Keep feeding them, Melanie. You could net a freebie Thanksgiving dinner . . ..

I feed them nothing. They are free range turkeys. They do seem happy. Happier than the caged turkeys we eat for the holidays.

I got a few birdie photos from my backyard this afternoon, lighting isn't great in some of them because it was so bright.

Blue Jay ... the molting one I call Baldy:


Red-bellied Woodpecker, female and juvenile perched in the Cypress tree:


Downy Woodpecker, female:


Tufted Titmouse:


At first I thought this was a Mockingbird, then when I downloaded my pictures I thought it was a Loggerhead Shrike but when I saw a close up and lightened the photo I noticed it didn't have a hooked bill so I looked through my bird book and I think it's an Eastern Kingbird ... a first sighting for me:


I was out on the back porch this afternoon and spotted a juvenile White Ibis, he was in my next door neighbors yard but flew and landed on the power line where he stood looking around and scratching an itch:

Oh boy Lin, poor baldy sure is having a time of it isn't he? I've never seen a bird molting that much that it has a bald head - completely bald. He needs a hat of he's going to get sunburned!
Love the titmouse as always.
On your first Eastern Kingbird!!! I've never seen one of those in person.

I haven't seen any titmice in months. That's odd. I saw the juvie male summer tanager again today but it's soooo shy it's very difficult to get a shot of it.

Mom and I both looked at that poor Blue Jay and went, "Yikes!" If I saw one like that I'd be on here asking if it was sick or something.

My brother and I got in an argument over White Ibises on the way to dinner. I saw a flock of them and mentioned they were White Ibises. My brother said, "With the black tips." And I said no, they were all white. And he argued with me because he said on one of his old Boy Scout patches they had the Ibis on it and it had black tips. So we got home and I got out my book and read and it said they do have black tips on the wings only seen in flight. Since I never see them flying, just walking around, I had never seen the black. So I had to explain and sort of apologize. I don't actually apologize because he's my older brother. Duh.

LOL ... it's hard to admit when a sibling is right!

These are old photos of White Ibis from a couple of years ago, I think in the first you can just barely see the black tips on the wings that are tucked under ... and very visible on the bird in flight:

Thanks, Lin! Those are awesome photos. You bird folks just keep teaching me and one day I'll know a little something.

You're doing good Melanie.

Melanie, Thank you for the ! I think you are doing great too!

The first time I saw a bald-headed Blue Jay, I was sure it had mites or a disease of some sort; but then someone told me they molt on occasion. These photos are from 2010 and 2011 ... faces only a mama jay could love.

Wow, their heads look a lot smaller without all those feathers!

Sort of like when you give a dog a bath & they suddenly look VERY different.

Lin, congratulations on the Kingbird!! We used to so many around here during the summer but this year I saw very few of them. They are usually all around here and on the wires by all the farm fields.

Great shots there Lin. My Steller's jays are molting too but not quite to that extent, their crests are all scraggly looking. I had 9 maybe 10, hard to count them all when they wont sit still, come all at once for their peanuts, it was a squawking, fighting, riot, I love watching them.

Mine are molting too. Glad to know what happened to my nice family of Jays! They arrive 4 or 5 at a time, and have been so pretty until lately. Now they're really looking ratty. I thought maybe it was from the weather, but it hasn't been all that wet here, contrary to popular belief.

They're out there now, making lots of noise but everyone's in the bamboo so there must be a predator somewhere close by.

Looking out the window beside me, a veritable menage of wildlife - amongst the flock of sparrows, a squirrel, couple of grackles, carolina wren at the seed cake, mourning doves on the ground and a cardinal waiting his turn at the feeder.

Can't get my camera to fit my (old, antiquated) tripod. Will try for a picture soon.

I was sitting at the breakfast nook, talking to Dad, when he said, "Turkeys." The window is right behind me so I turned around and sure enough, five of the turkeys wandered through our side yard. Not enough time to get my camera, but it was fun seeing them so close. I never realized the rainbow of colors in their feathers. They're much prettier than I had thought.

Melanie, that's so cool to have so many wild turkeys visit your yard! We see them along the highways and interstate at times but I've not ever seen one in my neighborhood here. When visiting my sister and brother in law in Sebastian, Fl (where we will be moving next year) I've seen wild turkeys wandering the neighborhood and I don't mind them at all ... it's the gators that worry me! A month or so ago, my sister walked out her front door one morning and a 5' gator was in the flower bed right outside the door ... the hissing caught her attention! I've seen people in that neighborhood throwing food into the water (supposedly to feed the ducks!) but when the gators see a human at the gazebo by the water, they head right over ... thinking there's food! Someone said "Well, they are only little alligators." Don't they realize that little gators grow up???

Blue Jay early this morning and a Blue Heron taking a stroll down the road a few minutes ago when I had the dog out:

Just a few but things are picking up little by little.

Downy Woodpecker and a female Cardinal


Juvie Red-bellied Woodpecker and a migrating adult male Baltimore Oriole


Lots of Orioles stopping over the last week!




Male Cardinal & White-breasted Nuthatch!


Robin

Oh my goodness, all are nice but I WANT those beautiful Orioles!