I almost posted these photos in the February thread and then remembered today is the 1st of March. I hope no one minds that I am starting the March Bird thread.

Because I work 5 days a week, I don't get to take photos often. Typically just a quick glimpse with my binoculars is the best I get unless I just have my camera on a tripod using the video feature so I can just record the seed feeder action from the window.

We've had a lot of rain, so this morning the birds were quite hungry. These photos aren't the best because they were moving so much eating, but at least you can see them. Some are molting into their beautiful mating colors, so they look a little mis-matched.

Cardinal. I have a family of these birds that live here year round. They rarely pay any mind to me.



Painted Bunting and Indigo Bunting:



Indigo Bunting (looks like it's just starting to molt or it's a female). This bird was banded in my yard in February:



I love it when four different bird species are perched on the feeder at the same time. I sometimes get lucky to get a photo like today! Indigo Bunting, Goldfinch, Cardinal, and Painted Bunting.



Painted Bunting. You can see the bands from recent banding in my yard:

Becky, your photos are wonderful and thank you for starting a March thread!! I love the Painted and Indigo Buntings. We have many Cardinals here year round too but I haven't been able to attract the Painted Bunting for a few years now and I've never seen that gorgeous Indigo Bunting! My husband and I are going to be moving to Sebastian (hopefully next summer!) to be near my sister and brother in law who recently relocated there from south Fl. We are currently in the process of buying a house right around the corner from them in the San Sebastian Springs neighborhood and I can't wait to move a little farther south and start a butterfly and hummingbird garden!

I was out in the yard a little while ago and got a few pictures.

Anhinga took a break from fishing and perched in the shrubbery to rest and preen:


Chipping Sparrows:


Mourning Dove and ............................... Palm Warbler:


Baltimore Oriole (This is a rare sight for me and the second bird I've spotted in the last two weeks):


Boat-tailed Grackle:

I got some more pic's a few minutes ago.

I was out weeding and noticed a Heron landing right outside the fence so I grabbed my camera off the porch and took a few pictures. I went out onto the deck as he walked by. He eventually flew off to a neighbors yard.
Great Blue Heron:


Mockingbird:


Red-bellied Woodpecker, male and females:

Great pics everyone, the whooping crane gave me a good laugh.

Lin - San Sebastian Springs is a very nice, gated community. You are very lucky to be buying now as the prices in that area came down because of the recession. I am sure they will continue to increase once again. That is not too far from where I live. You might want to check into the Pelican Island Audubon Society that is here locally. I haven't attended any of their meetings yet, but I've heard many good things about that group.

Lin - I would love to see a Baltimore Oriole in my yard. How cool is that!!!! How do you tell the boat-tail grackles from the common grackles?

The Great Blue Heron are such beautiful large birds! Nice photos! I have the Mockingbirds and the red-bellied woodpeckers here too.

Eric - I laughed and laughed when I saw that photo of the whooping crane looking at the camera. What a hoot!

Becky, I know we are going to love living in Sebastian, mainly because we will be right around the corner from my sister and her husband! Thanks so much for the info about Pelican Island Audubon Society, I will definitely want to check them out! I might look into joining the Indian River Garden Club once we are settled down there too.

I got some more photos before we left this evening for basketball games and just had a chance to upload them. The Boat-tailed Grackle is larger and has a longer tail than the Common Grackle, scroll down this page and click on the photo of the Common Grackle and it will bring up photos of both: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/g...

From my backyard this afternoon.

Snowy Egret and ...................................... Pied-billed Grebe


Boat-tailed Grackles:


Palm Warbler and ..................... male Red-winged Blackbird:

Right off the bat let me apologize for this poor image. Light is bad as it's overcast and late in the day. This little guy keeps coming to the suet. I'll post a better picture if I can catch him out there tomorrow. It's definitely not a gold finch. I am thinking some kind of wood warbler. What do you guys think?




Male Downy Woodpecker


Male Cardinal

Dave, that sure looks like a Warbler of some type to me. I'm thinking perhaps the Pine Warbler:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/g... but many warblers look alike to me. Love that bright red Cardinal!

I've seen a few Crows around lately ... not my fondest bird because I hate to see them take the young of other birds. Mourning Doves are very common here.

I think it's the Yellow Bellied Flycatcher
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/g...
Make sure to go down to the ID photos & click to enlarge & scroll through them.

Also take a look at the 3rd photo here
http://www.audubon.org/field-g...

I am pretty sure is not the flycatcher. I have seen those a lot. This bird has a rather bright Green-yellow color. Could be a pine warbler though it is much brighter in color than the pine warblers I have seen this year and also seems to be a bit larger and chunkier.

It looks like a Pine Warbler. I get them here for suet all the time. Some are brighter yellow than others. Some are greenish.

I thought you all will enjoy this. I found quite amusing.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/tasnee...

All I can hear in my head is the announcement at the luggage carousel at the airport..."Many birds look alike, please check your tags before you leave the baggage claim..."

Taking into account I know next to nothing about birds, I'm going to say it looks like Becky's bird. Neither of those birds are in my field guide so I'm guessing they don't like Florida. Although, I bet they'd like it now! High of 72 tomorrow and 20% chance of rain.

I saw a Great Blue Heron while going to Starbucks the other day! I didn't have my camera with me but even if I did, I don't think I would have pulled over. It was rush hour and it was also very foggy. And I have an aversion to being hit by cars. The Heron was on the other side of the road from the cow pasture in a ditch that had several inches of water in it. He stayed there for a while because I saw him coming and going. And the line at Starbucks was pretty long so I took a while. I haven't seem him in the last two days but I did see three Great Egrets on the way yesterday. (Yeah, I go to Starbucks too much.) I also had a whole flock of White Ibises milling about my neighbor's yard. I plan on doing some gardening tomorrow so I will try to take pictures of any birds I see, keeping in mind that they are much shier than butterflies and fly a lot faster and farther!

Ric we cross-posted. I saw that on Facebook and I was like, "Whaaa?"

Dave - I agree with Lin and the other Becky. It definitely looks like a Pine Warbler to me, too!

Pine Warbler banded in my yard a year ago:



This is the same bird days later at the feeder sporting it's new ankle bling-bling:





Ric - I saw that photo and article too and was wondering if it was photoshopped! Hard to believe, but I guess anything is possible!

Thanks guys. Haven't seen him this morning but it sure looks like a Pine Warbler.

I saw a few birds today and even managed to get pictures! First, there was a juvenile and an adult Ibis wandering between my yard and the neighbor's. Take a look at the juvenile and tell me if that's a feather sticking out of his breast (right above his leg). Does that mean he's molting?



One of our Red-Shouldered Hawks caught something across the street. I was really far away and zoomed in all I could be he still looks tiny.



Then, there was a pair of Cardinals hopping about. One was on the pile of plants my dad trimmed or pulled. I saw it take a twig and fly off with it. Maybe they're making a nest? The female tried hiding in my Black Cherry, but I still saw her!

Melanie, that will be awesome if the Cardinals make a nest.

The Ibis is probably molting.