The birds also like the berries on my Hawthorn tree, it is a very lovely tree, pretty little double pink blooms in the spring.

That IS pretty!

Really lovely, Margaret!

The ice is just starting to break up on our lake, so this afternoon DH went to see if he could fish from the shore. I was in the garden weeding when he came back and asked me if I wanted to get photos of a Bald Eagle on the ice trying to get a fish, we jumped in the truck and back to the lake which is like 5 minutes, we parked near where he was and I got a few shots before we spooked him and he flew off.

He was really trying to break up the soft ice to get at a fish, maybe a winter kill frozen in the ice.


It was a very large bird, look at the wingspan on the last photo, sorry it is so blurred.

Those are incredible photos Margaret, just amazing!!!!

Thank you Linda! It was a beautiful site for sure.

Would have loved to been there.

Wow! Amazing, Margaret!!

It sure was Natalie!! I am going to send DH back tomorrow to see if he comes back, there is a nesting pair that spends a lot of time around the lake.

Margaret! Beautiful!

Hi bird people! I saw a pair of Red-Shouldered Hawks today. But one looks a little different to me. My book says the males and females look the same so I'll just let you guys explain it to me. Anyway, here's some pictures.

Here they are together. See how the one on the right looks bigger? Is it just the way it's sitting and holding it's wings?



Then, the one on the right flew off to explore something in the grass.



While the other one stayed in the tree.



Eventually, they were both sitting on different sections of my neighbor's fence. I thought they might be hunting but they ignored the squirrels in the area. They sure were flying around a lot today, though. I'm not sure what they were up to.

Very nice, Melanie! I can't help with anything you asked about, but I'm sure someone will know.

Beautiful Margaret! Eagles are such magnificent birds!!

Nice Mellie!! The small hawk looks like a juvenile. We have some young juvenile hawks flying here now too.

Thank you Christine, and yes they sure are magnificent birds.

Melanie, those are great hawk shots.

Just happened to read in one post about crabapples and we have a beautiful ornamental crabapple which usually produces lots of fruit each year. We do not have a problem because the deer love them, and this is one time we welcome the deer in the yard. Also, one year we had a family of opossums one night and a family of raccoons the next night having a feast. It was so funny shining the flashlight up in the tree at night and seeing all those eyes looking at us.

That hawk sure looked big enough to me! I'll have to read about how long they stay with their parents. We've had the same pair nesting in the neighborhood for a long time now.

For those of you with fruit issues, be aware that many butterflies actually prefer rotting fruit to flowers. My aunt in WV gets a lot of Red-Spotted Purples when the apples fall off her trees in the fall. Viceroys are another one that will eat rotting fruit. Makes it hard to see them since they hardly ever visit the garden. But I thought you guys might want to know in case you see butterflies on your fruits. And if they've fermented, you might get to see drunk butterflies!

Melanie, the Red Shouldered Hawks can exhibit quite a bit of variation in color even as adults. Read about them & look at all the different photos & you will see they can look like 2 different types of hawks unless you know what to look for. Also, I don't think they really take larger game too much. We have tons of squirrels here & we haven't witnessed a RT Hawk taking one yet or even going after one. They do go after songbirds. We have watched them eat earthworms LOTS of times, bugs of course.

Great photos of them!
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/g...

http://www.audubon.org/field-g...

http://www.hawkmountain.org/ra...

http://identify.whatbird.com/o...

BTW, I did extensive research on Red Tailed Hawk ID a couple years back & they too can very tremendously in coloration too.


Margaret! Fantastic shots!!!!!

Thank you Dave and Ann!

Thank YOU Margaret.

Finally got a couple of half-way decent picture of some turkeys. The tom was really trying to impress the group of 6 hens. They couldn't have cared less.