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A male Hooded Merganser showing off the ladies.
Unfortunetly, the lady of his desires seemed to be showing little interest in his display.
Tag: bird photography
Flurries
Red and Yellow
White and Gray
Flurries Falling
The Local
Even when that big mob of Pine Siskin’s moved into the neighborhood last week the locals took it all in stride and here’s one of our favorites.
Northern Pygmy Owl
We had heard the tooting of the Northern Pygmy Owl in the woods near us in previous winters but had little luck seeing one. This year our luck changed. These small owls are only about 6.5 inches long and perch many in conifer trees. Their main prey are small songbirds and unlike many owls hunt mainly in the day. We watched this bird for quite awhile before they slowly turned their head and gave us a look only an owl can give seemingly saying “hey move along I’m hunting here”.
Chickadee’s of the forest beware.
Mobbed
Thus far bird action around the neighborhood was relatively quiet and calm with with numerous chickadees and just a handful of other sprinkled in for variety. Well, last week that all changed as a large flock of Pine Siskin’s moved in. When the flock decides to visit the bird feeder it is quite a sight, a veritable frenzy of activity in some instances, and to say the feeder is mobbed might be an understatement.
Although they can also be calm and charming as was this fellow above.
This nomadic finch ranges widely and erratically across the continent each winter in response to seed crops. Better suited to clinging to branch tips than to hopping along the ground, these brown-streaked acrobats flash yellow wing markings as they flutter while feeding or as they explode into flight.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Pine_Siskin/overview
Common Redpoll
Common Redpolls frequent our area in the winter each year but seeing them seems a hit or miss proposition as they move around quite a bit. This winter we got lucky and had a few hanging around the neighborhood for a couple of days in a big mixed flock of finch species.
During winter, some Common Redpolls tunnel into the snow to stay warm during the night. Tunnels may be more than a foot long and 4 inches under the insulating snow.
Common Redpolls can survive temperatures of –65 degrees Fahrenheit. A study in Alaska found Redpolls put on about 31 percent more plumage by weight in November than they did in July.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Redpoll/overview
Thirsty
Maybe a common sight, but every drink is different.
The way the water droplets fall from the bill of this wonderful female Mallard brings endless possibilities for observation.
On the bull kelp
A tiny Yellow Rumped Warbler found the bull kelp a perfect perch for hunting sand flies and other small insects on the beach. This girl would quickly dart down form the kelp to snag a small meal and quickly return to her perch. Seeing her sitting on the head of the bull kelp made us realize just how small she was. We watched a documentary about songbirds the other night called The Messenger. Here is a link to the website http://songbirdsos.com
It is a very timely reminder about what a world without song birds would be like.
Watchtower
Perched at their watchtower high at the tippy-top of a blue spruce a mountain chickadee takes in the view.
Looking out – Looking in
On a recent very chilly morning while the rest of the house finches were visiting the feeders one very curious gentleman decided to take a minute and see what was going on inside the house. It was a short but nice chat, but given the quantity of seed a little bird needs to eat to keep warm at -10, he was quickly went back to his business at the feeder.
nature has no boss 
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