January 23, 2009 – 3:05 pm
Well, it finally caught up with me. After probably 6 years without missing a day of work due to illness, I took today off because I had a fever and generally felt like crap.
After getting some tea and OTC cold/flu medicine I took a nice 3 hour nap and then spent an hour or so sitting in the recliner, drinking tea and keeping an eye on our feeders and birdbath.
A Different Perspective
This was probably the first time I have been in the house by myself in the middle of a work day, doing absolutely nothing, in nearly 10 years. On the weekends Pam and I run around doing errands, etc. We spend some time watching the feeders but usually in the morning or late afternoon. The middle of the day is not a common time to watch birds. So this afternoon I just took in what I could see. There were some differences in the bird’s activities in the middle of the day. They seemed to be less rushed. More of them just sat on the feeder and ate as opposed to taking one seed and flying away. Is it because they aren’t trying to get the “last seed” before darkness? I don’t know but it was fun watching them. Also, the daylight is much brighter making the birds colors more vibrant.
The Tally
I only saw 12 species, kind of low for the yard. I did see a new life bird, the Dark Eyed Junco. Maybe it was because it was the middle of the day. But, each of the birds was more laid back and I was able to watch them better. A trade off I guess, quality over quantity.
I sort of enjoyed the afternoon birdwatching, except for the fever, chills, and hacking cough 
Hopefully I recover quickly.
Time for another nap.
January 18, 2009 – 8:26 pm
This week was one of the coldest weeks Atlanta has had in a few years. The birds were eating seed like crazy. They also discovered our heated bird bath in large numbers as well as the little feeder we stuck to the sliding door to the deck. I tried to take pictures of as many birds as I could but they were always the same birds! Here are a few of the better ones I got:
Our recent invasion of Pine Siskin is a little unusual from what I understand. I guess they don’t usually appear down here in such large numbers. Here they are on our thistle feeder:
Here’s one of my favorite pictures to date. I got lucky with this guy who was sitting on the bird bath.
Here’s one of the Pine Siskin eating in our “stick on” window feeder.
This Eastern Bluebird was very interested in what was going on in the house.
I’m getting better at this bird picture thing but I still take a bunch in order to get a few keepers. Hopefully you enjoy the pictures as well
January 16, 2009 – 9:03 pm
Today was one of the coldest days we’ve had in Atlanta in a few years. Cold is relative thing however and our low to mid 20’s high temperatures, while “dangerously cold” for Atlanta, are barely cold at all if you live in the upper midwest. So, if you are reading this and your thermometer is -20, I’m glad I’m not there- Try to stay warm!
When I came home from work there was a lot of activity at our heated bird bath. I went upstairs to get the camera and when I got back downstairs all that was left were a couple of Mourning Doves:
They looked a little cold, all puffed up and just sitting there. The temperature was about 28 degrees so it was a little chilly. Pam and I get teased by our friends who live “up North” that we are becoming wimps by living in the South. I wonder if “Southern birds” get teased by their Northern relatives just like we do
January 15, 2009 – 9:31 am
A few weeks ago I posted a poll asking how many bird feeders people had. We’ve had 8 responses (7 in addition to our own) so far and once again Pam and I have some work to do!
Bird Feedin’ Maniacs
I thought we were doing pretty good with having four feeders in our yard. It turns out that we had the fewest! Here’s how things break down so far:
- Four Feeders 1 (that’s us)
- Seven or More 3 (These were before I added more options so some of these might have much more than 7 feeders!)
- Seven to Ten 3
- Sixteen or More 1 (I think I know who you are but I won’t tell )
Frankly, I’m impressed. There are some serious bird feeding people out there. I’m sure the birds appreciate it!
I’ll keep the survey open so new readers who find the post can add to it.
Keep Participating
Thanks to all of you who read the blog and participate in the polls. I enjoy seeing the results and I hope you do as well. If you haven’t responded to the latest poll “Where do you buy your birdseed” please do. We’re getting a little more participation with this one so weigh in if you haven’t yet.
January 10, 2009 – 6:47 pm
This evening, right before darkness settled in, a Pine Warbler came to our feeders. I’ve seen it a few times in our front yard but not at the feeders before. Pam has seen it a few times (early morning) on the feeder.
I grabbed the camera and took a few pictures hoping one of them would be OK. I didn’t have the tripod so I braced myself on the desk in the upstairs office. This was the best of 5 that I took:
There is a lot of noise in the picture, due to the low light I suppose, but at least you can see what the bird is.
This makes 10 or 15 species I have photographed at the feeders. I enjoy trying to photograph the birds in our backyard. I really would like to improve the quality of the pictures but I think I will need to get a decent spotting scope and good camera adapter to do much better. We’ll see, maybe sometime later this year we can get a spotting scope and try “digiscoping”.
What kind of camera setups do you use to take nature/bird photos. Any suggestions for affordable setups that work well?
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