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Attack of The Pine Siskin

January 3, 2009 – 11:25 am

It is a rainy, misty morning here in Atlanta.  Pam and I got up a little late and noticed a huge number of birds in the yard. We weren’t sure what they were but our thought is that they are Pine Siskin.  What do you think?

Swarming The Sweetgum

The birds were all over the seed pods of the big Sweetgum trees we have, hanging upside down on them and pecking away.  I tried to get some pictures but they were too far away and the camera didn’t focus too well, at least on full auto.  Then, all of a sudden they all flew to the platform feeder and began eating.  I managed to get a couple of pictures before they flew off.  Now the question is, what were they?

Bird Identification Time

Pam thought they might be Pine Siskin right off the bat.  I wasn’t so sure.  I uploaded the clearest picture I had to flickr.  here it is:

Pine Siskin? at the feeder

After looking at the picture and our Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America we both settled on them being Pine Siskin.

Are We Correct

What do you think?  Are these Pine Siskin, or maybe a bunch of Goldfinches?  They seem to have too much streaking on them to be Goldfinches.  But, we’ve only been birdirs for 4 weeks so we very easily could be wrong.   My guess is that once again, Pam’s intial guess is right and I was wrong (as usual) :-)

By Mark | Posted in Bird Identification, Bird Pictures | Tagged , | Comments (17)

New Life List Bird And The Bird Bath Bluebirds

January 2, 2009 – 10:54 am

The first day of 2009 was a nice relaxing day with a little bit of birding and exercise tossed in for good measure.  Both Pam and I rode our bikes to get our exercise.  Then we refueled and did a bit of birding along the Chattahoochee River and came home to find some Bluebirds in our new bird bath.  An action packed day all around :-)

Birding On The River

After we got our New Years bike rides in and ate some lunch we drove a few miles to where Peachtree Parkway (aka Medlock Bridge) crosses over the Chattahoochee River and parked at one of the many sections of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area to do some quick birdwatching.  We walked along the trail for about 45 minutes or so and saw a lot of the same birds that visit our feeders.

A Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata) p...
Image via Wikipedia

But we also saw a new bird that we can add to the life list and that was the Yellow-rumped Warbler.  Pam and I saw a few of these flitting about in the trees next to the river.  We forgot our Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America so we noted the colors, etc. and checked as soon as we got home.  We’re getting a little better at least in identifying birds.  Both of us narrowed it down to either a warbler or sparrow without the guide.

Activity At The “Bird Hot Tub”

When we got home, around 4PM, we noticed some visitors to our new “Bird Hot Tub” (as my co-workers called it when they saw I was getting Pam a heated bird bath for Christmas).  There was a pair of Eastern Bluebirds hopping along the edge of the bird bath.  I had the camera nearby and snapped a couple of pictures:

Eastern Bluebirds At The Birdbath

Eastern Bluebirds At The Birdbath

They seemed to be enjoying the fresh water. It was neat that the first birds I saw at the bird bath were the same as the 1st bird I saw for 2009 earlier in the day.  It’s funny how things work sometimes.

A Nice Start To The Year

It was a nice way to start the New Year.  We are hoping to see many more birds this year and we are looking forward to sharing our experiences with you through this blog.

We hope all of you have had a good start to 2009!

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By Mark | Posted in Bird Pictures, Birdwatching, Life List | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

We Finally See The Great Horned Owl

December 26, 2008 – 10:11 am

Over the two years we’ve lived here in Atlanta, we have heard, but never seen, a Great Horned Owl.  We could sit out on our deck and hear them calling to each other back and forth through the pines, especially in the Fall/Winter.  A couple of times we’ve seen a brief glimpse of a big shadow flying between the trees but never saw the entire bird.  Well, yesterday that changed!

Sitting On The Deck Minding Our Business

It was a beautiful Christmas day with temps right around 62. We were sitting on our deck watching the birds come and go from the feeder when we heard the familiar call of the Great Horned Owl.  He seemed to be way off in the distance, a few yards over.  A couple minutes later the sound was much closer.  Most of the time we hear them at dusk, when it’s too dark to see anything.  This time it was 3PM and still very light outside so I kept my eyes open in case I might actually see something.

A Big Shadow In The Corner Of My Eye

All of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a big bird flying to the top of the neighbor’s pine tree.  I said to Pam, “over there” and we looked over in the direction of the shadow to see the owl perch on the tippy-top of a pine tree, about 100 feet up in the air.  Fortunately we had the camera with us out there so I was able to take some pictures:

Great Horned Owl On Pine Tree

Great Horned Owl On Pine Tree 2

I had to use maximum (12x) zoom on the camera and crop the pictures quite a bit to get these but they came out great as far as I’m concerned :-) The owl sat up there for about 5 minutes turning his head from side to side to listen to the other owls call. We heard two others besides him. Finally he flew off the tree towards one of the other owls. We saw him again a bit later sitting partway down a tree right before dusk.

Worth The Wait

While it was frustrating hearing the owls for two years without seeing them, it was worth the wait!  We were able to get some good pictures of the Great Horned Owl as well as fantastic views with the binoculars.  There was enough light and it was a nice clear day.  That was the first time I had seen an owl in the wild since I was a kid and the 1st time ever for Pam.  She was very excited to finally see one somewhere else besides the Zoo!

Now that we’ve seen the Owl we hope to see him again very soon.  They are magnificent birds and I think it’s neat that they are living amongst all of us people like this.  It shows how much nature is right in your backyard if you listen, and look, long enough!

By Mark | Posted in Bird Pictures, Birdwatching, Significant Birds | Tagged , , | Comments (2)

Holiday Bird Pictures From Our Feeders

December 25, 2008 – 8:00 am

Merry Christmas

And

Happy Holidays to Everyone!

Here are some pictures of the birds from our backyard bird feeder, our gift to all of you.  Thanks for reading and here’s to a great 2009!

This past weekend we “upgraded” our feeder setup.  So far, the birds seem to really like it.  One of the benefits to this setup is that it is a little easier to take photos of the birds as they sit and eat.  I’m still figuring out how to take the best quality pictures from the 2nd floor bedroom but I got quite a few and thought I’d share some of them:

Cardinal and Carolina Wren

Here’s a Cardinal and Carolina Wren sharing the platform feeder. We have a ton of Cardinals in our yard and they really seem to like the platform.

Tufted Titmouse

This Tufted Titmouse was just about to fly off as I took this picture.

Red Bellied Woodpecker

We have a couple of Red Bellied Woodpeckers that frequent the suet feeder. They are a very pretty bird and fun to watch.

House Finch

We have a lot of House Finches and the platform feeder has become their new favorite place.

Eastern Towhee

The Eastern Towhee stays on the ground and picks up whatever he can that falls from the feeders.

Eastern Bluebird and Cardinal

We have a lot of Bluebirds in our yard this Winter. They really like the suet feeder but for some reason this one was on the ground with his buddy the Cardinal.

Eastern Bluebird

Here’s an OK picture of a Bluebird on the suet feeder. My camera has a hard time focusing on the small area of the feeder so the picture is a little blurry.

I’m enjoying the challenge of photographing the birds that visit our feeders. Hopefully I can get better quality photos by tweaking the settings on the camera.

What kind of pictures are you able to get of the birds at your feeders?

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By Mark | Posted in Bird Feeding, Bird Pictures | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)
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