Awesome pictures, everyone!

I wasn't online for a while, but I was glad to get back on and see the bird community still going strong.

María, that Common Flicker (as Bill called it) looks like he was quite affronted that you took a picture of him in the second photo!

@KFredenburgKim, it's nice to see you back. How is life in South Dakota? Must be so different from...was it Elk, CA?

NMoasis said:@KFredenburgKim, it's nice to see you back. How is life in South Dakota? Must be so different from...was it Elk, CA?

South Dakota's beautiful, to say the least. We're four thousand feet from the Black Hills, so we enjoy many various species of birds whether migratory or permanent.

We lived in Gilroy area. Succulents loved it there, but alas, no more! Over here, I'm just barely keeping them alive, especially with the snow and freezing temps we've been having.

GardensJohn said:

That is so awesome! If I could get a hummingbird to do that I would sit there all day long! My wife would have to pry me out of the chair and my fingers off of the feeder! I don't know if you collect acorns or not, but for me I thought that was definitely worth two! Great job!!

I agree, mine are so skittish.

These two Sandhill cranes were hanging out by my Jeep when I got back from my walk, they don't seem bothered by people at all, just kept on eating acorns while I did my after walk stretches.

Cool! They do get so used to people.

Anhinga with nice fall colors.


While photographing this one my kayak kept drifting towards it, going underneath the tree stump, up went the bird's rear and I quickly back paddled just in time to avoid a messy situation.

Such beautiful photos Sherri.

Those guys are kind of like the "Clowns of the Mangroves"! Sherri has done a great job capturing this individual! Kudos Sherri.

During my 9 years in Florida, it was such a treat to see one. Sometimes riding high in the water, sometimes low in the water. Sometimes with just the head and neck showing. Every once in a while, one would just pop up out of the water with a fish! Very cool to see.
They have a few common names like 'snake bird' or 'water turkey' but I always thought of 'silly clowns' with all of their antics!!!

How stunning! I love these pics, Sherri.

Thank you Ann, Bill and Lynda. Thanks for the nuts Bill, I like that, "clowns of the Mangroves", they are not shy birds, you can get pretty close.

I was standing by my husband seated at his desk early this morning when suddenly a hawk swooped through the front yard in front of the window by me.
It landed on the tree right outside an adjacent window. I ran for my camers and got one shot inside through the window. Sadly it was foggy this morning, so the pics aren't very clear. We were elated to see one so close to the house here in the city. We see them all the time at our country cabin south of here, but in the city, they are usually way up in the 30-40' elms around the neighborhood and not very visible. We've not seen any get quite that close in the 6 years we've lived at this house. NEVER saw them at our former house 8 blocks away. It was very foggy and quite chilly in Central TX, so he had his chest feathers fluffed up a bit. Think it was a red-tail hawk, but it was hard to tell from my vantage point. Second photo was taken outside on the porch, but when I moved to get closer, the hawk was having none of that and swooped across the street.

Looks like a red shouldered hawk to me.

Probably not a Red tail. It is too small. And you perfectly described the birds behavior. It suddenly swooped in. Red tails are too big, too heavy and really can't swoop.
But one of the three Accipiters certainly can! Check out images of the Sharp shinned Hawk, the Coopers Hawk and lastly the Goshawk. This group is known as "bird hunters". They inhabit back yards and swoop in on unsuspecting back yard birds caught completely off guard.
The Goshawk is a bird of deep woods. It would present a bigger silhouette. It could have been a Sharpie or a Cooper's. I am leaning more towards a young Coopers based solely on its size. They generally feed on Cardinals, Blue Jays and Mourning dove sized birds.

When I enlarge the second image, you can kind of see it's plumage. It could very well be a Red Shouldered.

You're probably right, @BigBill. It was fun seeing him so close, whatever he was. When I went out on the porch he definitely was giving me the eye right before he took off.

I can juuuuuuust make out the checkering on the wing in pic#2, so Red-shouldered.

The orange chest is what made me think red shouldered.

There were a lot of this Parrot in our area today, what kind of parrot?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

I checked Sibley. The best I could figure is the Red-masked Parakeet. Up to 13"" long from tip of beak to tip of tail. It has a large orange/yellow beak, a red mask extending down below base of beak and ending above the eye. More dense and redder in the front of what would be its face. It has what appears to be a white eye ring.

Local populations established in Southern California and South Florida.