Backyard birds and the cold weather

Hey.

I put out rabbits,squirrels, and voles for the hawks;-)

Nice photos Jason.

RF

__________________
It's not good enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required. - Winston Churchill

What a great thread. We too have loads of birds, I think about 25 or 30 varities. I found this site particularly helpfull: as you can hear the calls!http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide

We live in a nasty appartment complex, but are blessed to have the back of the place, facing a swamp, thickets, and fields. They get plenty of water on their own, and things are rarely frozen for too long. We don't "feed" them per se,but stale pizza, the last pancake, loaves of bread which failed or tasted bad, and whatever else will sail 25 feet through the air, is animal chow. No skunks of coons here. I tossed a lump of velveeta (partly because it was velveeta, partly because it was getting dry around the edges) and not 20 minutes later a squirrel tried taking the whole thing!!

HBN

Rita, not JasoninMN, but that first photo is an Evening Grosbeak, one of my personal fav birds! I would like to talk to Jason about bird photography though, give me a shout Jason next time you are on-line!!

Hickbynature, isn't Cornell the most awesome bird I.D. site, I use it often!

Peace,
Margie

The 1st picture is a male Evening Grosebeak, 2nd male Pine Grosebeak, 3rd
Red Breasted Nuthatch, 4th Black capped Chickadee and 5th a blue jay.

I use a Canon Rebel XT, with a Canon 100-400mm Len.

I have been watching birds ever since I was little, I remember eating my breakfast before school and counting how many were on the feeders. This year I added a new woodpecker to my life list. It is a 3-toed woodpecker. People actually come here from all over the world to add them to their lists since they usually can only be found in the northern boreal forests of Canada. I live about ten miles from the Sax-Zim bog. It has been designated an Important Birding Area by Audubon. During winter alot of the northern birds from Canada and the Arctic will migrate down to the bog in search of food. Owls bring the most attention and I have met people from all over the world there looking for them. A few weeks ago I ran into a group of birders from Japan. Unfortanetly there has not been alot of owl activity this year but its picking up. A few have been spotted but I am still looking for some!

Here is the 3 toed woodpecker.

The birds are beautiful of course, but you have quite a talent with the camera! Crystal clear, well framed, and natural looking.

Jason, you live by Sax-Zim, oh my GOSH!! And a picture like that of a Three-Toed, simply AWESOME!!!! Owl activity is picking up here! PM me when you have some time!!

Margie

NWoods_Hippie I sent you a PM.

Here is a link to the Sax/Zim birding festival this year if you are anyone else is interested.

http://moumn.org/sax-zim

I don't know, I've wondered about that as well. I keep envisioning a little birdy taking flight out of the bath while soaking wet. He then freezes up mid flight and drops to the ground in a heap of shattered ice crystals.

I suspect they are smart enough to know how to handle the water, and they may be wanting it more for drinking than bathing.

Thanks much for the links everyone, I'll get one of these heaters ordered.