I've always been a bit of an animal lover, but for whatever reason, birds have always fallen lower on that list. We had a couple of parakeets as family pets years and years ago...and then the cat and dog apparently conspired to eat them...but I really just never valued having birds around. For whatever reason, that has completely changed. I think I first noticed my interest increasing while we were on vacation, and there were so many interesting exotic birds around, like these guys from Australia:
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| Birds from Sydney and Cairns |
Now I've become increasingly fascinated by the birds that visit our little backyard. Francisco teases me because I can now name a lot of them and identify them by call. Here are some of our visitors.
Tufted Titmouse - I think these guys are adorable, although they have kind of a funny name. :)
Mourning Dove - Francisco thought these were pigeons at first, but I recently discovered that they are actually doves. And I can definitely identify them by sound!
Common Starling - These birds are so striking, but they were a little hard to identify because the coloration of starlings can vary widely.
This is also a starling - unfortunately, the batteries on my good camera died when this guy came around, so this picture isn't of very good quality. But he was so striking! His head was kind of a deep blue/green color.
Downy Woodpecker - This cute little guy spends most of his time walking up and down the trees looking for lunch.
White-throated Sparrow - It was a gray morning, so the yellow coloration on this sparrow's face didn't come out so well.
Bewick's Wren - The mostly brown birds are probably the most boring, but they're actually not the most common bird we see here.
Cardinal - I would say cardinals are probably the most frequent visitors to the yard.
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| Male Cardinal |
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| Female Cardinal |
Blue Jay - I love the blue jay. He has a fairly distinctive voice, and he always swoops in with a sense of authority. I don't think I've seen another bird share the feeder with him yet.
Red-bellied Woodpecker - We always love to see Woody! He's the first woodpecker to pay us a visit.
American Goldfinch
House Finch
American Robin - We haven't seen but a handful of robins all winter, but hopefully, they'll start heading back come spring!
Northern Flicker Woodpecker - This is the newest woodpecker to pay us a visit, and unfortunately, he was wayyyy on the other side of the lawn, across the creek, and he blended in a little well with the dead leaves on the ground.
Squirrel - This has quickly become our least favorite "bird"! The squirrels can be quite persistent in getting to the bird feeder.
We usually tap on the window to get them off or just open the back door. And try as they might, they haven't quite learned to fly yet!
Mourning Dove - Francisco thought these were pigeons at first, but I recently discovered that they are actually doves. And I can definitely identify them by sound!
Common Starling - These birds are so striking, but they were a little hard to identify because the coloration of starlings can vary widely. 
This is also a starling - unfortunately, the batteries on my good camera died when this guy came around, so this picture isn't of very good quality. But he was so striking! His head was kind of a deep blue/green color. 
Downy Woodpecker - This cute little guy spends most of his time walking up and down the trees looking for lunch. 
White-throated Sparrow - It was a gray morning, so the yellow coloration on this sparrow's face didn't come out so well. 
Bewick's Wren - The mostly brown birds are probably the most boring, but they're actually not the most common bird we see here. 
Cardinal - I would say cardinals are probably the most frequent visitors to the yard. 
Red-bellied Woodpecker - We always love to see Woody! He's the first woodpecker to pay us a visit. 
American Goldfinch
American Robin - We haven't seen but a handful of robins all winter, but hopefully, they'll start heading back come spring! 
Northern Flicker Woodpecker - This is the newest woodpecker to pay us a visit, and unfortunately, he was wayyyy on the other side of the lawn, across the creek, and he blended in a little well with the dead leaves on the ground. 
Squirrel - This has quickly become our least favorite "bird"! The squirrels can be quite persistent in getting to the bird feeder. 
You should feed the squirrels separately. They're hungry, too. ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhen they're not stealing food from the birds, they tend to be decently well-fed with food scraps we put outside as well as the bird seed that falls to the ground, so I'm sure they're in no danger of starving. Plus, there's plenty of trees around to support their natural diet LOL!
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