American Robin



House Finch



Brood #1 House Finch

Oh, Peggy, adorable adorable adorable! Do you have more 'chick pics'?

That's a gorgeous picture of that robin, Peggy.

I see now on bigger sites (like Cornell's) that red house finch is super common. When I started trying to id I looked on sites with birds found in my area and the pics were harder to match up.

I wish I had a place for a window bird feeder, that's a good idea for picture taking.

Kurt thanks for the info on the camera lens. That's a nice lens.

Great shots everyone!

Laurel, my camera is so old, I can't remember what the lens is but it says on the side Lumix 45 - 200 zoom. I have this camera permanently on a tripod and got those pictures because I was standing really still fiddling with something and the little wren came to the feeder about 8ft. away from me, so I was able to keep still enough not to spook him and snap some pictures.

Luck beats skill any day - or as my mother used to say "better to be lucky than smart most of the time".

Great photos everyone!

Laurel, my longest lens is a zoom that reaches 200mm (it's an 80-200mm). I'd love a longer one, but I use Nikon and they are horribly expensive, so I make do with cropping/enlarging the photos I take. If I were starting out today, I'd probably go for a Canon, their lenses are really good for wildlife photography. I have also seen some amazing photos taken on smartphones (some of the photos I upload here are taken on my mobile) - the quality nowadays is impressive, so photography doesn't have to be expensive.

A lot of my pictures that I post here are taken with my phone, too. My kids bought me a little zoom lens (and a macro) that clips onto the phone for Mother's Day, but unfortunately it doesn't fit so in a few more days I'll have zoom phone photos.

How sweet of your children, Elaine! I'm sure you more than deserve it, but it's great that they know it.

Terrific photos everyone!

Bird people! I had a pretty excellent bird day. I didn't get pictures of everything I wanted, and some are a little (and a lot) blurry, but bear with me.

This one is easy - Blue Jay!



Downy or Hairy Woodpecker? I'm too tired to figure it out.



Cardinal. He was using his feet to scratch behind his head. It reminded me of a cat.



Blurry Tufted Titmouse. These guys are constantly moving!



The Red-Bellied Woodpecker seemed determined to test every tree in the neighborhood.



Carolina Wren? It wouldn't stop hopping!



And I think this is another Carolina Wren. It was hiding in the Azaleas with a Cardinal and I flushed them out.



But the most super, exciting thing happened! I finally got around to putting up the hummingbird feeder I bought! I was walking around the house when I came around the corner and saw a hummingbird using it! But I couldn't get a picture. I kept my eyes open all day, but I didn't see it again. After dinner, I went out to water the plants as the sun was going down. I was standing literally ten feet from the feeder, watering some plants, and here he came! I pulled out my camera slowly and got these shots! I noticed he only used the "flower" on the side away from me (look at the one just to the right of the glass part). It was like he didn't want to get too close or turn his back to me. Can't blame him. I did the one part sugar to four parts water like you guys said. I only put a little in because I wasn't even sure it would work. Looks like it did!

Oh boy Melanie, you had quite the day!

Glad you got your feeder out! Yes, Mine try to stay out of sight on the other side too. They make me think of an Ostrich hiding his head in the sand...if I can't see you, you can't see me. But hummers have no fear. They get used to you, and will get right in your face...especially if the feeder gets empty. Makes me glad I wear glasses, sometimes.

Years ago I had a male that would challenge me over the Porterweed every morning when I walked by it to get to the car. I was like, "Do we have to do this every morning?"

What a brilliant, full-of-birds day, Melanie! And a hummingbird as the icing on the cake!! They are amazing.

Very nice Melanie! Your woodpecker is a Downy.

Peggy, love the shot of all the finches!

Wonderful hummingbird shots there, Melanie. You really got a great flash or two of his ruby throat!

I love taking pictures in the soft evening light. Everything shows up so much better.

about the soft evening light Elaine, especially here in FL.

Melanie you done good! You got everything correctly ID'd and Claudia told you your woodpecker is a Downy.
It's totally exciting about the male ruby throat hummer isn't it? They will get used to you pretty darn quick.

I admit, I was so happy to see that ruby throat. And I mean in real life! The camera really impressed me, too! It's weird how the hummingbirds fly away from me if I get too close to a plant, but I was just standing there and it flew over. It almost makes you wonder if they somehow "know" people are providing that food. I'm probably just hoping they do.

I did have a question I'd like to pose to everyone. Now, I wouldn't mind setting up a bird feeder or a birdhouse, but as you all know, I don't want the birds eating all my caterpillars. Just looking around this evening, I think I have plenty of habitat, so I don't really know if I would need something like a birdhouse. But if I got a bird feeder, are there certain types of birds I could try attracting that wold just be seed eaters and not go after my caterpillars?

Melanie not sure all birds eat caterpillars but pretty sure I read all feeders birds do eat bugs every now and then. I think black sunflower seeds are by far the most loved seed by most song birds , but squirrels love them too and will gobble them up if given the chance. Woodpeckers love suet as do starlings unfortunately. Blue jays , woodpeckers , nuthatches and titmice love peanuts , but again so do squirrels and starlings.