Monday, January 28, 2013

Birds: and what a week it was

What a bird week. Oh, the usual: bluebirds, the phoebe, cardinals, blue jays, warblers, mockingbirds, mourning doves, red-bellied woodpeckers, vultures and my daily visitor, the red shouldered hawk. 

I was greeted by a few treats though.  The swallow swarm was back, bigger and better than ever and they added to their antics and my joy by swooping down to drink from the pond a hundred at a time "on the wing", causing only a slight ripple in top of the water.

Then, there was a robin, a soaring eagle, a common dove (not so common around here) and likely the best of all:  6 soaring wood storks (picture shown, which you can see enlarged by clicking on it),   There may have been more up there, but 6 was all that fit into the photo frame ;)

On Saturday, I met a new "life lister": Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus).  I glanced out the window and saw red in the oak.  Not exactly unusual, the cardinals often hang out in there, but this was close to the trunk.  As I studied it, I thought it was a Downy Woodpecker, a species I was blessed with in huge numbers while living in New York, but that I have yet to add to my Florida life list. I crept outside and got out my field glasses for a closer look.  WOW, kinda big!  As I angled the camera to try and catch a photo (s)he took off up into one of the tall pines. 

I studied it through the field glasses some more and made unsuccessful attempts to get a photo.  I realized it was indeed too large to be the diminutive downy so I headed inside to grab my field guide.  After thumbing through, I decided that Hairy Woodpecker seemed a good match and then I headed in to the computer to confirm.  YEP!  CHECK!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I have a regulary Hairy visitor..a female..she should shave :-) You have so many bird visitors..wow!

Donna@Gardens Eye View said...

very cool...I had a few birds find my new suet feeders...hoping to see more birds this weekend as that is the only time I can see them with my work schedule.

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