January 28, 2024

Snowy Day on our Patio

January 28, 2024/ Gwen Morrison

The birds were very active at our feeders recently with the temperature in the single digits (Fahrenheit) and the wind blowing up to 16 miles per hour! Multiple perches were in use much of the time. The house finches were the most numerous but there were sparrows (white-crowned) and a woodpecker (hairy?) and a female Northern Cardinal too. It was quite a feeding frenzy!

I was taking pictures through an office window with a screen so the pictures have a softened focus. Sometimes birds were still enough for portraits (female finch, male woodpecker, white crowned sparrow, cardinal).

I attempted a picture of sparrow through vegetation….and liked the artsy veil that the automatic focus produced with the challenge.

Of course, there were other items catching snow around our patio – the chiminea, the holly trees, the gnarled vine to the side of the stairs to the deck, a paver near the almost covered lambs ear, fall leaves in the bottom of the wagon. I stepped outside to take these pictures….and all the birds flew away!

The birds returned within minutes of my exit from the patio back to the warmth of my office.

July 21, 2020

Through my Office Window – July 2020

July 21, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

The birds are finding most of their food in the natural environment this summer – not coming to the feeder as often. Still – some are coming often enough for me to take pictures through my office window.

2020 07 IMG_0493 (8).jpg — The House Finches and House Sparrows are the most frequent visitors. They often have clashes over the limited roosts on the feeder and chitter their angst.

The Red-Bellied Woodpeckers come occasionally. I see the female more often than the male.

The White-breasted Nuthatch comes almost every day in a short burst. I can recognize this bird without my glasses because of the way it moves at the feeder (upside down…head arched outward once it chooses a seed).

There are at least 2 Northern Cardinal pairs that come to the feeder – not at the same time but their territory must overlap a little. The bald female is the one I see most frequently. I keep expecting the feathers to grow back but she’s been bald for a long time; maybe she is an elderly bird…or a bird with a health condition. Often the male (with beautiful feathers and crest) is below keeping lookout for her.

And then there are the quick visitors that are hard to photograph like the Tufted Titmouse (below) or the Carolina Chickadee or the Carolina Wren.

Overall – July has not been an outstanding month for bird feeder activity. And now we are in for a series of days with temperatures above 90 and ‘heat advisories;’ the birds tend to say in the forest more when it is so hot. I am focusing on keeping the bird bath full for the birds and the squirrels.

January 31, 2020

Zooming – January 2020

January 31, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

The beginning of the new year….sunrises, birds, snow. It was a busier-than-usual January – but not for photography. I still had plenty of zoomed pictures to choose from. Most of them were taken at home but there are a few from Conowingo (the eagles and crane) and one from Belmont (the sparrow). It was a good start to the year.

Enjoy the slide show for January 2020!

October 06, 2019

Birds through my Office Window

October 06, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

The leaves are starting to swirl…but there are still enough on the trees to block the view of birds there. I’ve been lucky enough to catch some coming to our deck for seed or water. There was a Blue Jay with a scruffy head; most that I see are better looking. Sometimes the birds come alone…sometimes with buddies. They seem to like investigating the contents of the gutters.

The Carolina Chickadee was in a rush….I barely got one picture!

My favorite this month was the White-breasted Nuthatch. The birds seemed to be coming to the feeder very frequently. Did they have a late season nestlings they were feeding? They have such distinctive postures….always seem to move with precision.