Some Recent Bird Sightings

Well, after a couple of +90 degree days and some really fierce winds yesterday (with +50 mph gusts), our weather has returned to normal spring temps with much calmer breezes and a few intermittent rain showers today. The majority of our spring birds are back now and most of the warblers have moved on, as evidenced by my sightings last week in northern Minnesota.

I have a bunch of bird pictures on the compact flash card in my camera, so I figured tonight would be a good time to get them edited and in a blog post.

Here's a really bad picture of the Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher I saw a few weeks ago when I was birding with my Sissy at Forestville State Park. This was a lifer for me. It was quite the sassy little bird and responded nicely to my birdJam.

On May 10th, I was really surprised to see a couple of Pine Siskins at one of my thistle seed tube feeders. These guys must be the stragglers on this migration. Last night at Master Naturalist class, one of my classmates told of seeing a Common Redpoll at his thistle seed feeder last Saturday. His description of the bird and also the fact that it was on his thistle feeder eating convinced me that he had certainly seen a Redpoll. I know we've had a cold and late spring, so I hope these little migrants make it back to the north country in time to start a new family.


I've had Baltimore Orioles in the backyard for a couple of weeks now, but during supper the other night, I looked out and spotted this Orchard Oriole who sat still long enough for me to take his picture. He is Bird #42 on my backyard list for 2009.

The suet log has been seeing almost non-stop woodpecker activity this week--from both Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers. Sometimes the Hairy's seem to forget that they have to access the log from the bottom of the cage while the Downy can just fly right through. This was a lucky shot--the Hairy's almost always chase the Downy's away as soon as they spot them trying to get to the suet log.

Last night at Master Naturalist class one of my classmates spotted this Eastern Kingbird. It was my FOY kingbird and I'm sorry I couldn't get a better focused picture of such a handsome bird.

Last week, this was the view of the beautiful blooming crabapple tree outside my dining room window. I really love this tree and I'm glad it's so close to the house because the birds really love it too. Needless to say, after the winds of the past couple days, all the lovely pink blossoms have blown away.

Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks are such gorgeous birds anyway, but doesn't he look even more lovely with the green grass and crabapple blossoms in the background? Knowing we will have sights like this in May is what sustains us through the 6 months of a dark and cold Minnesota winter!

And, last but not least, here's an underappreciated Mourning Dove patiently waiting for the mistress of the household to "fill the darn birdfeeder, please!"

I hope you're all enjoying spring and the wonderful sights and sounds that go along with it!