Occasionally I post a collection of recent photos that don’t quite make the grade as standalone photos on Feathered Photography, but I still think they deserve to see the light of day. Collectively they’re a pretty good cross section of the types of birds I’ve been seeing lately.
This time I’m including three photos taken in my back yard where, due to inclement weather and unusually cold temperatures, I’ve been spending more time than usual. Rather than going shooting.
All photos were taken in northern Utah within the last ten days.
A far away Willet at sunrise. I like the setting and the color scheme.
A Swainson’s Hawk trying very hard to ignore a pesky mosquito.
A Common Raven making a last-second flight path adjustment in order to avoid the top of a sagebrush directly in front of the bird.
I posted other photos of this Short-eared Owl several days ago. Not sure how I missed this one.
A Red-tailed Hawk performing a wing stretch. I spent a long time with this bird, waiting for it to take off, but just before it launched it turned around on the perch and took off mostly away from me.
At least the hawk turned its head slightly so we could see its face. It’s still a butt shot though.
It’s been unseasonably cold and overcast lately so I’ve been seeing more birds in my back yard than I have in the field. Following are some of them.
In past years I haven’t paid much attention to the Lesser Goldfinches visiting my thistle feeder but this year I’ve finally realized what I’ve been missing. These birds are highly social so when they visit my feeder they tend to come en masse. At times there are so many goldinches on this feeder I can barely see any of the seed tube.
In the last few weeks I’ve spent many hours sitting at my patio table, watching goldfinches only a few feet away and listening to their soft calling. They have a calming effect on me, which is very much appreciated in these troubled times.
You may wonder why I’d include a shot like this, where we can barely see the bird. But in the 30+ years I’ve lived here I believe I’ve only seen a Yellow-headed Blackbird in my yard a single time, until three days ago when this male and one of his buddies showed up. Briefly.
As soon as I spotted him he took off from my feeder and landed in my grapevine where he called (I refuse to call that noise “singing”) and displayed with enthusiasm. But apparently he was in “incognito mode”, so he stayed mostly hidden. I was still very happy to have him visit. And hope he will again.
Yesterday it rained all day long. Last evening there was .7″ in my rain gauge, which isn’t bad for the high desert where I live. The forecast called for lows in the 30’s last night and tomorrow night so I went to the considerable trouble to cover all of my tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. I knew it probably wouldn’t freeze but I wanted to avoid cold shock in my most tender plants.
In case you’re wondering, the wire mesh bird guards are to prevent birds from eating my golden beet and nasturtium seedlings. Sparrows love to pull them up and gobble them down – the beets especially. Birds don’t bother them after they get a couple of inches tall.
Immediately after I took this cell phone photo, a beautiful male Lazuli Bunting landed on one of my tomato cages (the one behind the third blue bucket from the right). Until last year, I’d never seen Lazuli Buntings in my yard.
I’m hoping this guy, and potentially his mate, stick around for a while.
Ron
Love all the different birds pics. So excellent. I hardly see any birds here in St George other than LBB”s and doves/pigeons
Thanks, Linda. That surprises me. I always thought the St. George area had good numbers and varieties of birds. But I have almost no experience birding there, so it was just an assumption of mine.
I laughed at the Red-tailed Hawk photo because of the juxtaposition of the bird’s posture and the wording on the sign. It appears that the hawk is on “Cooperative Wildlife” duty, has spotted an intruder, and is about to “manage” the doomed trespasser.
The Yellow-headed blackbird photo is lovely. It brings back memories of visiting my folks in Wyoming, a few miles west of Wheatland.
Thanks, Nina. I hope to do some camping in Wyoming this summer.
Birds (including backyard birds) are solace and heart balm in these troubled times aren’t they?
I am envious of your rain. We are in drought. Again. Most of our rain is winter rain but very little is predicted this year. Sigh.
And I love the look of your very orderly garden as well as the feathered riches.
They sure are, EC. I’d go crazy(er) without them.
Sorry about your lack of rain and that dire prediction. Hopefully they’ll be wrong.
I love it. The last two comments on today’s post are from down under! I’d love to visit New Zealand and Australia, and I probably would if I didn’t have to fly. Maybe I’ll swim. I could drive to San Diego and I’d only have to swim about 7200 miles from there to Thursday Island in AU. After a swim like that, another one from AU to NZ would be a cakewalk. I’d better start getting in shape.
But after all that, swimming back home might be a bit too much. Even for me…
A loverly series of images – the garden looks good.
We are battling the attention of birds in our garden in glorious Autumn (Southern Hemisphere term here) weather but having some success.
Best wishes from New Zealand
Thanks, Gary. I’m guessing you guys are enjoying the cooler weather about now.
Yes, we are – days in the 8-20 ℃ range.
However, despite what Kiwis think is hot, it never gets that warm here. However, the radiation levels are often extremely high.
There is a bed at our place and plenty of birds to see if you ever get this far.
Nice collection. I really like the yellow-headed black bird photo, it reminds me of Asian fan dancers. I have had more goldfinches this winter than ever before. I still have a few but I think most are nesting. I did have my first family of goldfinch fledglings on my nyger sock before the winds and this wet spell. I tried putting mesh over my lettuce long time ago to protect from quail, one year we caught a snake in the mesh. I haven’t used it since. I don’t do lettuce outside now just indoors in the greenhouse. I did not replant any lettuce this year because I don’t think I can care for it, and I have a batch of succulents for Haley’s fund raiser taking up space. Lettuce seems to need daily water in pots, succulents no so much.
Thanks, April. I gave up growing lettuce years ago. Iceberg and Romaine are about the only lettuces I like and I never had much luck with them in our heat. I’m not particularly fond of most leaf lettuce.
I have a few garter snakes in my yard but they generally stay out of my garden. I’ve never had one get caught in my bird mesh.
Thanks for great shots of some of the birds I was familiar with in Bountiful – but didn’t know their names. Should have paid more attention to my friend across the hall.:)) Great shots. Did your buckets blow away??? We have had very strong winds out this way.
Thanks, Judy. Nope, buckets are just fine. It’s breezy here but not bad.
Good Morning. More rain and wind in my area too. I never have seen or heard of the yellow black bird either. Need to find my bird ID book to look up where these different birds are from.
Trudy, Yellow-headed Blackbirds aren’t found along the west coast or in the eastern third of the U. S., so there’s lots of folks who never see them.
Wonderful shots, Ron. You’ve had some fun backyard visitors too (although Bandito is conspicuous by his absence 😈). Hope all the plants survive the cold and sparrows — there are BLTs, beet salads, and eggplant parms to be made! 🙂
Like Michael, I appreciate a good “defiant nature” shot. Always giggle seeing animals perched on No Trespassing or No Standing signs. 😂 You’ve described the RTHA’s takeoff as a butt shot, although I think it’s much more than that. We can see his face and get a great look at his talons, fluffy tuchus, and pantaloons. Plus, we get a view of the lovely patterns on his R ventral wing surface. I’m calling this shot a win. (And I’m calling the RTHA a him because those are some skinny-ass tarsi!😉)
“Bandito is conspicuous by his absence”
Ha, fat chance of that, Marty. He may not be in my photo but he makes multiple appearances in my garden every day. He’s actually coming more often now, now that I don’t react quite the same way when he shows up as I used to. I’m now calmer about it because I know he can’t get to my bird food in the feeders – thanks to the slinky and the one squirrel proof feeder. He used to eat me out of house and home.
I just now uncovered my tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. They’re all fine.
I think we both learned that little “tarsi” trick from Laura Culley. I miss her.
“I think we both learned that little “tarsi” trick from Laura Culley. I miss her.”
Yep, me too. I think about her every time I see our new neighborhood Red Tail circling overhead. (In reality, any time I see a RTHA — the two will be forever connected to me.)
I used to get goldfinches hanging on the feeder like you describe – they were amazing to watch, and their song, just lovely. But then a couple of years ago, there was an outbreak of something bad (salmonella, I think) and so many were sick and dying. Then they all mostly disappeared. I’m lucky to get one or two now.
Your garden looks great! I hope you document its progress through the season – inspiration for us all!
Carolyn, sorry about your goldfinches. This year I’m getting far more of them than usual and usually I have quite a few. There’s even some American Goldfinches mixed in with the Lesser Goldfinches.
Knowing me, you’ll be seeing a few more garden photos as the summer progresses.
I’m so impressed with the work you’ve gone to in order to protect your vegetable babies– you deserve every mouthful of golden beets, and then some ! in my backyard in S. Utah I’ve lately been treated to FOUR male lazuli buntings ( one female ), a western tanager, a black headed grosbeak, and a great horned owl besides the usual
assortment of finches, etc. I think the wonderful rain brought them !
You’re right, Kris – a (mostly) vegetable garden of this size requires a lot of old-fashioned work. But to me it’s worth it, for a variety of reasons. There’s no way I can eat all the tomatoes I grow but I give a lot of them away.
I envy you your tanager and GHO especially.
As always, I enjoyed this morning’s photos. Really like the one with the Redtail on the sign. It has a wonderful quality of defiant detachment. Nature just is.
Strange weather. Clever solution. One should never stop to calculate the cost of homegrown tomatoes when are BLTs to be eaten!
“It has a wonderful quality of defiant detachment. Nature just is.”
Well said, Michael.
I’m glad you like my “solution”. It took me a long time to make all of those tomato cages and wire mesh bird guards, but considerably less time than it would take to replant after birds had harvested all of my tiny seedlings.
Nice shots and story all. Like that covered feeder. We have had female Red-winged Blackbirds in the back yard during the winter months, but don’t expect to ever see a Yellow-headed. Sometimes we will see some traveling with the large flocks of Red-wings, but not often.
“but don’t expect to ever see a Yellow-headed”
I never expected to see them either, Everett – not in my yard. They’re common around here in certain habitats but rarely seen in the suburbs.
Nice collection, Ron! Yellow Headed Blackbirds and Lazuli Buntings are a rare occurance here also. Productive day of “stop and smell the roses” it seems…… 😉 What is the garden area with the mesh over it? We’ve been doing the cold and mist thing here – little moisture to show for it!
“What is the garden area with the mesh over it?”
Judy, that’s 3 rows of golden beets and one row of nasturtiums in front. The mesh is to prevent birds from eating the tiny seedlings. There’s more mesh out of frame to the left, covering my Swiss chard seedlings.
I added that explanation to my post but you were apparently making your comment while I was adding it.