The Blue Jay is a very striking, large and loud songbird. It is one of those birds that we always enjoy seeing in our yard and at our feeders. Jays like shelf feeders over hanging feeders.
In the picture you can see the bird’s crest is down. This is common when Blue Jays are feeding peacefully or interacting with their family groups.
It is a beautiful day partly sunny pretty warm but nice in the shade with a slight breeze. Lots and lots of birds today should be a wonderful afternoon of birdwatching.
Today was a little wild with all the new young starlings leaving their nests, and their apparent feeding frenzy with the adults.
Then suddenly Sher and I witnessed the arrival of one of the most striking birds in North America. The Red-headed Woodpecker has beautiful crimson head plumage accompanied by a pure white body and wings that are half white and half ink black. These birds are striking both at rest and in flight. This one was kind enough to stick around on the feeder long enough for the capture you see above.
If you’ve seen some of our previous posts, you’ll know that we have been enjoying feeding birds in our backyard. It is always fun to see different birds and to watch the antics of them all. But sometimes we just have to say “Wow! Look at those!”
That time came when a mating pair of Pileated Woodpeckers showed up at our tree with suet feeding stations. The male is on the left, female on the right. (We call them Woody and Wilma) We had seen the female before, but this was our first sighting of the male. And yes, to us, this was a thrilling event!
Nothing like getting photobombed by a twig!
It was a beautiful Thursday afternoon with mostly sunny skies and a very light breeze with temps near 65. The birds and a couple of squirrels were taking advantage of the food we had set out for their use.
We have been thrilled with the variety of species that have come to our feeders. Today we spotted a new little bird, a Carolina Wren, one we haven’t seen before . He decided to flit up into the tree and serenade us with a beautiful song!
Listening to our backyard friends is as fun as watching them,.
When I first spotted this woodpecker I thought it was a Male Northern Flicker. With our camera I captured this image of the pretty woodpecker next to the suet feeder.
Turns out this is a female Red-bellied Woodpecker. The female is distinguished from the male in the red nape vs. the male with a red cap. This bird can stick its sticky saliva covered barbed tongue a full 2 inches past the tip of the beak, letting it successfully catch food deep in crevices.
The only North American woodpecker that stores and then hides the stored food.
The Red-headed Woodpecker is one of the most striking birds you’ll find in the forest, or, in our case, the backyard. Today Sher spotted a beautiful male on the tube feeder. He was hanging on the bottom of the feeder poking into the openings. This magnificent bird blessed us with his presence for a few minutes. We hope he’ll feel comfortable enough to return soon.
Woody, our male Pileated Woodpecker showed up and immediately went to the suet cage. The starlings who had been swarming the suet cage scattered as soon as Woody landed and began to feed. Shortly after one starling flew back to the cage, but wisely landed away from the suet and the woodpecker’s beak.
Sher spotted some small but pretty bird baths in a local store’s ad flyer. We decided that they would be a nice addition to our backyard. We thought that we’d use one of the glass receptacles as a true water filled bird bath. The second, however, for now we put bird feed in the second one as a shelf feeder.
Glass bowl bird bath
2nd bird bath as a shelf feeder
We have been thrilled with the number of different species of birds that have been gracious enough to visit our backyard.
A brash Blue Jay
Chipping Sparrow in the new feeder
Two Starlings enjoying the suet
We have so enjoyed sitting in our backyard watching the birds coming and going from the bird feeders, now scattered across our backyard. We will keep the bird and critter photos coming as we capture them.
Tube feeder and 2 suet cages
The weather is finally getting nice enough for some days out in the backyard. We bought feed for our tube feeder, a hummingbird feeder and a couple suet cages.
We have had a great time just rocking in our swing watching our feathered friends frolic around and partaking of the feeders.
White breasted nuthatch
Cardinal (State Bird for 7 states)
We’ll continue to post more pictures as we can get them. Stay tuned!
Roadtirement 