Happy October y'all ... this is the new thread for sharing the birds that visit your area in October. The following photo's are from my backyard today.

Northern Mockingbird ................................. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher:


Downy Woodpecker ............................................ White-winged Dove ................... female Northern Cardinal:

My favorite is the shot of the Cardinal.

and mine is the Downy! Very nice birds!

Thank you ... seems like one day a particular bird is my favorite and the next it's a different one, but really I love em' all!

My birds came back today, I had a great variety, see if I can remember, Red-winged male and female blackbirds, starlings, those I can do without, young finches, I think Purple and Common Red-pol, Northern Towhee, Northern Woodpecker stopped by, lots of Robins, a young Audubon Warbler, lots of little warblers that were flitting about in the trees eating aphids or whatever, several Ringed Doves and my usual Stellar's jays. I got a few photos that I will try and post tomorrow.

Mine are still gone, squirrel is back, no big birds. It was a Cooper Hawk...does that sound right? It is small but my SIL Identified it for me. I think he said Cooper Hawk. Oh well, a hawk is a hawk and they have to eat too.

Jb, hope your birds come back soon. The Cooper's hawk is pretty big, it may have been the smaller Sharp-shinned, they look very similar.

I agree, either a Sharp-shinned Hawk (10" - 12"): http://www.allaboutbirds.org/g...

or possibly a Broad-winged Hawk (13" - 17"): http://www.allaboutbirds.org/g...

The Mockingbird is busy singing away again today. I have to laugh at all the silly songs that come out of that bird.

Sorry about the hawk, hawks are such beautiful creatures and I know they have to eat too. But I just don't want them to eat the backyard songbirds. They can eat Starlings and House Sparrows. Oh, and Pigeons but not the Morning Doves. Not that it matters what I wish.

The Mockingbirds are singing away down here too; I just love their songs! Oh how I agree about the hawks; they can have all the Pigeons, European Starlings and Sparrows they want ... we had too many Crows and Grackles this year too; wish the hawks had preferred them over the Doves and other little songbirds.

A male Red-bellied Woodpecker bypassed the suet this morning for peanuts in another feeder:

I think the hawks prefer whatever they can get. The Morning Doves are unfortunately, not the brightest of birds and seem to be ending up as a pile of feathers much more often than any other type of bird. But we rarely have hawks. So it must be neighborhood cats that get them.

Yesterday's birds, sorry the photos aren't very sharp, I took them through the windows, and it was a cloudy rainy miserable day.

Ringed Doves napping on the shed roof...........Doves and Red-winged Blackbirds...... Juvie Common Red-pol Finch


Robin.....Spotted Towhee and juvie Common Red-pol.


Spotted Towhee......Juvie Audubon's Warbler

Love the towee. Rarely ever see those here in my yard.

Love all the birds at your place Margaret; especially that Spotted Towee; and the juvenile Audubon Warbler is so adorable!

plantladylin said:Love all the birds at your place Margaret; especially that Spotted Towee; and the juvenile Audubon Warbler is so adorable!

Thanks for the new thread Lin.

I've been enjoying everyone's photos.

In actuality hawks feed much more on critters than on birds. Yes, they do get birds but the bulk of their diet consists of rodents & other ground critters & those pesky squirrels.

Good, let them eat Squirrel!

Thanks all. I love everyone's photos too, so nice to see the different birds.

Ann, that's true about the hawks, but it doesn't make us feel any better when we see them grab a bird or see a bunch of feathers on the ground.

I know Margaret. A few years back I watched a hawk take a baby blue jay & the mom or pop flying after it desperately trying to save it's baby & it turned my stomach. But then, the hawk is trying to save it's baby by feeding it. I'm just glad I don't witness that very often.

It breaks my heart when I see a hawk taking another bird but I realize it's all a part of nature. Yep, the hawks have to feed their young too.