American Kestrel

Its been awhile! Not much has been going on around the farm, but I did see not one, not two, but THREE pairs of Cardinals in our yard over the winter. I was so excited, you don't even know! That is a big deal if you know much about the birds I usually attract here at our stuck-in-the-middle-of-a-corn-field farm.....ie starlings and house sparrows. I have been seeing 1 pair pretty regularly, but I haven't seen them at my feeders. I just put out some safflower yesterday, so we will see if that helps. Maybe they don't like my sunflower seed. Oh and the robins have arrived now so that is nice, gives a little more variety ;-)  I am hoping to get some bluebird nest boxes up very soon so hopefully we can attract some of the little guys. I have seen them, but I have been afraid to put of boxes because of all the starlings we have, I don't want them killing the bluebirds. But I will have to try it and see what happens and do my best to keep the bad birds away.

Now, on to the part about the Kestrel! It wasn't on our farm, but it was while I was sitting in our truck waiting for Jim at Tractor Supply. I spotted this little lovely sitting on the power lines, having a snack. Thank goodness I had my camera! Jim gave me a Nikon P100 with a 26x zoom for Christmas so the first 2 photos are from far away, using that zoom. The last photo was when we were leaving, Jim drove right up to where the Kestrel was sitting and I snapped a few photos from below.

Warning: if you don't like to see birds ripping up little critters, don't look, especially at the last, 3rd, photo. =)

Hummingbird Cam!

This is so neat, a friend posted the link on twitter today. It is a live video stream of a hummingbird nest. The mama has been sitting on it for a while now. She did leave once and I saw two eggs in the nest. Check it out!

Phoebe's Nest

My Winter Walk

I went for a walk around our property on Saturday for, oh the second time this whole winter I think! My hubby has been working a ton so I haven't been able to venture too far from the house because of my 2 year old. It was so nice to get to go down to the creek and look for some birds other than starlings and house sparrows. I didn't actually see much this time, it was a very quiet day, but I did see a pair of Mallards, a lonely Robin and a Blue Jay.

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Getting Closer... BPW #75

Ohhh, I am so excited! I got the closest I have been to my Belted Kingfisher today! Its is so shy though, its hard to get close enough for a good shot. But I did get close enough to be able to tell that its a female =)

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It's Been A While! & BPH #73

Wow, I haven't posted in a long time! Sorry! Lots has gone on and I really haven't had any interesting birds to take photos of, at least I haven't been able to get close enough to the few to get a good shot. I took a walk around our property last week when we got a beautiful heavy frost and I made my way down to the creek where there are a few trees. I saw a male and female Cardinal and was able to get an alright pic of the female even though I didn't have my zoom with me.

I am making it my goal to get the Cardinals to come to my backyard this year and I would just LOVE to get some Chickadees too, but that is a long shot as there aren't any wooded areas too close, unless they come to the area by the creek...I can hope! I am planting as many trees as our budget can allow, but it will take a while for them to grow and create any sort of cover. Ah...someday!

Oh, and I saw our resident Kingfisher the other day too, so I have another goal of getting a good pic of him or her sometime within the next couple months. I just LOVE them, they are so gorgeous! So keep an eye out for that photo and pray I get a good one!

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Goldfinches & a Mocking Bird Sighting

We had our first Mockingbird visit of the year today! Mocking birds are VERY special birds to me. My mom had a Mockingbird visit every winter for a few years in a row. She named him Mickey. He would come to the kitchen window and eat the cornmeal/peanut butter/lard balls (forget what they were called) she would put out for him. He LOVED that stuff! And he was just the cutest thing! I absolutely love Mockingbirds, their personalities are priceless. It was so very fitting that this Mocker came by today, being Memorial Day. It really helped me remember my mother. I am so glad it stopped by and shared some of its antics with us. And its singing was just beautiful. It was the loudest bird on our property by far! When I first heard the plethora of bird songs this morning I just knew who was here! I was so excited when I spotted our Mocker. It was so much fun watching it fly around, diving and flying up and flashing its pretty wings. Unfortunately I did not get a pic so hopefully it will return and maybe if we are lucky we will have a nester!

Here are a couple pics of goldfinches in the meantime. Not too great, but now I have them documented! =)

Bird Photography Weekly #36 - Pine Siskins

I looked out the window today to see these birds at my goldfinch feeder. I thought, aw great stupid sparrows learned how to flip upside down...grrr! But then I got out my binoculars and took a closer look. I saw some yellow on the wings...hmmm.....what is that? Not a goldfinch....then Pine Siskin somehow popped into my head, I could just hear my mom say it. I really couldn't picture one for sure so I looked it up. Sure enough, that's what these were! I was so excited, so of course, I ran and got my camera. Boy, I really wish I had a better zoom lens!

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