Those Birds, Birds, Birds.......

  First off let me start by adding a little context as to why I'm posting all these bird pictures. A few days ago I was reading a thread on Mr. Peter Laird's blog where he posted a picture of a cardinal outside his window. On that thread I told Mr. Laird my story about a wounded cardinal I found this past fall. I wanted to share with him a picture I took of the wounded cardinal in my hallway. I picture that I really enjoy every time I look at it. For those of you that are not familiar with Peter Laird he is one of the co-creators of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Being a fan of the turtles is what first attracted me to his blog but, I have been following it for over a year now because I find Mr. Laird to be a most interesting fellow. After reading so many of his blog post I have come to appreciate his view of the world. A view I can often times get a peek into through his photography. He seems to carry a camera with him often, capturing the things he finds interesting or beautiful. (One time Mr. Laird even snapped a picture of my family when we where visiting Northampton. I'm not saying we are beautiful or interesting, even though we are, I think we where just in a particular shot he was trying to get.) As usual I am rambling on a bit as I do. Let me recommend his blog to you. http://plairdblog.blogspot.com/ There is a lot of cool and interesting post you can check out!
Now, on to birds!
   While searching for pictures of my cardinal friend  I came across a ton of pictures of  birds around my house. Pictures from the past couple years. I have so many pictures I had to widdle them down to just my favorite ones. I figured I would share my favorite ones here.

   First off my cardinal friend. This was a cardinal I found in my yard this past fall. His flight feathers on his left wing where missing. I took him in and took care of him till he regained is ability to fly. Here he is in my hallway before he could fly. I love the little attitude he was having in the first picture. He did not want to get in the cage that day and was throwing a little tantrum. Eventually he hopped up into his cage but, only after giving me an earful. I ruined his playtime.

Here is a picture I took of him this morning, Jan 20 1012. He seems to be thriving this winter. Looks like he even managed to put on some weight. His feathers have grown in nice and thick. I wonder if that is what is making him look so chunky or, if it is too much black oil sunflower seeds. Anyhow, it is good to see him doing so well. Sometimes I even see a female cardinal out there with him. She is a lovely bird as well. I will have to get a picture of her and share it when the opportunity presents itself.

Lets move on to some of my other bird pictures!

Every spring the same to humming birds come back to our house. If I forget to fill their feeder they will actually fly right up to me and yell at me. They are not shy birds in the least.

Here are the golden finches. We see them all summer eating Black Oil Sunflower seeds from the feeder and, hanging out in our peach tree. I was lucky and snapped a shot of the Golden finch sharing the feeder with a ruby throated woodpecker.

This is a cool one. We get a lot of wild turkeys in this area. I see them literally walking the streets when I'm out for a run. On this day one was taking a walk through our yard when, I grabbed my camera and snapped a shot of him. He was a big one!

This is one of my favorite birds to see in the yard. He is a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. He is a very hardy bird and, he is very sociable. There have been many occasions when I have stood out there and talked to him. He would just chirp back without getting scared or, flying off.

This here is a tit. I'm not sure what kind of tit exactly. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable could enlighten me. Whatever kind of tit he is, he is cute! I love these little guys.

This right here is what my Wife and I have been calling the scuttle bird. We call him that because he scuttles up and down or telephone poll that the feeders hang on. Just recently after doing some research I found that his true name is White Breasted Nuthatch. My wife pointed out to me that even though we know the scientific name for this bird we will always call him the scuttle bird!

This one is a Morning Dove I believe. We see him all the time walking around the yard or, perched on the power lines running to the house. He is usually accompanied by his mate. This is a rare shot of him alone. He must of needed some "Me Time".

Here is a bird that I have never seen in New England till I moved into my house. The rare Baltimore Oriole. When I first encountered this bird I was amazed at how brightly orange he, and his mate are.  I did not even know it was an Oriole because I have never seen one in person before. Every spring He and his mate come to nest in the Apple tree in our front yard. (You can sort of see him in the apple tree in the first picture). My wife and I where so excited to have Orioles that my wife purchased a Oriole feeder. They never used it. They seemed to like the humming bird feeder more. The humming birds where not to pleased with that.


Well, I think that is enough for now. I hope you enjoyed what I put up! After looking at all these bird pictures I have on my hard drive I have come to the conclusion that, taking pictures of birds might be a hobby of mine. I hobby I did not realize I had. I'm looking forward to seeing my bird friends return in the spring of 2012. Hopefully there will be some new ones with them. Till then, I always have my cardinal friend to take pictures of.