Birds of Alberta 2

Wish I could have gently moved the two twigs out of the way - but that's nature photography for you! I'm always amused when I see the size of some of the nuts these birds fly off with. This female was no exception.

This little male Downy Woodpecker knew just where to look for seeds in a local park. Think I'll have to go back to this area this coming week, while the winter birds such as the Common Redpolls, are still around.

These Common Redpolls seem to be as active as the Chickadees! Oh, what fun! These little guys are "in constant danger of running out of fuel and dying from hypothermia, so they are almost always eating" ("Birds of Alberta" by Fisher and Acorn).

Got another chance to see a few Redpolls this afternoon when I called in at a second natural area. After uploading this photo, it suddenly struck me that maybe this is a Hoary Redpoll, not a Common Redpoll, because of its lighter coloring. I would love it if someone could confirm or correct for me! The highest this photo has been in Explore is #110 on 22nd January 2007.

Unfortunately, this bird has its bill open, so the overlapped ("crossed") bill isn't obvious. It looks very awkward to have an open and lower bill that don't meet together, but this design is for opening Spruce seeds from the cones. The flock of Crossbills that I saw today was in a couple of Spruce trees, working frantically at removing as many seeds in as short a time as possible. This was the first time that I had seen what these birds look like. Wasn't able to get any decent photos (wretched grasses or too high up in the tree!) but I'll post what I do have. I was amazed at how beautifully coloured these birds are. A much more vivid red than the drawing in my bird book!

I was surprised to find out that the female White-winged Crossbill is yellowy green! So lucky that I happened to get to the park just as this flock arrived to attack the Spruce tree cones! Almost made it feel as if the whole top of the tree was alive - so much movement and commotion from these birds as they frantically went their way to removing all the seeds from the cones.

Another poor photo taken when one of the White-winged Crossbills flew down into the tangle of grasses and bushes. This photo gives a somewhat better idea of why these birds are called Crossbills.

Too bad one of these males didn't perch on an open branch in good lighting for me, but it was still an amazing feeling to see so many bright red birds in one tree.

After a morning searching for Snowy Owls and Short-eared Owls, I called in at one of my favourite places to see if the Common Redpolls were still around. They were, but they proved just as difficult to photograph as other times. When they did come out of the tangled bushes, the sun was much too bright on them.