Can't go camping and working from home. My home "office" is my recliner facing the window where my bird feeders are. I haven't filled my feeders in something like 2 years due to the fact that I was mainly feeding the invasive, introduced Starlings & House Sparrows. But since the feeders are right outside of where I'm working I decided I'd start filling them again and I'm glad I did, it's a great work break to glance up every now and then and see what's out there. So far the Sparrows & Starlings have been minimal but I know that will change drastically once the young hatch and begin to take flight and they start to flock together once again. But in the meantime I have been entertained by a lot of great birds here at the feeders.
I will likely add more photos to this blog post as time goes on. There is a pair or two of Cardinals frequenting my feeders that are extremely difficult to get a picture of due to their flightiness. And they keep landing at the farthest feeders where the closer feeders block the view for a good camera shot. But I'll get 'em! I also have fruit out there for any Orioles that come by. I haven't seen any yet but no doubt I will. I also wanted to put out some live mealworms to attract a bigger variety of birds but I can't seem to find live ones for sale anywhere. I have found freeze-dried ones but I don't prefer those...neither do the birds. Edit: 2020-04-17, I got the Cardinal, the male, last pictures. Plus I got a few others with him... Edit: 2020-05-06, Red-Breasted Grosbeak! Added above the Cardinal pics, also some more Cowbird, House Finch & a female Cardinal pictures added...
The feeder setup -
Sparrow
Male House Finch. Looks very similar to the Purple Finch and sometimes I have a hard time telling them apart but I have a ton of House Finches frequenting my feeders.
Female House Finch
The trashy invasive House Sparrow at the top of this photo below and a House Finch at the lower portion of the photo...
A female Red-Bellied Woodpecker. Looks very similar to the Northern Flicker.
Love this shot! A male Goldfinch & a male House Finch.
The female Red-Bellied Woodpecker...
A Chickadee...
Female House Finch -
Male House Finch -
A pair of House Finches...
Sparrow, can't quite identify which breed. I had a Chipping Sparrow here but I don't think this is it.
A Male House Sparrow taking flight. Kind of a cool picture (upper left of photo below)...
Male Goldfinch
Female Goldfinch
A House Sparrow at the bird bath. A little factoid - The invasive (European) House Sparrow is the only non-sporting bird allowed to be shot/killed in the U.S.
The Male Cowbird. Another fact - The cowbird doesn't raise it's own young. The cowbirds morals are lacking, they lay their eggs in other birds' nests and when all the young hatch the baby cowbirds force the host birds babies out of the nest to die so there is less competition for food provided by the host bird parents.
Female Cowbird...
Mourning Dove. Morning doves prefer to feed on the ground. They also are fond of millet seed...
The male Downy Woodpecker...
Another shot of the female Red-Bellied Woodpecker -
A Mourning Dove at the feeder
The male Rose-Breasted Grosbeak! A Beauty!
One of the elusive Cardinals!
Female Cardinal
