Goldifnches!

These were very welcome visitors – about 8 to 10 of them. Last year I have seen no goldfinches at all, the whole year. A small flock last week made me really happy.

Green Woodpecker

Munchin’ on ants in my neighbor’s garden. I do wonder how she finds them under the snow, but she does.

More Robin

I think this might be the same bird as last time since I never saw more than one.

Winter Wonderland 5: Miscellaneous

Well, it’s not the Arctic sea, but for a frozen puddle it looks dramatic enough.

A little chaffinch used the open ground under the trees to look for food.

The Nile Goose knows how to pose with a frame of tree branches.

Aaaand, save the best for last. It’s my absolute favourite. Taking pics of crows is damn hard, because the pitch black will just throw off your auto focus and they rarely keep still for long enough to adjust it manually. But in the bright sunlight, the auto focus caught on and the blue and green frame it perfectly.

Winter Wonderland 4: The Battle for the Skies

A buzzard used the opportunity to scout for food (and now guess who only had the 250 mm lens with her), but the crows were having none of it.

Winter Wonderland 3: More Swans

The two juveniles must be about the same age. They are still smaller than their parents, although they have grown a lot since they first arrived, but they have always been about the same size and started out the same cygnet grey. Yet one of them keeps clinging to its baby colours, only reluctantly letting go of the grey and slowly turning white.

Winter Wonderland 2: Swanlake meets Frozen

The swans are the mascots of the whole village. The old pair divorced and moved out some time in 2019, so last autumn they got a new breeding pair with two juveniles. They have shelter on a little island and get fed and I must say, they are remarkably relaxed for swans, especially since the pond has been busier than I’ve ever seen it. Can’t wait for Covid to be over and people going elsewhere again.

Friday Feathers: The Birds are Back in Town

I put up the feeder some while ago, and especially with the light snow, the birds are really happy about it. Only the pics are bad because we don’t have any light. The skies have been overcast for more than a month now, which is really getting on my mood because it never gets light. 9 am, 2 pm, 4 pm, it’s all the same and then it is dark.

©Giliell, all rights reserved
Footprints of unknown bird, but I think it was a juvenile

The Art of …

… birds, by Audubon

Blue Jays are big, noisy and the bullies of my neighbourhood. They are also glorious to behold.

Blue Jay, plate 102 of Birds of America, 1827-1838, by John James Audubon. Image from Wikiart

Robin? Robin!

Happy new year, everyone.

I had a new and surprising visitor in my garden two days ago, a robin. I have seen robins in my garden before, but never ever in winter. And I was lucky enough to take a picture this time, so you can see it too.

Kestrel Whoosh

Yesterday evening I heard a banshee wailing behind my window. Well, not being superstitious and knowing my birds I feared not for I knew it was no banshee but a kestrel. The little bugger has probably slept somewhere in my roof beams and decided to give me a loud “good night” just before sundown. In the morning, shortly after I woke up, I heard it again, so I put on a jacket and went out to take a look. And I saw the bird whooshing over the roof, confirming my surmise. I do not know exactly where it was overnight, but it was indeed somewhere near my window.

Later on, just as I was preparing to go pick up my mother at a hospital after successful surgery, I spotted the bird on a tree in my neighbor’s garden and I have managed to make a few pictures before it whooshed again. I even managed to open the window, although it did not help too much, the weather was foggy and the lighting was craparooni.

More pictures below the fold.

[Read more…]

A Cheerful Cardinal

This bright red feathered dinosaur comes to us from the camera of Some Old Programmer, who notes,

Through a kitchen window that, admittedly, needs cleaning. Eastern Massachusetts, US.

All kitchen windows need cleaning by December, but very few have a view this nice. Thanks for sharing.

Bullfinches!

We have no snow yet, but the temps are below 0 °C sometimes, so we are filling the feeder with sunflower seeds. And at least bullfinches are here again, I had four pairs show up simultaneously this week, although I did not, unfortunately, get them all in one picture. I got seven individuals at once, but unfortunately, the focus was not on the tree with birds but on the tree behind them.

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Goldifnches!

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Green Woodpecker

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More Robin

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Winter Wonderland 5: Miscellaneous

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Winter Wonderland 4: The Battle for the Skies

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Winter Wonderland 3: More Swans

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Winter Wonderland 2: Swanlake meets Frozen

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Friday Feathers: The Birds are Back in Town

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The Art of …

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Robin? Robin!

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Kestrel Whoosh

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A Cheerful Cardinal

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Bullfinches!

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