Learning Birds

For the past two weeks, I've been practicing both my bird identification, and my bird photography, especially on days when I didn't feel like going very far afield.  Most of these are shot through a window, but three of them are shot outside.  I think the photographs have benefited a lot from changing my focus from averaging to a spot focus, as suggested by a blog reader.

I've been particularly looking to make sure I could identify those little Pine Siskins, on whom the yellow bits don't show up very easily.  I think I have them clear in my mind now, and this was my best photographic result.  You can see what a small bit of yellow it is that makes the difference.

I stepped outside on the deck to get these two (and the Chickadee below), and it turns out that Siskins aren't very leery of people.  They hesitated, like the Chickadees, and then started coming right back to the feeder, even though I was only 4 feet away with my camera.  All the other birds flew away immediately.  I love how this one seems to be sauntering down the deck railing with a seed in its beak - note the tiny bit of yellow.

This is a more typical picture of the Pine Siskins, with the yellow showing up very faintly indeed.  But I have my binoculars sitting right beside the camera now, and work with them together so I don't shoot what I can't identify!

This Chickadee looks a little windswept, but I did get close enough to see the feathers and the eye.

And just today for the first time I can remember this winter, we had a White-breasted Nuthatch visit the feeder.  I hear them as I walk round the neighbourhood, but they haven't been spending time in our yard!

Just for comparison I think I've also learned to identify the female Purple Finch.  The alternating pattern of brown on top of the head, a white band behind the eye, a brown band and them a bit more white, with brown under the chin, is characteristic compared to the House Finch, and the large chunky bill is quite different from the sharp pointed bill of the Pine Siskin - even though all three are "little brown-striped birds".

I did find a Blue Jay that sat still for long enough to let me get a picture, at least to prove he was there.

And recently we've been getting a lot more Crows, even coming to gather seed off the ground beneath the feeders.  I hear a lot of them in the neighbourhood on my morning walk.  This one is sitting on our garden fence.

I've been able to look up Grey County bird records on eBird, so I can now predict that I will see ten new species in the next two weeks, now that milder weather is here.  I'll let you know how I do, but I'm predicting that I'll see or hear:

Turkey Vultures, 

Sandhill Cranes, 

Killdeer, 

Common Flickers, 

American Robins (though a few stay all winter), 

Song Sparrows, 

Red-winged Blackbirds, 

Common Grackles, 

Brown-headed Cowbirds, and  

European Starlings (though they’re apparently here all year) 

plus lots of waterfowl if I can get myself to places that have open water.

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