Claudia, on the photos of the Bald Eagle! I really like your picture of that little lady Cardinal framed by the fall leaf color!

Thank you!

English robin



They live here year round, but are traditionally associated with winter.

English Robin:

English Robins

Thanks, Lin and Claudia.

Birds are still fairly scarce around here which is so abnormal. I haven't even seen a hawk lately and the absence of the birds may be due to either feral or neighborhood cats. A few days ago, I went out to get the newspaper about 6:30 a.m. and when I walked out the front door there was a beautiful, large gray and white cat sitting on a branch up in one of the oak trees! It did jump out of the tree and ran when it saw me but it didn't appear to be a feral cat, I think it belongs to one of my neighbors.

The only two birds I've seen all day today, a Red-bellied Woodpecker and a Northern Cardinal ...

Red-bellied Woodpeckers, male and female

Looking to see if I can tell the difference between the male and the female but I cannot be sure.

Lin, is it that the male has more red on the head than the female?

Christine, Yes the male has red forehead, cap and nape; female has red nape and gray cap/head.

A strangely marked Bush Stone-curlew has wandered in. I know the patterns of the chicks and immature well. This one has no white facial markings.

He is like that dark, handsome stranger.

He sure is, Gleni, with that charming look on his face.

They do have the most lovely eyes of any bird. Keep an eye on that one, Glen. It will be interesting to see if he develops more white areas or not.

dyzzypyxxy said:They do have the most lovely eyes of any bird. Keep an eye on that one, Glen. It will be interesting to see if he develops more white areas or not.

I stopped by MOSI today to drop off some stuff for my friend and solidify plans. We're seeing Neil DeGrasse Tyson on Thursday! While we were there, the local group of Nanday Parakeets showed up. No, they are not native and no they didn't escape from Busch Gardens. In bad news, my camera broke! It was giving me a system error and the barrel wouldn't go back into the camera. Luckily, it's still in the warranty period so it's getting mailed tomorrow. I did have my phone on me so I took a few bad pictures of the birds. The gray sky didn't help.



In good news, I still have my old digital camera so at least I have something better than my phone until my camera gets fixed.

I've had those guys stop in my garden a couple of times. They're very destructive to plants especially fruit and veggies.

Here's a good article on them: http://www.dailykos.com/story/...

I love Neil DeGrasse Tyson!!

Bad news about the camera! My first digital camera, a Fuji, did that but I had it at least 2-3 years and had taken lots of shots. I got it fixed locally. My Canon is starting to act up and sometimes just will not focus. Not sure what I will do if it stops functioning!

Mom mailed my camera off to be fixed as I was in Sarasota all day. She sent it priority mail so let's hope they can get it quick, fix it, and send it back. In the meantime, I charged up the battery for my old camera.

Nice pics all, @plantladylin, that blue heron is amazing to look at. I don't know a darn thing about birds, or whether any like that are in Washington, but I sure have never seen one. Just a beautiful creature. I come here because I love how much you all know about birds, and figure some of your hard earned knowledge could rub off on me. I love seeing what pictures are posted with such regularity. You guys should know you are creating more bird lovers by displaying your love for them here.

Laurie B

@lauriebasler Laurie, the Great Blue Heron along with the Great Egret, Green Heron and Little Blue Heron are found in Washington state! http://helpwww.birdweb.org/bir...