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Thursday, April 29, 2010

For the Birds.....

One thing that I love most about Spring is watching birds.

Actually, strike that....

I love watching birds pretty much ANY time of the year!!

So today, I thought I would post some photos I have taken of some birds sighted over the past few weeks.


I love the "rainbow colors" hidden in the European Starling's black feathers, and when walking by this old building,  I caught them peeking out of the roofline:



The European Starlings look very black. At first.  But if you catch them in the light?: WOW!:


Now, I see tons of Cardinals on everybody else's blogs.

And I whine.

A. Lot.

About never seeing them here.

About how shy they are when I DO see them.

So, a few weeks ago, my hubby called me away from the computer (the NERVE!)
to tell me to hurry up, he spied one lone Cardinal, hiding near our lilac bush.

So I ran for the camera and shot this shot:
(Gosh, I never get over the thrill of seeing one. They are magnificent!!)





Oooooo, I was in HEAVEN!:
But, true to form...as soon as I took this shot, off he flew....and we haven't seen any since!






We have had woodpeckers visiting us all winter and still this spring. Just look at this cute face!:
(Maybe a little Nair around the chin might be in order?  Just sayin'...)





Love that shot of red on his head!:






And, we have been blessed all winter and still this spring with Evening Grosbeaks.
I love the males' bright yellow feathers!:


These little creatures (birds) truly enrich our lives....
next time you are outside, look up, down and all around....
at these wonders of Nature...

********************************************************************************
Time is RUNNING OUT!
Don't forget to enter a photo into my FREE PHOTO CONTEST by midnight, April 30th.

You DO KNOW that is tomorrow, don't you folks?

This month's theme is:
"Rain, Mist, Fog or Dark Skies"

It is easy....just follow THESE SIMPLE RULES...
Hurry!....
if you don't have dark skies or mist or rain or fog where you are today (or tomorrow) , dig in your archives...
go ahead...
I will even remove one rule for this month...it's okay if you already published your prized photo on your blog, you can use it for April's contest as a bonus!

So, get it in to me by midnight tomorrow night......
I'm waitttttttttting...............................

22 comments:

Brian Miller said...

oh the markings on that first bird are marvelous...love all the color...

Unknown said...

Beautiful birds! Love every one of these photos!

Kearsie said...

I shall think of you whenever I see a Cardinal...

Strawberry Jam Anne said...

I love to watch the birds too and think the starlings are so beautifully coloured and just so funny to watch, stalking about and being very argumentative. Your cardinals are an amazing colour. A

CiCi said...

How do you know the name of all the birds? Hubby and I saw on a blog the top photo here bird was called grackel or something like that.

Nancy/BLissed-Out Grandma said...

Nice selection of birds; great photos. It's fun to see birds that don't live around here...or that I don't see, in any case.

Bossy Betty said...

OK, I am putting down my camera, backing away and bowing to you the Queen.....

The European Starling picture did me in!!!

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Hi Joan, Got a baby yet???????

Love seeing your birds--and I'm thrilled that you saw a Cardinal. I thought they were like Robins---everywhere!!!!

My post tomorrow will show some of my birds... Our Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are BACK... So pretty!!!

Have fun in sunny Florida.
Hugs,
Betsy

Far Side of Fifty said...

Great bird photos! Especially the Cardinal! I emailed you a foggy photo, I hope you got it! :)

rainfield61 said...

I bet you have not seen any green pigeon before.
I met my lifer last Saturday!

The Retired One said...

Brian: Me too...and mostly they look totally black, until you catch them in the sunlight and there is a rainbow of colors in their feathers.

Eva: Thanks so much. I love birds. Any birds!

Kearsie: Awww, that was sweet. I get so excited whenever we see one!

Strawberry: Thanks so much! I get soooo excited when we see them where I live.

Technobabe: I have slowly learned over the years the names of our local birds...we bought an Audobon book and that really helps us identify them.

Blissed out: Yes, I feel the same way about seeing other people's blogs and their bird photos.

Bossy: You are so funny. I am so glad you liked it!

Betsy: We have been waiting to see some rose breasted grosbeaks...we got them last spring, but hadn't seen them yet...however now we are in Florida so maybe we missed them. But if they are just getting to Tennessee maybe they are on the way up north still too. ha Yes, my new grandson is here..he weighed 7# 9 oz and was 19 3/4 inches long...lots of hair...but he had a rough start...respiratory distress. We have been holding our breath. He is in the NICU but better today. My daughter wasn't even allowed to hold him until today. He is on an IV but doing better, so we are praying he will continue to do so.

Far Side: I got it, thanks so much for entering. I am behind in emailing people and my blog may be a little late in posting them because we are in Florida...my daughter had a baby yesterday and we are here for that...he was born with respiratory distress but doing better today..he is in the NICU with an IV but today they put him off oxygen and on room air and he is doing much better.

Rainfield: I will hop on over to your blog to see it!

J.J. in L.A. said...

Ahh...it's so nice to look at your pictures on my 22-inch monitor again! Love the birdie shots!

I'm on the desktop because I got a clean bill of health today!

Woo...hoo! : )

Wanda..... said...

Sometimes I can hardly get anything done for looking up, down and all around, Joan. Today a Pileated Woodpecker flew very low right over my head.
♥...Wanda

SquirrelQueen said...

Congrats on the Cardinal, he is gorgeous. I would love to see one here, but I am seeing more European Starlings this year.

I am going now, not later, to email my photo to you. I can't believe this month has gone by so fast.

The Retired One said...

JJ: Congrats on your healing and more freedom, I am so happy for you!

Wanda: Call me Jealous. ha I LOVE pileated's as much as Cardinals...but ours are so shy we only see them in the woods too, never long enough to photograph them...they never come to our yard feeders or suet. I hope you can capture a shot or two of them!

SquirrelQueen: So glad you are going to enter. I may have to post April's entries a little later in the next week, we are still in Florida with my new grandson and my laptop is giving me problems trying to load them onto my blog...but keep watching, I will post all the entries as soon as I can!

Jientje said...

That second to last picture is stunning! So is the one of the Starling with the rainbow colors!

The Retired One said...

Jientje: Thanks so much....I love my birds. ha

Pat Tillett said...

Beautiful Joan!
We just don't have that many colorful birds out here...a little bit of envy here!

Lindy said...

I would love to know the camera you are using for your glorious shots? I have a little point and shoot Casio Exilim - I never get pics. that look as good as yours.

Lindy

Ann said...

Great pics

The Retired One said...

Pat: no need to envy Pat, I already do that on your blog. ha

Lindy: For those shots, I used mostly my Panasonic Lumix 18X zoom point and shoot camera..but I just got a Canon 50d DSLR and ordered a 300mm zoom lens with image stabilzation, so I hope to get even clearer ones of the birds soon too. I do love my point and shoot, it is better than some DSLR's and comsumer reports rate it very high in quality.

Ann: Thanks so much!

Rosana Wu said...

You did a very good job! I like both your images and writing! My daughter and I are your big fans now!

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REMINDER: All photographs on this blog are COPYRIGHTED.
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I retired in June 2008 and started my blog in November 2008. I worked at several jobs as a Registered Nurse prior to retirement. I LOVE being retired! Blogging has offered me a whole new venue to start writing again and to share new hobbies such as gardening, birdwatching and sharing my nature photography. If you like my blog, PLEASE click on "follow this blog". Having a lot of followers reading my blog gives me incentive to continue to do photography and to continue to write. I also LOVE comments, so I encourage you to leave me a comment after you read my posts. Thanks everyone, for taking the time to read me!!

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