H.J. Ruiz – Avian101 – Page 588 – "My Backyard Visitors" – All about birds

Close Friends

AMERICAN WHITE IBIS

Tags: American White Ibis, birds, nature, photography, photos of birds

Last Friday and Saturday we had cool mornings, very comfortable temperature for us as well as for birds. I prepared my camera and right after I refilled all the feeders (still dark as night) then immediately got ready for shooting! The sun started to show from behind the trees slowly bathing the backyard with light. Suddenly, the deck area and feeders began to be mobbed by birds coming from everywhere. It reminded me of special bargain sales at the Mall where every body wants to be there first! I was very happy indeed. I had a couple of weeks of being stumped with not many birds and now I was busy.

One highlight moment was when I saw a Ruby-throated Hummingbird drinking nectar from the bottle feeder! Looked very happy having fresh nectar that I refilled the day before which I even added extra sugar for more calories just in case of early departure.

I was surprised to see this male hummingbird just drinking some nectar and the he flew to a near branch to perch very calm, watching the other birds going back and forth. It was crazy traffic out there! For and added surprise I was panning with my camera when I saw it!… Actually saw her! A beautiful female RTH, yes! They are an item now! You should have seen them playing around. They were not in a any hurry to leave, that for sure. I was busy for about two hours shooting pictures and by then I had enough of it since the sun was getting too hot and bright. The frenzy about the feeders was almost over as well as all the seeds. So, I started to gather my things to end the session when I noticed that one of the hummingbirds flew toward me and got about 5 feet in front of me and hovered looking at me!

It was simply a magical moment!

Photo Gallery

: Male

: Male

: Male

: Female

: Female

: Female

Text and photographs © HJ Ruiz – Avian101

Tags: birds, nature, photography, photos of birds, Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Look Outside my Window!

It’s in rare occasion that I see an adult female House Finch by herself, without a mate on the look out or next to her. She was feeling a bit intimidated by the presence of other birds but not for long! I saw her approach the feeders on the deck and later she was partaking of the seeds comfortably.

This lovely young female Northern Cardinal was simply radiant, strutting her lovely and provocative new plumage, she modeled her newly completed feathers with brilliant displays of the blends between colors red and a reasonable exquisite tanned beige. The tail extended and spread in short intervals showing the various hues of typical cardinal red. The explosion of color and saturation of sensual beauty conveyed by the adorable young model was simply an educational lesson of natural beauty and graceful raw jovial enthusiasm! Bravo!

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A young Brown-headed Cowbird was perched on a top branch just looking around before going to the feeder. He is almost done with the growth of feathers and soon his head will be turning a brown color and the rest of his body will be black. Many of these are no strayed, they are surrogated birds that hatched in other species of bird’s nests. Then later they will find the way to integrate the main collective of their own species.

Note: This is an update to the subject of a previous post. It is in reference to a male Northern Cardinal that I photographed and I noticed that was handicapped, he’s missing his right foot. He also was in the process of molting at the time. Now, I bring you an update photo of him apparently thriving and in strong health. I’m happy for him!