Rose breasted grosbeak, in a lilac bush.
He is staring into your soul…
😉
wildlife out our window
Critter(s) of the Day: many bird visitors
There was one day in June when we got so many birds visiting at once. Especially goldfinches. It was really hard to choose photos for critter of the day!
My older brother had given my parents hanging bird feeders as gifts, years ago. The church one was for my mother, and the barn was for my late father. For some reason, my mom took the barn one with her when she moved off the farm, leaving the church one with my dad. She had been using is as a garden decoration, so when she wanted to take it in for the winter, but had no space for it, I had no problem agreeing when she asked me to bring it back to the farm.
This way, when one is empty, we can just switch them out.
The red barn matches the purple finches very well! 😀
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Critter of the Day: this one’s easy
It may be hard to tell a downy from a hairy woodpecker, but there is no mistaking these guys!
It’s a fairly rare treat for a pileated woodpecker to come visit. Not only do they have a very distinctive red head, but they are much larger than our usual visitors. At one point, I could see him tearing pieces of this tree’s bark off and tossing it down to the ground! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a woodpecker do that before!
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Critter of the Day: hairy? Or downy?
Okay, I’ve been having troubles with this one.
Here are some photos, taken in late June, of a fairly regular visitor to our feeding station.
I’ve identified this as a down woodpecker before, but I always try to double check when I post another photo, because I don’t trust my memory.
But when I did that, I saw this bird identified as both downy or hairy woodpeckers.
Either way, this would be a female. The males have a red splotch on the back of their heads.
Thankfully, on this day, we got some really good photos.
The most notable difference, I’ve read, is the beak. The down woodpecker has a very small beak. The hairy woodpecker has a much larger beak.
So based on this, this is a female hairy woodpecker.
Which means some of my past posts have identified it wrong.
😦
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Critter of the Day: Hairy
Critter of the Day: I hear you!
A photo from early June.
The beaks of redwing blackbirds have the most amazing shape! They are so long and pointy. Until we caught this one with his mouth open, though, I didn’t realize their beaks had a shape that makes me think of the nibs of calligraphy pens.
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Critter(s) of the Day: roly poly
A couple of photos of our racoon visitors from the beginning of June. My husband was the only one up early enough to get these! Our previous photos posted where taken with his phone. These were taken using the DSLR we keep set up in our living room.
They are so round and fluffy looking! 😀
If these two have come back, it hasn’t been at a time anyone was around to see them.
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Critter of the Day: transcending gravity
I’ve fallen very behind in going through photos from the living room camera. I’ve skipped the end of May completely, and am now posting from the beginning of June.
It’s a levitating blue jay! 😀
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Critter of the Day: windy!
We haven’t seen much of the squirrels for months, but they seem to be back now. This photo was taken and a particularly windy day in April.
The blowing wind reveals the different layers of colour in the squirrels fur. Hard to believe how dark it is under those red tips.
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Critter of the Day: what lovely teeth!
Here’s a photo going back to the beginning of April.
It’s not often we get to see a deer’s teeth. LOL
