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Posts Tagged ‘bird feeder’

The Common Grackle – Uncommonly Colorful

Posted in BY THE WAY, Ha-P 2 B in OG, New York Speaks, tagged , , , , , , , on March 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I love to watch birds hopping on and off my feeder in the backyard.  I also love the sound of their manic early morning chirping as dawn breaks and they descend upon the feeder for breakfast.  Mostly we get Sparrows and Chickadees, Morning Doves, sometimes a pair of Cardinals.  I have a couple of Blue Jays who periodically visit, not to eat from the feeder but rather to steal some of the peanuts left out on the table for the squirrels.  The jays do not have a pleasant voice at all but they are beautiful to look out and bold enough to land on the table or porch rail even though we are present.  Soon, as Spring overcomes winter, there will come a day when all of sudden I hear a lilting song and I know that the Red-Winged Blackbird has arrived!

Over the years we’ve been visited by Grossbeaks, Woodpeckers, Yellow Finches, House Finches, Cowbirds, Starlings, Robins as well as Blackbirds, and of course pigeons (those I chase away).  AND we get Grackles, those iridescent beauties.  They are part of the Starling family and by many, not considered to be an exciting siting.

I disagree! Their luminous feathers literally reflect sunlight, they gleam in the sunshine and as they move around (they are ground feeders) their colors shimmer as their shading goes from blue to purple to green.

Sapphire Blue

Sapphire Blue

Purple Wings

Purple Wings

Sitting Pretty

Touches of Teal Blue

Aquamarine Throat

Aquamarine Throat

Nature's Gradient Colors

Nature’s Gradient Colors

All photos courtesy Murray Head

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The Birds of Winter

Posted in Fab Fotos, Nick & Nora and Flora & Fauna, tagged , , , , , , , on November 16, 2012| 2 Comments »

Up until two weeks ago I wasn’t really thinking it was winter yet!  After all the calendar says it’s not winter yet BUT after Hurricane Sandy followed by a Nor’easter which blanketed us in snow…Uhmmmm I think it has arrived!  The birds at our feeders are there ALL day long and their day begins just before dawn!  The squirrels are right there along side the multitudes of sparrows, hanging on the squirrel-proof feeder.  We have put ears of dried corn out for the squirrels thinking that might dissuade them from the bird seed and suet.  Well it hasn’t, but we’re cutting everybody some slack because we think they’re storing up for, what else, winter!

Murray captured some feathered friends in the parks of New York City.  As always,many of his photos capture the personality and attitude of the species.  Even when he is photographing the very common, very ubiquitous House Sparrows, the pictures are excellent.

Central park, New York City, house sparrow

A perky tri-color House Sparrow

purple thrush, central park, New York Cit

Male Purple Thrush Berry Happy

lovely lady cardinal, central park, red cardinal

Lovely Lady Cardinal

An In-Your-Face Sparrow

Camera-shy Woodpecker

Female Purple Thrush

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Chronicling the 2010 Blizzard – Day 4

Posted in BY THE WAY, Ha-P 2 B in OG, Smooth or Crunchy, tagged , , , , , , , on December 29, 2010| 3 Comments »

Yay late last night the plow came up our side of Broadway, a sign that perhaps life outside of these four walls could start again.  I heard the truck and plow make a least two more passes.  I was hoping that the plow had not pushed a new wall of snow up against the car.  I mean let’s not forget that this cleared parking space cost me $ 40.

We had ventured out yesterday in hopes of putting Peter on the train back to NYC and his version of civilization.  Since the majority of my readers don’t have a sense of the roads and towns around us, I can’t relate the horror story of that adventure.  Let me just say that we left at 1:15pm and got home again at 4:15pm AND Peter never got near the train station!!! State highways remained un-plowed and abandoned cars littered whatever pathway we tried to take.  AND to add to the stress of this total misadventure, we were in an accident.   Yup, an ambulance side-swiped our car and we were STOPPED on the side of the road.  Well that all happened in Day 3 and this is supposed to be about Day 4.

Today Peter decided to dig a path to the shed.  Why? Well it wasn’t to retrieve the 50 lbs of salt he had stashed in there, and it wasn’t to get the folding shovel that is supposed to be in the car at this time of the year but for some irresponsible reason was still in the shed!!  NO, he wanted to get at the bird seed so he could at least toss some seed on the snow so that our little feathered friends and our furry little squirrels would have some sustenance!  Digging his way to the bird feeder would be another day – the drifts are just too high.

Ocean GRove, La Vie en Rose, shed, blizzard, snow removal

Going to the Birds!

Ocean Grove, bird seed, La Vie en Rose, bird feeder, blizzard

A Banquet for the Birds

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FAB FOTO FRIDAY

Posted in Ha-P 2 B in OG, Nick & Nora and Flora & Fauna, tagged , , , on June 18, 2010| 1 Comment »

THIS IS FOR THE BIRDS

A picture is worth a thousand words or so they say…. going forward I thought I would designate Friday as a day to share some fantastic photos with you-today is FAB FOTO FRIDAY!  Let me be clear about this – they will almost NEVER be my photos.  I have a dear friend, Murray who is a professional photographer and as his passion is photography he snaps interesting candid shots of kids, animals, birds and well just about anything and everything.  I have been saving (read stealing) many of his photos to my hard drive.  He has given me permission to share them with you.

sea gull ocean grove

Wingspan

ocean grove bird

Checking for Spots

bird on pine branch, pine cones and bird

Looking Over My Shoulder

black bird, grackle

Big Black Bird

Bird Feeder Fight, sparrows

Bird Feeder Fight

Photos by Murray Head

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