Didn't see a new thread for September birds so I thought I would start one, although these pics were actually taken in August.

Great Blue Heron






Red Headed Woodpeckers



Oriole eating suet



Another pic of the Great Blue Heron




Pileated Woodpeckers

Masked Plovers babies were hatched this morning. I can make out three bubs but there might be more. The parents were keeping them at a distance.

How neat, Hemlady, you captured them in pairs!!

Yay, Masked Plover babies!! Look forward to more pictures, if the parents will allow it!

Thanks Christine, it was lucky that I saw the pairs together.

Wonderful shots, Christine. (oops! Cindy, not Christine) Those red-headed wp's sure are aptly named - unlike the "red-bellied" ones that hardly ever have red on their bellies.

Glen, way to go capturing pictures of the tiny baby plovers! So beautiful.

My "event" today had me very jealous of Melanie with her new bird feeder. I have 3 young squirrels who are light enough still to get on my "Squirrelbuster" feeder and take as many seeds as they like. One even sat comfortably on the perch until I went out and chased him off. Their weight is supposed to pull the ports closed, but they're just not heavy enough yet. Well . . a few more days of gobbling the bird seed should take care of that!



Blue jays by the dozen, it seems. One has molted all the feathers off his head and looks sort of like a meth addict, I think. The other is holding a sunflower seed against the branch with his foot while he opens the shell with his beak.


This juvie cardinal landed on the branch right in front of my camera and seemed to like to pose. I had to actually zoom out a bit to fit him/her in the frame.

Thank you, Elaine but I think Cindy gets credit for the wonderful shots of woodpeckers.

It should be no time before those squirrels are too heavy at the feeders.

Love those shots Elaine! that cute little cardinal really does look like it wanted you to take it's picture.

What an interesting idea for the squirrelbuster Elaine! I have tried to just get smaller feeders and water dispensers so the cockatoos stop taking over.

I swear that Cardinal is smiling in the first photo.

Well, here are a couple of pictures I took yesterday. This is still the old bird feeder. It's seen a lot of action over the last two days but I only took a few pics when I was out picking caterpillar food. There was a short break in the rain. FYI, my brother was grilling this evening and told me he thought I had a Finch on my bird feeder. I looked, and it was a Carolina Chickadee. My brother may know ducks, but he doesn't know the rest of the birds.



And the Red-Bellied Woodpecker let me get one shot.

Great start Cindy...... love the pairs!

Glen...... Yay for the plover babies!

Elaine, that cardinal really seems to be posing!

Melanie, chickadee is much cuter than a finch! lol

Thanks Claudia

From Archbold Biological Station's Facebook feed:

Appreciating Our Vultures

There are two species of vultures year-round at Archbold: Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus) and Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura). They both feed exclusively on carrion.

'The two species often associate: The Black Vulture makes up for its poor sense of smell by following Turkey Vultures (excellent sense of smell) to carcasses. Highly social birds with fierce family loyalty, Black Vultures share food with relatives, feeding young for months after they’ve fledged.'

Adult Turkey Vultures have bald red heads while Black Vultures have bald gray heads. Why are they bald up top? 'The widely held assumption in zoology that vultures have a bare head and neck to prevent soiling of feathers seems plausible', says University of Glasgow researcher Dr. Dominic McCafferty. But, their new research suggests how important posture and bald skin areas are for thermal regulation:
'By changing their posture to expose more or less of the bare skin on their heads and necks, vultures could cut their heat loss by half in cold conditions and increase their heat loss by almost a quarter in certain hot conditions. "That's a really valuable energy saving for a scavenging bird that may spend many days without food," says McCafferty. There may be more than one selective advantage in evolving bald heads".'

#InternationalVultureAwarenessDay is today, September 3!

'These birds were threatened by side-effects of the pesticide DDT, but today they are among the most common large carnivorous birds in North America. Other threats include trapping and killing due to erroneous fears that they spread disease. Far from it, vultures actually reduce the spread of disease.'

Interesting stuff, Melanie!

Turkey vultures. I tried to zoom in for some pics, here's the best one.

Bird people, HELP! I saw a new (to me) bird and I don't know what it is. I was standing with the back door to the lanai partly open so I could take photos of the bird feeder without the screen in the way. Then, something landed in the oak branch right above me. And it nicely posed for pictures. I love the color! I'm looking through my book and I think the closest is the female Summer Tanager, but I'm still not convinced the eyes and the beak are correct. Here are all the pictures I took of it. FYI, I have not seen it on or under the feeder.

I'm going to go with .. Violaceous euphonia ... Melanie

ok that is just a photo match , forgot to check if it was actually in florida

Hmm...not sure I'm in their range. People have been known to release pets here in Florida, though.

@plantladylin Help me ID my bird, please?

how about a female painted bunting

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/...

Wasn't that green. More yellow-orange.

I was going to say female Summer Tanager because it looks much like one I had ID'd back in May. Was it a good size bird? There's a smaller one called Scarlet Tanager.

But, I think it looks like a Summer Tanager. http://www.kevinkarlsonphotogr...