checkout modeled like physical libraries. This article points to the architecture books; there are other topics as well.

Why we still don’t understand sleep, and why it matters | Mosaic – Nacrolepsy…what has been discovered…but there is still happy ending for people with narcolepsy.

Photographer Captures the Beauty of Colorful Birds in a Series of Portraits – Pigeons, doves and cockatoos…what a trio!

(Some) Birds of the Pantanal – National Geographic Society – More birds. Couldn’t resist.

The History of Mincemeat Pies, from the Crusades to Christmas | Smart News | Smithsonian – A little history as we get closer to the winter holiday season.

Blood test can effectively rule out breast cancer, regardless of breast density: With over a 99 percent negative predictive value, a liquid biopsy test can help clinicians manage difficult-to-diagnose dense breast patients -- ScienceDaily – Hope this reduces the need for biopsies…and can be scheduled/processed more rapidly.

BBC - Future - An eco-friendly way to make smartphones – We have a long way to go to make smartphones in an eco-friendly way. The title of this article seemed hopeful but by the end, I was not sure that eco-friendly was motivating anything. Taking away China’s dominance of rare earth element production seemed the primary focus.

Transparent solar technology represents ‘wave of the future’ -- ScienceDaily – Wouldn’t it be nice?