H.J. Ruiz – Avian101 – Page 704 – "My Backyard Visitors" – All about birds

Decisions, Decisions!

I’ve been pondering about the possibility to reduce my posting to 5 days per week, like a regular work week, from Mondays through Fridays.

Reasons: Sunnier, brighter and warmer days are here now, also, I think that I’ve been stretching myself too thin trying to do too much everyday of the week. If you think of it these are good reasons that enable me to do something to remedy this situation. I believe that I deserve to have some rest like everyone else. Don’t get me wrong I do love your daily rapport, and wonderful blogs. However, photography and writing do absorb a lot of my time. I need to have time to do other things that are of great importance in my life.

In a way if I decide to post Monday-Friday you will also get a respite from my boring blogs and hopefully you’ll visit them on Monday. Of course I know you’ll miss me terribly for 2 days! ( yeah… like you’d miss a migraine) 🙂

Seriously…

– I have come to the decision that Friday 30th will be my last day for posting in May and I will resume my blogging on Monday- June 2nd. From there on will be only 5 days blogging for me per week. I will add more pictures to my feature galleries as recognition to your loyalty as followers of my blogs.-

Thank you very much in advance for your support. – H.J.

Field Sparrow

Northern Mockingbird

Red-winged Blackbird (F) (J)

Brown-headed Cowbird (F)

Northern Cardinal (M)

Northern Cardinal (F)

European Starlings (A) (F)

Tags: birds, Brown-Headed Cowbird, European Starling, Field Sparrow, important information, nature, Northern Cardinal, Northern Mockingbird, photography, photos of birds

Rival’s Move

Do not think that birds are happy go lucky creatures, you must remember that they live in the wild, that includes your backyards, plush communities, sumptuous mansions and modern condominiums.

It’s a tough life they live with danger lurking in every corner as we say. The moment they assume the responsibility to care for themselves it becomes a great task to go day by day looking for nourishment, whether foraging for seeds or hunting for bugs. Keep in mind that they are also part of the scheme of things dictated by Nature where hunters also get hunted, prey needs to eat so does the predator.

The genes also rule in the birds life, as soon as they mature the urge to find a mate kicks in_ They must mate to preserve the continuation of their own species!

Here’s when their main attention is driven to proclaim a mate and initiate a new family that will help complete the cycle and so on to the future generations.

Each species have their own rituals in order to woo the potential mate. Some birds display their ability to dance, others strut their splendid plumage, there are birds that demonstrate their abilities to build nests, or their flying skills, sing complex songs and calls, while some birds will take a more direct approach and prefer challenging the rivals.

It may never get any further that intimidation and staring each other until one backs out or could get bloody.

Today I’m have a series of pictures of two male Brown-headed Cowbirds challenging each other for the vulnerable female. It wasn’t a bloody encounter, just a staring contest instead…fortunately!

Text and photographs © HJ Ruiz – Avian101

Tags: birds, Brown-Headed Cowbird, Interesting information, nature, photography, photos of birds

The Woo Woo Kid

Spring is in full effect despite some cool breezes that once in a while makes us raise one eyebrow. Anyway, this is what’s going on in my backyard lately. There are some bird parents that are flying accompanying their fledglings to the feeders more often, while other parents are simply watching from the background how their brood behave by themselves.

There’s another group of parents that carry seeds in their crop or bills to take to their nests e.g. Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Eastern Towhee, N. Cardinals, C. Grackles, etc.

Then you can see a bunch of Northern Cardinals still playing tag looking for a mate. I’ve seen couples of Northern Mockingbirds too!

Now we get down the list to the Mourning Doves, they are the worse of the group. They are the “freshest” birds I know they disregard privacy and monogamy.

I shot a series of pictures in a sequence were this male Mourning Dove ends up “shtooping” two females one after the other!. Phew! (Please pardon my french)