Marilyn: I only saw one baby in the Osprey nest. But, the day before when I was leaving Wal-Mart (next door to Sam's Club) I noticed a couple of Swallow-tailed Kites flying around the area of the nest and neither of the adult osprey anywhere in sight. If there were another baby it could have been taken by a Kite.

This male Red-bellied was waiting for me to put the suet feeders out this morning.

Wow, wonderful shot of the woodpecker!

Newyorkrita said:Wow, wonderful shot of the woodpecker!

I have never been able to get any even decent shots of the birds here. And I have plenty of featured visitors.

I sure am loving that new camera of yours Lin!

I'm really enjoying my new camera and being able to get some really close shots!

The detail is amazing.

plantladylin said:Marilyn: I only saw one baby in the Osprey nest. But, the day before when I was leaving Wal-Mart (next door to Sam's Club) I noticed a couple of Swallow-tailed Kites flying around the area of the nest and neither of the adult osprey anywhere in sight. If there were another baby it could have been taken by a Kite.

plantladylin said:This male Red-bellied was waiting for me to put the suet feeders out this morning.

What brand and type of suet cake do you use? That Red Bellied wanted that yummy suet!

Wonderful pics!

What camera do you have? What are all the features? Fantastic pics!

Marilyn: Most of the time I buy suet at Wal-Mart and Home Depot; the brand is C and S, Ready to Use Peanut Delight No Melt Suet Dough. We have a problem with the heat and humidity here and regular suet goes rancid and melts quickly so this stuff works great for my Florida birds!

My current camera is a Canon PowerShot SX50HS. I don't know about other brands because I've never used anything other than Canon. We have a friend who swears by Pentax (I think that's the name?) and I remember a cousin years ago saying Nikon was the best so I guess it's all to one's particular taste. For many years we've had the film type to the smallest point and shoot Canon's and we've always been very happy with the brand. I don't understand all the technical stuff on a camera and don't even know how to fix the settings when I accidentally hit a button by mistake - that's where my "techie" husband is a big help For a long time I was screwing up the settings a lot but I seem to have gotten better as I've used it more. I keep the setting either on either Auto or P (Program, so I can manually adjust the zoom). This camera has a fixed lens, not interchangeable which I sometimes think would be nice although I doubt I'd be able to handle the weight of some of the larger, more powerful zoom lenses on the type of camera where you could change them out.

Ok, I'm out of here ... today is my volunteer day at our little local botanical gardens so it's time to go play in the dirt! Have a great day everyone!

When I came home from my volunteering I spent the rest of the afternoon working in my own yard but managed to get a couple of photo's. We've had a lot of Red-bellied Woodpeckers visiting the feeders lately. I was on the deck taking pictures and one seemed really curious each time the camera beeped; then he finally took a sunflower seed and flew off; meanwhile another one was at the suet feeder on the other side of the deck.

Blue Jay, Common Grackle ... and I can't remember which Warbler this is but he never visits the feeders, he's always at the top of the Bottlebrush tree eating seeds.

Lin, your pictures are outstanding as usual.

Newyorkrita said:Lin, your pictures are outstanding as usual.

Thanks ladies!

Wonderful photos Lin.

The swallows, warblers and white-crowned sparrows returned here over the past few days, so nice to see them again.

Margaret!

mcash70 said:The swallows, warblers and white-crowned sparrows returned here over the past few days, so nice to see them again.

Margaret, that is so great ... must mean Spring has arrived in your area; it's wonderful when our feathered friends return for the season!