TXI ?!? - It's for the Birds !!!

It's truly amazing how they make their nests, look foreward to seeing more on that one James

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Steve, that's a beauty mate, your lucky to have seen a Kingfisher in the wild  

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James, that is a nice pecker!

Steve, you've forgotten again.  Every post need a bird.

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Thanks Guys - Glad you like my pecker

Here's a decent pic of a female Cardinal  from today ...

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and a couple crappy pics of a Cedar Waxwing ...
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I have yet to get decent pics of Cedar Waxwings

I only see them about the time the sun is going down when they land in the top of our pecan tree on rare occasions . Although the tree is still pretty young it is already 40' tall at least so it puts the birds at a distance and combined with the poor lighting , it has been a bitch to photograph them

They are really beautiful birds so hopefully I'll get some decent pics one of these days ...



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Woodpecker update :

I am very sad to report that the woodpecker was evicted

I watched the little fella peck out his hole for a week . The next thing I noticed was he was no longer there and that a couple European Starlings had taken over the nest .

The woodpecker didn't give up though and the battle was on for a few days . One minute I would see the woodpecker in the hole and the next it would be the starlings . What really broke my heart was one of the days I was on the front porch taking pics for our guides when I heard the Woodpecker screeching in agony and looked up just in time to see him being forced out of his hole sideways by a starling .

I am not a guy to hurt any animals normally but I started pinging the Starlings with my little BB gun to try and run them off . My BB gun is a very tiny and old one that has no power at all so I knew it wouldn't kill them . The battle has been going on for a while now and I still see the woodpecker trying to reclaim his hole when the starlings aren't around .

Normally I will let nature take its course but I did some research on starlings and found out that this behavior is something they do all the time to other birds . Starlings are not native to the United States and are considered a invasive species . This worries me because the behavior is something that will cause native birds like the woodpecker to go extinct



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Saw these for the first time at our feeder today ...


White Crown Sparrow

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I took this picture of a Mourning Dove today - it shows his eye pretty well ...

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These birds were in a tree at the end of our block so I had to zoom in a whole lot to get the pics ...


Mississippi Kites

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There were actually 3 in the tree but there was some overhead power lines that I couldn't get out of the shot ...

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Great shots at distance mate, love the birds of prey

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Thanks Andy

The Mississippi Kite is one of the smaller birds of prey but still pretty damn big compared to the other birds around here

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Just a little song about Birdies today ...




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We have had a Hummingbird visit a few times this year but I haven't been able to get good pics . There hard enough to photograph anyway because they're so fast but both times I tried to take pictures it was getting dark outside  

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Not the best photos but I managed to spot a few birds on my lunch break yesterday.

There's a beautiful canal right next to my building where there are always loads of ducks, swans and other birds. No hot birds of the human kind unfortunately.

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Great photos Christian

Truly a beautiful area you work and/or live in


Julie got some cool pics of a pair of Cardinal's courtship behavior this morning . The males will feed the females seeds when they are trying to get a little bird nookie ...

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ChristianC wrote:Thanks mate!

Love the Cardinal photos!

Here's a couple more Cardinal pics I snapped today ...

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Hairy Woodpecker

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some fantastic pics James    
you have a real eye for photographing birds

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cantina_patron wrote:Great pics James. Do you know why it's called the 'Hairy' woodpecker? Being black and white I would have thought the 'Pied' woodpecker would be more appropriate, unless that name is already taken.

Great question Steve  

I had to look it up myself ...

" This woodpecker’s name is derived from the long , filamentous white or whitish feathers in the middle of its back . "

I found that info here :  http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/702/articles/introduction



Thanks Chris

Dammmn - what a lovely Bird you posted



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thanks Jim, some fantastic birds there bro

I managed to snap a few pics today in the garden. Its quite a good time of year to snap pics of fledgling birds, as they are less timid than their parents.

here's a Jay visiting the bird bath

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this was taken from a bit too far away to focus on em properly, but a worried mum came in to make sure baby Jay was ok

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I think this is a juvenile blackbird (or could just be a female)  

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And a watchful parent keeping an eye on me

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This Buzzard happened to be flying over the garden at the time too  

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