Birds: Songbirds, Cowbirds & Ohers

I am very lucky to know so many amazingly talented bird photographers on Flickr! You all know how much I adore your pictures, the vast variety of bird species, in flight or perched on a branch. My biggest problem about taking pictures of birds is that I lack the patience to wait for them to land where I can take a picture, or else I cannot aim my camera fast enough to capture them in flight! We have a 100-400mm telephoto lens, which is great for bird pictures, but it weighs almost as much as a truck so I rarely use it. However, today I decided to go outside and have a seat near our bird feeders and wait for them to forget about me and return to their eating. After about 10 minutes, back they came! Lucky me! I got a nice picture of the bird I wanted most to capture, the beautiful Oregon Junco! This lovely male shown here is showing off his black upper body and creamy colored chest feathers. This distinction sets these birds apart from the much plainer parent species, the Dark-Eyed Junco. We see several types of Dark-Eyed Juncos here, but the Oregon sub-species are especially pretty! They begin showing up in about November and the last ones leave in about April or May. If you'd like to know more about these lovely little birds, Wiki has information here: Wikipedia: Dark-eyed Junco Chinese proverbs are developed from the formulaic or social dialect/saying/expression and historical story in Chinese. Some proverbs are literary; that is, from a written source. Others originated among families, street vendors, and other commoners--all walks of life. ' Wikiquotes: Chinese Proverbs Explored on Flickr on February 24, 2013. Highest position: #462.

Outside our kitchen window we have our bird feeders and a bunch of plastic trays which we keep full with water for the birds. Every day we get to watch them drinking taking baths too, and it's one of the cutest things to watch! :D This is a male and female house finch (the male is the one with red on it)

It has been raining like cats and dogs the past couple of days and even though we hoped for snow, we're very happy to see the downpour, as it's been unseasonably dry this year and we need the rain badly. However, the birds are getting a little tired of the wet conditions! I couldn't resist taking pictures and you know, I don't think they are very impressed with me! :D :D :D This image was taken in January, 2012.

This male cowbird is trying to argue with a female Evening Grosbeak. I don't THINK so. "STEP AWAY FROM THE SEED!" This image was taken by Steve Brien

Flock of male Black Headed Grosbeaks, male House Finch, Male Cowbird

Winner of FlickrDuel contest: +10 Wins: Color: Yellow

This beautiful male Western Tanager was found in a tree in our meadow. He followed us around from one tree to another and was a wonderful model! This image was taken by Steve Brien

The Lark Sparrow can be found throughout most of North America and as far south as Guatemala. It has been seen in western Europe as well. They are mainly seed eaters but also eat insects during the breeding season. They nest on the ground in grass cups sheltered by clumps of grass. If you would like to know more about these birds, Wiki has a source of information here: Wiki: Lark Sparrow Explored on June 11, 2012, placement at #60