It was a good weekend for aiming the camera at my fine-feathered feeder friends from the comfort and warmth of indoors. I got quite a few "take away" shots, like these.
White-breasted Nuthatch and Red-bellied Woodpecker fly off with their respective treats. Once again, you can actually see that red belly.
And the beautiful Northern Cardinal looked especially brilliant.
Kelly, this one's for you!
A very special treat was an extended visit from a sweet Carolina Wren, but I'm saving those photos for another post.
Someone recently asked me if we had noticed an increase in Titmice at the feeders this season, to which I replied "no." Well, I went back and checked data from all seasons to-date, and it turns out that so far this season has seen the greatest average number of Titmice: 4.5. My first season of Feederwatching ('05-'06) saw the lowest average number of Titmice, at 2.4, and last season was the 2nd lowest average with 2.9. Hmmm... last season saw a poor showing for Carolina Wrens, too. I think I need to figure out how to get my data into some kind of chart form for easier analysis, which might help me get a better picture of what happened last winter that made it so difficult for the birds. Now that I think about it, though, the winter may not have had so much to do with at as the summer - maybe last summer was a bad/unsuccessful mating season for some reason.
Anyway, to this weekend's numbers...
Week 8 roll call, 1/2/10-1/3/10:
| Mourning Dove | 25 |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | 1 |
| Downy Woodpecker | 1 |
| Hairy Woodpecker | 1 |
| Blue Jay | 1 |
| Carolina/Black-capped Chickadee | 4 |
| Tufted Titmouse | 5 |
| White-breasted Nuthatch | 2 |
| Carolina Wren | 2 |
| Song Sparrow | 2 |
| White-throated Sparrow | 3 |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 3 |
| Northern Cardinal | 5 |
| American Goldfinch | 7 |
Happy birding!
8 comments:
Love these shots! That cardinal couldn't be any more brilliant!
Nice post, love the Cardinal!
Craig
Happy New Year Heather!
Is there anything cuter than little birdie footprints in the snow? Well, maybe little mouse footprints, but you know what I'm saying.
That cardinal photo is gorgeous (- and perfect for Kelly!)
Heather - Do you use Excel at all? If you enter all your counts into an Excel spreadsheet it's pretty easy to generate graphs and charts to look at all sorts of things. It could help you look at your data in a whole new way!
Your photos are so amazing! I love your "takeaway" shots and the cardinal....well, that one leaves me speechless!
Love those shots of the birds carrying off their food. And that Cardinal photo is gorgeous!!
Heather....that Red is gorgeous!! I love that photo! Thank you very much! :-) We have hit the jackpot with titmice it seems, and last year we struggled to see a few. I love those sweet little birds. Seems like their numbers are up everywhere!
Thanks for the nice comments, everyone. I'm quite sure that the Cardinal is one of the most photogenic birds of North America. Who doesn't like their striking good looks?
Gabrielle - Little mousy feet in the snow... now those are some prints I would love to see!
Monika - I've not used Excel much as a tool for creating graphs and charts, but you're right, that is something I should look into. Thanks.
Kelly - I knew you'd like Red. ; ) I'm glad your titmice numbers are staying high. I'm thinking this must have been a good breeding year for them. I remember seeing quite a few young ones at the feeders this summer.
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