I don’t know the names of these ones. Time to break out the bird books!
If they’re unpacked…
Unlike the jays, the chickadees are quite comfortable grabbing some seeds while these birds are around.
Update: The one with the most red on it is a male pine grosbeak. I thought the one with just a red cap might be the female, but from what I can find online, it is the yellow one that is a female grosbeak.
Still no deer, but plenty of action at the feed this morning.
This was taken using a 70-300mm lens, zoomed in as far as it could go, so we’re not all that close. I know that there’s also lots of reflections of trees on the window – enough to confuse the birds into trying to fly into them (when I was a kid, we once had a prairie chicken fly right through the glass; we installed chicken wire outside the window after that). Yet, it seems as if this Blue Jay is watching me taking pictures of him.
Still keeping an eye out!
The jays are not as skittish as the chickadees, staying at the feed longer, but they still dash in and out, quickly retreating into the branches. It makes getting good shots more challenging. Especially with the zoom lens.
There are always a LOT of chickadees! They quickly dash in, grab a seed, and dash out again. Skittish little guys. They like to hang out in the shrubs outside our dining and living room windows.
The red squirrels, on the other hand, are much bolder and assertive. This guy stayed at the seeds for quite some time, with a Blue Jay in the branches above, watching and waiting for him to leave. He took his time about it!
In the summer, they would come to the house and take dog food to store for the winter (we’d find a stash in the wood pile, every now and then). My late father quite enjoyed them. One fine sunny day, my dad went out on the front steps and sat down in the warm sun. Eventually, he lay back and fell asleep.
He woke up to find a squirrel on his chest, checking him out!
Bold, indeed!
The Re-farmer
The deer have yet to discover the feed we’ve started leaving out for them.
Other critters, on the other hand, are appreciating it.
So far, we’ve seen some Blue Jays, my daughter spotted a Grey Jay, and of course there have been plenty of chickadees and squirrels.
Here are some photos my husband got through the living room window this morning, with our old Nikon D80.
Blue Jays are one of the few birds we see more often in the winter.
Red Squirrels are pretty much the only type of squirrel we get here. About an hour’s drive away, my sister gets both these little squirrels and the huge grey squirrels in her yard.
Wildlife visits are one of the positive trade offs with this move!
The Re-farmer
The Re-Farmer 