Leon, they are Rainbow Lorikeets, sometimes called Coconut Lorikeets in the Pacific Islands. They are common at my feeder. Small parrots but they will take on cockatoos at the feeder.

I had one as a pet a long time ago. Lovely birds.

We had our first sleet and snow yesterday. Nothing compared with what a lot of the country has had. But when I put out seed yesterday, the response was overwhelming. We had cardinals, jays, goldfinches, various sparrows, red-wing blackbirds, crows, doves, gackles, wrens ... I tried for some pictures but they just wouldn't sit still for their photos. I never could get a shot of the jay and the doves. Feeding frenzy.

Stunners, Tee.

Thanks, Glen. What I needed was a video. We don't get a lot of bad weather but when we do, the birds show up in droves. This was January of 2011 ...

Gasp! Those are good to behold. What is the rose coloured one in the last photo?

Yes, sometime I may need to take out a loan for more birdseed.

That's a red-headed house finch.

Tee, the birds look miserable with that weather you have there, good thing you are giving them lots of food.

Yes, I love the birdies, Margaret. I don't do any garden cleanup until spring so I leave any seeds and so forth out there for them. Thankfully, we've only had two days this entire winter like the picture shows. And hopefully that will be it. It's predicted to be almost 70° by this time next week!

Is winter beginning to wind down? I hope so, but the ground is still covered with snow and it's still very cold. This morning was 12*F, BUT there is full sun and NO clouds! So here's to some spring sunlight and better days! Our 'warmest' temperature to date was probably 34*F on Sunday the 2nd of March, but with 4" of added snow on that day! Today's forecast calls for sun and 43*F which will feel like a breath of spring after three months of hard winter!

Our feathered friends have struggled through some of the worst weather I've seen in years. Still they seem to have done well at our house with plenty of food and shelter in the evergreens and conifers. On Tuesday, March 4 we had seven (7) mourning doves here almost all day long. That makes me happy because I was beginning to think the hawks had eliminated some. It is a record for me to see that many in one spot at any time. With Winter Weather & Birds winding down here are a few pictures from March 4.


As hard as I tried I could never get all seven in the same picture. So I took a close up of the 7th in the last picture.

Love the doves! We have many wild doves here and they're so peaceful.

We also keep a pet dove that both coos and laughs. I'd read that only the males laugh, but ours lays eggs so I guess that's not always true.

Most of the ground cover snow here looks much the same...still, but in some windblown, sunny areas I'm starting to see a few of my perennials peeking through; baby columbines and Veronica gentianoides, heucheras, lemon thyme and one of my Veronica 'Whitewater'. I'm so happy to see these earliest sightings... alive and well.

Great pictures of those Doves!

The first Robin arrived in my garden yesterday. I was glad that I had put out fresh water, looks like she had a bath.


Varied Thrush ......................... Red-winged Blackbirds

Common Crow .......................... Robin

Hurray for the first Robin of Spring! That Varied Thrush is really pretty. I have never seen one of those. I don't think we get them around here.

Yay! The red-red-robins are bob-bob-bobbin along here.

I knew yesterday we were in for snow, and lots of it. The TV news started putting up warnings at noon from Indianapolis. And this morning's Fort Wayne paper confirmed the dreaded news. This was a very heavy wet snow: Each shovelful feels like a cement block! And my little Ford tractor deserves a commendation medal after this winter! I didn't finish snow removal until noon. Here's what some of it looked like. My poor birds had a bad morning waiting on food: But it ended well.


Link for some of our northern counties:
http://www.journalgazette.net/...

Oh gosh Leon!

Oh dear. Not again.

Yes...again.

We're in between 'Busco and Ft. Wayne, so I guess we got a bit over 7" today...seems like more. Three county trucks are out of service today so we've still not had a plow back here. Hopefully they'll get to us before time to leave for work and school tomorrow. Losing today is enough.

Today's newcomers are Starlings, one Grackle, several more Red-winged Blackbirds, Cowbirds and a Baltimore Oriole. Heavy traffic at the feeding stations today. I cleared a path to the bird feeders, fed them, then cleared off my truck. That's all I'm shoveling of this snow...it's just too heavy! Supple trees are bent in half... the top of one of my white birch trees is kissing the ground right now!