It’s About Time!
Finally we had some rain storms last night, I worry about my plants and lawn when very hot days pass by and there’s no sight of any rain. Well, last night we had a lot of thunders, lightning and a great deal of rain. This morning every plant and grass looks very green.
Let me tell you that I’m going to go broke just buying seed for the birds. There are so many now! At about 8:30 in the morning I feel feeders and by 11:00 am they are almost empty! Then after 3:00 pm I refill and again these birds keep coming for more!
But what a wonderful feeling is to see all different kinds of birds flying from here to there at every point of my backyard. Now my deck is the “main plaza” all of birds have to push their way to be “on deck”. I just enjoy the seen and of course I have my camera ready for whatever may happen there.
I shoot many photographs daily, with different cameras, different lenses, all depends what I have in mind to do for the day.
For today I have some shots of a bird that I appreciate very much!
Click on images to see enlargements
Text and photographs are © H.J. Ruiz – Avian 101
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Life on the Fast Lane
Life is not exactly all peachy for the birds in the wild. They have to contend with many adverse factors such as:
- Weather: Heavy rain, hail, gust winds, high temperature, low temperature.
- Predators: Hawks, cats, raccons, snakes, humans.
- Health: Parasites, mites, viruses, poisoning.
As you can see those are some of the factors that have serious impact in a bird’s life. Also, we have the daily procuring their daily nourishment for themselves and their families. If you observe their behavior, you can see clearly that every bird, large or small has to deal in an aggressive way in order to get the food that it needs.
Every bird has a clever strategy for getting their daily needs, at the end of the day all birds end up eating, non are falling to the ground for lack of nourishment and if they fall might be because are to heavy to fly! 🙂 I brought you a gallery of unusual photographs of daily bird life.
Female N. Cardinals getting at it!
Male N. Cardinal chasing the female!
Northern Mockingbird doing his fly byes!
Tufted Titmouse seeing female House Finch going for the feeder!
Tufted Titmouse fantastic dive!
Confrontation of females, N. Cardinal vs. Brown-headed Cowbird!
Carolina Chickadee picks one sunflower seed and does a super fast departure!
Click on images to see enlargements
Text and photographs © H.J. Ruiz – Avian 101
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Ruby-throated Hummingbird
It makes me very happy to post a new “lifer” bird for me which adds another species of birds to my backyard visitors hence my global count.
The Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, Latin name: Archilochus colubris, is a small hummingbird. It is the only species of hummingbird that regularly nests east of the Mississippi River in North America.
Ruby -throated Hummingbird (F)
The species is sexually dimorphic. The adult male, shown in the photo, has a ruby red throat patch which may appear black in some lighting, and a dark forked tail. The female has a dark rounded tail with white tips and generally no throat patch, though she may sometimes have a light or whitish throat patch. The male is smaller than the female, and has a slightly shorter beak. A molt of feathers occurs once a year, and begins during the autumn migration.
The breeding habitat is throughout most of eastern North America and the Canadian prairies, in deciduous and pine forests and forest edges, orchards, and gardens. The female builds a nest in a protected location in a shrub or a tree.
The Ruby-Throated Hummingbird is migratory, spending most of the winter in southern Mexico, Central America as far south as South America, and the West Indies. It breeds throughout the eastern United States, east of the 100th meridian, and in southern Canada in eastern and mixed deciduous forest.[5] seen mostly in winter, in Mexico.
Click on images to see enlargements
Photographs are © H.J. Ruiz – Avian 101
Text excerpts from Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
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Good Bunch of Avians
The heat wave still on but it has some moments when clouds pass by and that but itself cools of a bit the air and that factor also gives birds an opportunity to get their food without being exposed to the scorching sun.
I’v been generous when it comes to their food, I can see that there have been an increase in numbers of individuals, at moments it looks like the Central Station in NYC.
I’ve seen the feisty juveniles going at it because they want to be first to eat! So what’s new! Right?
A great number of species are in the process of molting which don’t make them look good! For example a female N. Cardinal instead of looking like Britney Spears now looks more like Phyllis Diller! 😦
I brought you a bunch of pictures I shot a couple of days ago, I hope you like them!
Click on the images to see enlargements
Tufted Titmouse (Molting)
Eastern Towhee (M) (Molting)
House Finch (F)
Northern Cardinal (M) (Molting)
Red-winged Blackbird (M) (Molting)
Northern Mockingbird
Red-winged Blackbird (F) (Molting)
Common Grackle (M)
Text and photographs are © H.J. Ruiz – Avian 101
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Read Past Reviews
Book # 69
Quote from the Author
“A good chuckle is healthy, it helps you break the monotony of a serious life.” ~ H.J. Ruiz
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