@Sunlover Patti, Oooh, how did I miss the picture of the baby Kookaburra? You did good in rescuing that cutie! Another ATP member, Gleni from Queensland, Australia used to post photos of birds in his area and it's always interesting to see birds from different parts of the world ... birds that I will only ever see in photos. When googling I see there are a couple of different types of kookaburas; the laughing kookabura, blue-winged kookaburra and spangled kookaburra ... they are all really pretty birds and they sure have powerful bills/beaks! Their bills look a lot thicker and longer than the Kingfishers that I occasionally see here in Florida.

Dave: That sure looks like a White-throated Sparrow to me and what a pretty bird it is! I'm not sure if the Woodpecker in your photos is the Hairy or the Downy, one is larger than the other and one has a shorter bill than the other but I can never tell which is which. Cute shots of the Woodpecker and the Tufted Titmouse. Oh my, what can I say about those last two photos except ... STUNNING! I'd love to have one of those enlarged and framed ... really beautiful scene!

Dave, yes that is a White-throated Sparrow, the woodpecker looks like a female Downy. Great shots, love your winter scenes.

A couple more from my backyard; I've seen a lot of male Red-winged Blackbirds around lately but today is the first sighting of the female and she looks entirely different from the male but pretty in her own way.

Nothern Cardinal, male:


Red-winged Blackbird, male and female:

Love those snow photos, Dave!

Patti - Your Kookaburra is so amazing to see! Not something we'd ever see here in the USA! Thanks for sharing the photo and so glad you saw where it got stuck and was able to help free it!

Mel - I was so proud of myself when I saw your questionable photo! I KNEW it was a Wood Stork! I am almost completely clueless about bird IDs, but I knew that one! Love all you beautiful "big" birds!

Lin - I am seeing the same birds you are! (Except for the red-wing blackbirds.)

Dave - Your "little" birds are so sweet! I love that Tufted Titmouse. I've never seen one in real life though I've heard that they do migrate to FL. Your Winter scenes from this morning are so surreal! They look like a painting or a greeting card! So lovely!!!!

Becky, that's one thing I love about this site. Newbies and experts all get along and no one ever makes anyone feel dumb for not knowing something. If anything, the experts are always trying to recruit more newbies to their side! I know, because I totally do that on the butterfly thread. I was over in the Site Talk forum a week or so ago and people were talking about some other gardening websites they've been on where the people just aren't friendly and have kind of an elitist attitude and it makes people feel very unwelcome. But I think ATP does a great job of being welcoming, like everyone on this thread being so nice and encouraging me to learn more about birds and answering all my questions even if they're really basic. And maybe one day I'll get to be the one answering, "That's a Wood Stork." And then I can totally tell them about when I saw my first one. Plus, it's fun to antagonize my aunt, the bird lover, with my pictures on Facebook.

You are so bad, Mel!!!!

Melanie is a tease. I think she always has a twinkle in her eye. Just a touch of the devil in her. My kind of people.

Great photo of the Kookaburra Patti.

We used to see a lot of Wood Storks down in Hobe Sound, Fl. Cool that you saw them Melanie. You echo my thoughts saying they look like they have the wrong head on them --- Frankenbird. I SO agree!

Lovely photos as always Lin.

Dave cool photos of the winter wonderland! And the birds of course.


Okay, this is not from this month but I was going through photos looking for something else & ran across this from April of 2014. I'm glad I saw this b/c I've been thinking I would have to say goodbye to our goldfinches soon & this proves I'm wrong & they will be with us for a while yet. Yay! Anywho, I just like this photo & thought it was kind of neat and wanted to share before I lost it again or forgot about it --- you know how it goes......

We'll call this goldfinches in flight

Oh Ann, that is the coolest picture ... I think I'd call it Goldfinches dancing on air!

A Boat-tailed Grackle perched in the Bottlebrush tree this afternoon:

That's a much better title Lin!
I so enjoy getting to see them almost fully in their BRIGHT plumage. Down south they arrived buff colored & left buff colored but up here they even get the black cap almost fully developed on them before they leave.

Guess what? The hot water service bird has been identified as a Sacred Kingfisher!! Not a Kookaburra (though closely related). Wheeeeeee!!!! My first sighting of this species on my farm! (I love spotting new birdies)

http://www.mdahlem.net/birds/1...

I think Ann has me figured out!

I've never seen Goldfinches down here in Florida, but I think my Grandma collects them. I love visiting her house in WV and just watching all the little Finches on the feeder. Them and the Hummingbirds. You can just sit on her front porch and watch them at the feeders; it's so peaceful.

Patti, that's awesome that you saw a new (to you) bird! It's always exciting when you can check another one off the list. Plus, that one is really cool! I like how the website shows all the variations the bird can have. Butterflies can vary a bit with the seasons, but not nearly as much as birds do. I see this learning experience is going to be intense, but I'm up for it!

Yay for the ID Patti! Kingfishers are tre' kewl!

Melanie, you'll get it I have no fear. You already are trained to look for ID markers and regional differences now you just have to think about seasonal differences.
What I do when seeing a bird for the first time is take mental photos. Don't think too much about the whole bird but take mental snapshots of the head, then the body type, then tail & look for crests, & snapshots of the coloring. It helps me to get it all down in my mind so when I go looking for it to ID then I have these snapshots to recall. If it's flying, take a shot of wing shape.

Patti: That's wonderful and what a beautiful Kingfisher it is; great photos at the link you provided! I hope you spot more of those beauties around your farm!

It's dreary and cloudy here this morning ... and quite windy too but I was out earlier and spotted large flocks of Robins in the trees. They always appear in this area at the end of February and stay from a few days to a week before heading back north. They were chattering away loudly and suddenly all took off together in a big swoop.

Another that we only see in late winter here is the Chipping Sparrow. At our old house, they used to come in droves to visit the feeders but I rarely see them anymore; I think we have too many boisterous birds (Grackles and Blackbirds) that keep these cute little ones away:

Goldfinches are starting to color a bit and an Eastern Bluebird.

Lin, I'm glad you posted your pics of male and female red winged blackbirds! I've been wondering why I only see one of them in the feeding area - now I'll look for one that looks like the female! I knew there had to be a couple since they have a nest in the pond reeds. I haven't checked but wonder if couples stay together for life, like the cardinals and other birds (the Phoebes and Swallows).

I try not to tell sad stories (I have a few) but I'll just tell this one... so if you don't want to read a sad story, stop here!

Last year I watched in horror as a hawk went after a baby red winged blackbird in the nest. In the commotion, the baby took flight and the hawk ended up chasing it with the blackbird on the hawk's tail! That blackbird (now I know it was the male) did his best to save the baby but the hawk snatched it up and flew away. It was terrible.

Christine, yeah ... it's sad to see a hawk take another bird but it is all part of nature. I'd much rather they just ate vermin and leave the pretty songbirds alone. I've witnessed hawks with their prey and I've also seen Crows take baby Mockingbirds from the nest, with the adult Mockingbirds in pursuit but of course to no avail.

It's all a part of nature. These photos are from 2010 and 2011. I believe these hawks are juveniles because the one on the ground let me get within @ 5 feet of it and the other two perched low in the trees and didn't seem bothered that I was there at all. One time I was in the backyard with a juvenile low in a tree watching me while an adult was flying above calling and calling ... I'm not sure if it was calling to the youngster to come home or what but that's the impression I got. It was an interesting scene as the young hawk stayed in the tree for a long time watching me before finally flying off towards the adult bird circling above and then they both landed on a power line down the road.