Winter Birds: White-throated Sparrow, Nuthatch, Tufted Titmouse

White-throated Sparrow





Tufted Titmice


White Breasted Nuthatch

When it snows, or when we want the birds to come up to the deck, we leave out nyjer, peanuts, and sunflower seeds for the winter birds in addition to the safflower, suet and nyjer in the feeders. The juncos prefer the nyjer and the cardinals prefer the sunflower seeds. Blue jays, red bellied woodpeckers and tufted titmice like the peanuts. The nuthatch will visit the suet and the feeders but rarely comes to the deck. The blue jays can be quite aggressive with the peanuts, but Mike got a photo of a nice pair of tufted titmice enjoying them without the blue jays interfering.

Fox News: Christmas Report

Early on Christmas morning when we were looking out the windows and watching birds, Chris commented that she thought we would have a special visitor today; just a feeling. While visiting on the phone with one of our daughters and taking the turkey out of the oven, Chris practically had a fit when she saw the fox, who has been around the neighborhood a lot, drinking out of our waterfall. We sort of suspected something larger than the birds had been helping themselves to some sips, because we've had to fill it up with bucketfuls. This fox was not at all startled when Mike went out to get its picture. It even gave a little shake like a dog would to get some water off its face. Nice to know we are helping out the wildlife with our heated waterfall while the lake is not available for them.

Tufted Titmouse Balancing on a Peanut

This was an entertaining little titmouse. Usually they land for barely a second and snatch a peanut up quickly with their beaks. This one seemed confused about how to go about acquiring the peanut. Mostly it sat around a pile of them, sometimes balancing on one, but eventually it pecked at one to make a small hole which seemed to make it easier for it to fly away with.

Flicker and Sapsucker

Northern Flicker


Yellow Bellied Sapsucker

It's always a special day when the sapsucker or flicker make an apperance.

Carolina Wren:Photo by Donna

This bird was spotted on December 15th, 2010 in Bernardsville, NJ on my back deck pecking at seed from the suet. It didn't stay more than a few minutes, but it was quite a treat.

Birds of Harbour Island, Bahamas

One doesn't go to Harbour Island in the Bahamas for birding. We went to avoid the cold, celebrate a birthday, walk along a stunning pink sand beach, listen to the gently rolling waves, and gaze into the turquoise ocean under a blue sky. However, just before we left, we discovered that our destination, the Pink Sands Hotel, is a bird sanctuary recognized by the Audubon Society. The hotel actually doesn't market itself as a birder's choice, does not go out of its way to attract birds, and no staff seemed overly knowledgeable about  the birds. However, there are a good number of trees on the landscaped grounds, and we saw many warblers. The quantity wasn't great, but there were a wide variety of bird species. We even saw a Cape May warbler, a bird that has eluded us in Cape May.

Prairie Warbler


Cape May Warbler


Yellow throated Warbler



Northern Parula


Palm Warbler


American Redstart (Female)


Ovenbird


Bahama Woodstar


Female Painted Bunting


We also saw a black and white warbler, a black throated blue warbler, a yellow rumped warbler,  some catbirds and a few tropical mockingbirds but didn't photograph them all.

Harbour Island: Birds and Blooms

Northern Parula


Bananaquit


Bahama Woodstar

Prairie Warble

Harbour Island: Pink Sands Beach Birds

Night Heron (Yellow Crowned Juvenile)


Plover

Harbour Island: Raptors in Flight

Kestrel

Osprey

Some Favorite Bird Photos

It's been a bit too cold for us to go birding, so as 2010 comes to an end, we thought we'd post some of our favorite bird photos.




Eastern Bluebird


Male Hooded Merganser


Female Common Merganser


Cedar Waxwing

Red Bellied Woodpeckers

Male

Female

The woodpeckers are enjoying the suet we put out. The male (top) has more red on the head than the female(bottom).

Lake Nelson's Fox

Recently a fox (or maybe two) have been seen more regularly by us and several of our neighbors. One afternoon, it startled Chris right in front of the house. This morning, while out testing a eye-fi memory card for the camera, we saw this one by the dam.

Tufted Titmouse Slide Show

I probably will grow tired of "titmouse with the peanut" photos. Time will tell.

Sharp shinned hawk looking for breakfast

White Breasted Nuthatch

The nuthatches don't come to our feeders as routinely as all the other backyard birds do, and they have never come up close onto the deck railing, but they are almost always in the trees enjoying the yard with the other common birds.

Female Northern Cardinal

The male cardinal has been a frequent visitor, so we stopped photographing him. Today the female was less shy and posed for a few pictures.

Rutgers leucistic red-tailed hawk

Here's another photo of the white hawk that has been a regular visitor to Rutgers Busch campus in Piscataway. He is often seen near the Busch entrances or exits from Rt 18.

Red Breasted Nuthatch: Round Valley Recreation Area

Here are two of 200 photos of the red breasted nuthatch that Mike took at Round Valley Recreation Area today.

Dark Eyed Junco

The arrival of the juncos remind us that winter is approaching.

Horned Grebe: Liberty State Park

We've been wanting to see a horned grebe, but we'll have to come back in the spring when its more colorful.

Blue Jay

If a bird with these colors was rare, we'd drive miles to see it and post every photo we could take. When there are a dozen in your backyard, it's easy to overlook how beautiful the blue jay actually is.

It's getting too easy: Northern Cardinal and Tufted Titmouse

The new sony a580 and the birds coming to the deck are producing much higher quality photos than a few years back. We'll have to get out more.