Snowpocalypse = Good Birding!

sm4him · Feb 17, 2014

I haven't posted any photos lately--been in a bit of a funk about my photos (probably due in large part to not being able to take ANY more winter&#8230

and have been mostly content to look at the gorgeous photos from the likes of Kris, Matthew and Jaca and his incredibly talented wife.
But, I guess it's time to add a few more contributions of my own.

The last couple of weeks, we have gotten more snow than this Southern girl has any interest in seeing over an entire WINTER, never mind in that short a span of time.
The one good thing about it: It brought the birds to my feeders in droves. Lots of good photo-ops!

A few of my favorites:

1. Wide-eyed chickadee, wondering what all that cold, white stuff is:

2. The snow brought some new visitors to my yard, including this young American Goldfinch:

3. This cardinal had just turned its head, looking toward me, when that blob of snow smacked him on the beak!

4. The elusive Red-Bellied Woodpecker got desperate enough that it actually flew down to my feeding station for a peanut or two! I don't normally show my feeders/bird food setup, but sometimes you just take what you can get.

5. Female Cardinal; I just like her colors.

6. I know, I know, it's just a mourning dove! But it's one of my favorites from the set!

7. Blue Jay. As I mentioned in DarkShadow's thread, I find them to be really elusive and hard to get good pictures of. But eight inches of snow and an easy supply of peanuts finally netted me a couple of decent pics of one!

8. Blue Jay #2

I won't bore you with the rest but there's more on my flickr page. I've also got some ducks, hawks and eagles I'll have to get posted sometime soon.

As always--C&C, general comments and witty banter are highly valued here.

dxqcanada · Feb 17, 2014

You had ducks, hawks and eagles around your feeder ?
Wow, that's some feeder. Nice work.

I need to get a backyard so we can setup one ... uhg, winter is a bummer.

NedM · Feb 17, 2014

Oh, these are great! Loving the DOF!

sm4him · Feb 17, 2014

dxqcanada said:
You had ducks, hawks and eagles around your feeder ?
Wow, that's some feeder. Nice work.

I need to get a backyard so we can setup one ... uhg, winter is a bummer.

LOL, I may have worded that badly.

I DO have hawks though…in fact, I often refer to my little bird feeders as "hawk traps," :lmao:
Yesterday, I had three hawks circling overhead for several minutes. That's the first time I've seen that many at once.

The ducks, hawks and eagles I am referring to, however, were a bit more distant than my backyard.

And yes, winter is one PITA bummer.

sm4him · Feb 17, 2014

NedM said:
Oh, these are great! Loving the DOF!

Thanks, Ned!

oldhippy · Feb 17, 2014

Beautiful set Sharon. Like em all

Gavjenks · Feb 17, 2014

It's an enchanted bird feeder that produces whatever treats its beholder desires most.

dxqcanada · Feb 17, 2014

Serious question ... do you use a blind ?

BillM · Feb 17, 2014

Great set, love the female Cardinal !!! I'm going to have to get some peanuts, never even thought to put some of those out :blushing:

I'll just need to work on something to keep the squirrels away from them.

DarkShadow · Feb 17, 2014

Welcome back to posting birdies. You did't miss a beat, spot on beautiful shots.

baturn · Feb 17, 2014

They are all great, but the chickadee and female cardinal really stand out. Beautiful!

sm4him · Feb 18, 2014

Thank you, everyone! I appreciate the comments!

dxqcanada said:
Serious question ... do you use a blind ?

No. Yes. Kinda. :lmao:
One of these days I'm gonna build a blind in my yard, or buy one of those portable ones.
But until then, I have 3 "techniques" I use, all depending on the weather and where the sun is in relation to the feeders.
1) Sitting in or next to my car. I'll pull my car into the backyard and either stay in it or sit on the ground right up against it. Makes a great blind! Birds are used to cars--they fly off when I first pull up but they'll come back soon enough and just ignore the car.
2) Bathroom window. I purposely set one of the feeders right in line with the window in my bathroom, because there are two nice bushes there for birds to "stage" in. In the coldest weather or if it's raining, I can sit in the bathroom (on a STOOL, not on the throne, lol!) and they'll come within 6 feet of me sometimes.
3) Wood pile. We had a big tree fall in the backyard last year. It's in the corner of the yard, not in the way of the garden or anything, so I decided to leave it there and use it as natural habitat. About 20 feet away, we piled up a bunch of the wood and debris into a big pile. I can set up a chair right behind the pile and sit very quietly, and the birds will, soon enough, forget about me and go about their business.

BillM said:
Great set, love the female Cardinal !!! I'm going to have to get some peanuts, never even thought to put some of those out :blushing:

I'll just need to work on something to keep the squirrels away from them.

It's the oddest thing. I have only ever seen two squirrels in my backyard. Since there's not that many of them, I can afford to let them share the bounty. If I ever end up with more of them, I'll have to figure something else out!