H.J. Ruiz – Avian101 – Page 674 – "My Backyard Visitors" – All about birds

Memory Lane

APRIL 2003

Mute Swan – April 2003

Tags: birds, Memory Lane, Mute Swan, nature, photography, photos of birds

Dealing With Nuts

Something that amuse me more with birds is their dexterity to deal with their food, especially when eating seeds with shells or nuts.

They are so precise to hold the nut or seed in place and then hit with their pointy bill on the exact place that will crack it.

Of course it takes a lot of practice plus I believe that many of these traits are embedded in their genes naturally. It fun to see how they proceed about getting their meals and if they decide to eat it immediately will have to work on it.

I searched in my archives for a few samples and that’s what I’m featuring in my bird gallery today. Enjoy!

Blue Jay – Frame # 1

Frame # 2

Tufted Titmouse – Frame # 1

Frame # 2

Carolina Wren – Frame # 1

Frame # 2

Carolina Chickadee – Frame # 1

Frame # 2

Text and photographs © HJ Ruiz – Avian101

Tags: birds, Blue Jay, Carolina Chickadee, Carolina Wren, nature, photography, photos of birds, Tufted Titmouse

Duckumentary

We had a nice sunny and pleasantly warm day and decided to go to a nice park and pond not very far from home. Of course I brought my camera with me just in case that we might find any ducks. I honestly wasn’t expecting to see any ducks at this time. Alas, I was wrong at my assumption because I found a friendly bunch of ducks and geese which made my day even more delightful!. There were some species of ducks and geese spread around the pond.

While observing all the different groups of birds and through my camera lens, I noticed that some of the birds were still molting at some degree, especially renewing their wings, this made me I recall from last year, seeing ducks showing their wing feathers sticking upwards, that was something that I hadn’t seen before. I continued looking at all the birds and found a female Domestic Goose with the wing feathers hanging out in both sides, almost ready to get detached. Once I got home I did some researching and found out about their way of molting their wing feathers. I was happy that I could quench my own curiosity from last year’s mystery.

See, you never know what new can bring you a simple visit outdoors to a pond.

Canada Goose

Mallard

Hybrid

Pekin Duck

Muskovy Duck

Mallard (M)

Domestic Goose (M)

Muskovy Duck (F)

Tags: birds, Ducks, Geese, nature, photography, photos of birds

Last Week’s Visitors

Here are some photos of birds that visited my backyard last week. There were many more species but I wasn’t ready for photographs. I hope you like this gallery.