Another month…a selection of zoomed pictures. The only picture of the group taken a little further afield than we’ve been since the beginning of the pandemic is the rather stern looking Great Blue Heron which was from our field trip to Conowingo Dam. There will be a few more such field trips in November as we build up our confidence to make the treks safely. Enjoy the show!
The birds are finding most of their food in the natural environment this summer – not coming to the feeder as often. Still – some are coming often enough for me to take pictures through my office window.
The House Finches and House Sparrows are the most frequent visitors. They often have clashes over the limited roosts on the feeder and chitter their angst.
The Red-Bellied Woodpeckers come occasionally. I see the female more often than the male.
The White-breasted Nuthatch comes almost every day in a short burst. I can recognize this bird without my glasses because of the way it moves at the feeder (upside down…head arched outward once it chooses a seed).
There are at least 2 Northern Cardinal pairs that come to the feeder – not at the same time but their territory must overlap a little. The bald female is the one I see most frequently. I keep expecting the feathers to grow back but she’s been bald for a long time; maybe she is an elderly bird…or a bird with a health condition. Often the male (with beautiful feathers and crest) is below keeping lookout for her.
And then there are the quick visitors that are hard to photograph like the Tufted Titmouse (below) or the Carolina Chickadee or the Carolina Wren.
Overall – July has not been an outstanding month for bird feeder activity. And now we are in for a series of days with temperatures above 90 and ‘heat advisories;’ the birds tend to say in the forest more when it is so hot. I am focusing on keeping the bird bath full for the birds and the squirrels.
Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….
One of the big changes early on for us was internalizing the food needed for 2 weeks – keeping that much on hand at all time. It was harder to do because we couldn’t find everything we normally purchased…and didn’t have alternatives. During phase 1 we learned to manage….and developed some additional places in our house to store non-perishable foods.
We have prepared most of meals at home for quite some time but as the pandemic we got closer to 100%. We used a few more kitchen gadgets more frequently and prepared foods that was usually reserved for special times of the year – muffins and custards and spice cake and apple crisp. I reverted to things I’d done earlier in my life when we were economizing on food: cooking a pots of dried beans, buying meat in larger amounts/freezing it in amounts I would cook, using up leftovers completely, eating wild greens as they were available (mint, dandelion leaves) and tweaking the balance toward non-perishable forms when I could (i.e. keeping canned chicken, dried beans and protein powder in the pantry instead of relying on forms of protein that require refrigeration).
Now – at the beginning of phase 2, I am taking the next steps in the kitchen.
As I start doing my own grocery shopping again, I am not as concerned that there will be shortages in items because I have developed alternatives for almost everything and the Community Supported Agriculture farm will be start shares next week (probably). I will shop at the grocery store every other week and it’s OK if we don’t have 2 more weeks of supplies in the house just before I shop again.
It might we worthwhile to move some non-food items from the pantry to the laundry room and bring food items stored elsewhere back to the kitchen area. I should have already done it, but I was bombarded with too many changes at once and was not in good problem-solving mode. We’ll be in the mode we are starting this June for at least another 3 months…probably longer. We need to make it easy for ourselves to sustain.
We are still planning to prepare most of our meals at home. My husband has been getting a take out pizza occasionally and we might do more kinds of takeout. I can’t image feeling comfortable eating in a restaurant anytime soon.
Tomorrow I’ll share my thoughts about the new normal…for shopping.
Groceries shopping. I went to my local grocery store for the first time in over two months. It was a good experience. They had re-configured the store to have one entrance and one exit….there was sign saying masks were required at the entrance and a policeman just inside. I went a little before 7 AM and there were not many people; everyone was wearing a mask. The chain has a new SCAN app that allows people to use their phone to scan items as they shop and load things into their own bags. It was my first time to use it and I found it intuitive…had no challenge using it. In the produce department, items can be weighed and then the bar code on the screen is scanned. Checkout was via the self-service checkout…scanning the bar code on the screen to get the order up then putting my credit card in the chip reader. It probably took a minute or less. I shopped for two weeks which is a risk reduction strategy….I’ll probably continue in that mode but I’m reassured by my experience this morning. The transition from grocery delivery back to buying my own groceries was an easy!
Photo clips. I created a little project for myself – pick some from May and clip a portion of them to magnify. The resolution of the camera is quite an enabler.
One of the first things I looked at was the ruffles and curves of iris buds ready to burst open.
The Nine Bark bush in bloom and with new leaves was also interesting magnified.
And then there were the eyes of birds: cardinal, goldfinch, indigo bunting, nuthatch, and red-bellied woodpecker!
It’s tangler’s choice today. Instead of trying a new pattern – pick ones from the last week to make again – in a new combination or as a monotangle. Take your pick from: TRIPOLI, MAELSTROM, SeZ, HEXONU, HURRY, MSST, Angel fish, Indi-rella, FESCU, POKELEAF, and ZINGER. Or maybe decide to take a break and just admire a mosaic of your tiles made over the past 6 days. Here is a mosaic of my tiles for the past week.
Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts here.
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The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
The nuthatch seems to not be around as much right now. Maybe it’s found another nearby feeder.
My favorite birds right down are the woodpeckers. The downy is around and occasionally comes to the feeder.
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.
There has been a lot of bird traffic visible through my office window in November. The Blue Jays are frequent visitors – at the icy bird bath (we’ll put the heated bird bath out soon), in the trees, on the gutter, and in the yard.
Both male and female Northern Cardinals enjoyed the seeds on the deck and from the new feeder.
The Downy Woodpecker pair comes to the feeder and finds seeds between the deck railings and insects(?) in the knots of the deck boards.
The House Finches have returned
As have the Dark-eyed Juncos. It took the juncos a few days to discover the feeder. They were finding enough seeds on the ground underneath it before that.
The Mourning Doves are always around.
The Northern Flickers (yellow shafted) rarely come to the deck but they are around – probably more frequently than I see them. The pictures are not as good because the birds are farther away from my window – usually on a neighbor’s roof or in the red maple. One picture shows the yellow shafts very clearly.
The White-breasted Nuthatch is fun to watch – sorting through the seeds until it gets a sunflower seed. The bird has a unique shape and behavior!
The Tufted Titmice move around a lot but are frequent visitors to the feeder. They always look like their eyes are too big their head.
There are other birds that come to the feeder as well. The chickadees come frequently but are so fast that it’s hard to get a picture of them.
The squirrels stay in the trees most of the time. They come to the deck for water – but are frustrated by our feeder that has turned out to be as ‘squirrel proof’ as advertised.
It’s been a busy October with activities away from home on more than half the days, but I’ve spent enough time in my office to see and photograph some birds. I’ve already posted about the red-bellied woodpecker. Here were the other ‘regulars’ around our deck: Carolina Chickadees
There were other regulars around, but I didn’t get a picture of one this month: blue jays, titmice, chipping sparrows, downy woodpecker…to name a few.
House Finches used to be regulars at our feeder, but I haven’t seen any recently…and then there was a small group that came through. I hope the House Finches are recovering.
Now that more of the leaves are falling from the trees, the birds that stick around for the winter will be more visible. I wonder when the Dark-eyed Juncos will show up. They usually are around by mid to late November. Anticipation….
The leaves are starting to swirl…but there are still enough on the trees to block the view of birds there. I’ve been lucky enough to catch some coming to our deck for seed or water. There was a Blue Jay with a scruffy head; most that I see are better looking. Sometimes the birds come alone…sometimes with buddies. They seem to like investigating the contents of the gutters.
The Carolina Chickadee was in a rush….I barely got one picture!
My favorite this month was the White-breasted Nuthatch. The birds seemed to be coming to the feeder very frequently. Did they have a late season nestlings they were feeding? They have such distinctive postures….always seem to move with precision.
The Chipping Sparrows also enjoy the feeder. One small one sat at the feeder looking around and I wondered if it was newly fledged.
The juvenile Red-Bellied Woodpecker is still around too. I’ve seen adults but they tend to be faster moving. The juvenile sits for portraits.
Overall – September was a good month for birds through the office window!
It’s great to see birds from my office window – I take a little break to observe while staying warm…and I get other things done between sightings.
Some kinds of birds I see every day.
The Blue Jays generally make a lot of noise, so I notice when they are around. They come for the water in the heated bird bath and then for seed if it’s spilled out from the feeder (the feeder itself does not work for jay-sized birds). Somehow, they always seem to be looking in my direction when I take a picture of them.
The Dark-eyed Juncos are also around every day. They come for the seed and, sometimes, the birdbath.
The Northern Cardinal also is a frequent visitor. We have a resident pair that stays around our area. They made their nest in the bushes in front of our house last season. Sometimes more than the pair are around…but not every day.
Mourning Doves are plentiful. One morning we heard one seemingly very close to our breakfast area door but couldn’t see it. My husband opened the door and it flew from it’s hiding place under the deck railing. These birds are also too big for the feeder, but they enjoy any seed on the ground and the bird bath and just sitting around on the deck railing or the roof of the covered deck.
The Tufted Titmouse makes rapid transits between the feeder or birdbath and the red maple. It must feel safer in the maple. We have at least one pair, and maybe more, that frequent our deck.
The Carolina Chickadees are very similar to the titmice in that they don’t linger on the deck. They prefer to get seed and take it back to the maple.
This year we have more American Gold Finches coming to the feeder. In previous years we’ve had more House Finches but I’ve only seen one this year and I didn’t get a picture.
And there are birds I don’t see as frequently.
One American Robin came to the bird bath – and I got a picture. There will be a lot more of them around soon.
Sometimes we have Northern Flickers visit – usually as a pair. They like the heated bird bath in very cold weather. The area under the pines appears to be a good place for them to find insects.
The Downy Woodpecker returns again and again to some damaged branches not that far from my window. I’ve seen a male and female…only got pictures of the female this month.
European Starlings are not an everyday occurrence in our yard. There must be better food sources for them elsewhere. That’s probably a good thing.
We have a White-Breasted Nuthatch that comes to our feeder occasionally. It moves very quickly and goes back to the forest.
There are birds that I remember seeing but didn’t manage to photograph this month: Red-winged blackbirds, Turkey vultures, Black Vultures, Pileated woodpecker, red-bellied woodpecker, and House sparrow. Overall – not a bad month for birding through window.
I’ve posted many of my bird pictures for the month already (bluebirds bathing, before (woodpeckers) and after the Great Backyard Bird Count) so this post will have the ‘best of the rest.’ There were birds that just come to the birdbath – like the blue jays (we have a small flock that makes the rounds in our neighborhood most days with a stop at our bird bath…one bird at a time)
And the flickers (sporadically).
I saw the nuthatch and chickadee several times during the month…but didn’t get any more worthwhile pictures. The goldfinches comes to the feeder and bird bath more frequently. They are still in their winter plumage…I keep looking for the more brilliant yellow feathers to appear.
At the bird feeder – a house finch and downy woodpecker shared for a few seconds. The woodpecker is a little bigger than the finch…but they both are light enough that their combined weight does not pull down the metal ‘flowers’ to cover the seed holes (the squirrel proofing of the feeder).
The house finches are probably the most frequent visitors to the feeder. We have a resident group that makes rounds in our neighborhood.
The resident cardinal pair prefers seed on the ground but has developed a technique to flutter near the feeder and get seed when there is not enough scattered around underneath.
A mockingbird came to the bird bath recently….which is unusual for us. They are around our neighborhood (I hear them and see them) but we haven’t had one that frequents our deck…maybe this one will stick around.
Last week I hiked down to the marshy area where the skunk cabbage usually grows at Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant Farm – and it was already coming up out of the muck. There were no blooms yet; those will be left for February. I used the zoom to get pictures since the area was muddy both from rain the previous day and the usual water from the small spring. It was warm enough that there was no ice in the area where the skunk cabbage was sprouting.
In other areas there was more ice – further from the spring (the water that emerges from the ground must be a little warmer) or where ice got thicker when the temperature was very low and it takes longer to thaw. It wasn’t freezing on the day I was hiking so part of the stream that has accumulated more water and the flowing more rapidly was entirely melted.
Other highlights from the leisurely hike: the stump for the elementary school hiking groups to climb and count tree rings is surviving the winter…will still be good for the spring field trips,
Shelf fungus group just about everywhere – even on stumps of invasive trees (these were probably Callery pear).
The bird feeders in the Honors Garden were active: nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, and goldfinches beginning to get their spring plumage were the ones I managed to photograph.
Copyright © 2024, Gwen Morrison. All rights reserved.
Celebrating the whole of life....
Thanks for visiting my blog! Enjoy the photo picks from 2023:
Copyright © 2024, Gwen Morrison. All rights reserved.
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