Mike’s Monday Pics – 10/11/21

Birds In My Backyard

A week or two ago I spotted a Rose-breasted Grosbeak in my backyard and reported it on eBird.  Birding Buddy Bonnie commented that I was lucky to get it as yard-bird.  One of the many benefits of using eBird is that, if done right, it keeps track of how many species you have seen in your own yard – I currently stand at 68.  To do it right, when you submit a checklist from your yard you can name the location (I named mine Valley View, because that’s the subdivision I live in).  If eBird picks the location automatically it could list your actual address, which I didn’t want.  Now, every time I submit a checklist of birds seen in my yard I select Valley View as the location and eBird tallies all the species I’ve seen here.

Getting back to my original story, I told Birding Buddy Bonnie that in the past I’ve had 4-6 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks at my feeders at the same time!  That got me thinking about other birds I’ve seen here and taken pictures of, so today I feature Birds in My Backyard.

We start of with the birds that started this whole conversation.  Rose-breasted Grosbeaks gathered together in a small group to eat the Safflower I put in the platform feeder:

 

It was unusual to see both a Scarlet Tanager and a Rose-breasted Grosbeak at the Oriole Feeder.  I had seen the Scarlet Tanager there before but the Grosbeak was usually feeding at the platform feeder.

 

Turn about is fair play – we put out an Oriole feeder each spring, stocked with high-end grape jelly and fresh oranges.  So where did this Baltimore Oriole feed at – the tube seed feeder!  There’s no accounting for taste.

 

This female Mallard was scrounging for food beneath one of my feeders after a mid-April snow storm.  A pair of Mallards had been in a neighbor’s backyard all winter, swimming around in the water collected in their above-ground pool cover.

 

We don’t get many warblers in our backyard.  The most common – Yellow-rumped and Palm – have been seen most migration seasons, but few others.  Karen shouted out for my attention just last week when she spotted this Black-throated Green Warbler at our birdbath.  I took a few pictures through the sliding glass door as it bathed but the glass distorted the image.  When it flew up into the tree behind the birdbath I slid open the door just enough to snap a few shots.

 

Just one more – as I was entering these pics I noticed that Rebeca Bowater just shared some birds at a feeder, too.  However this one was from someone’s backyard – in Australia!  A Long-billed Corella.  Now I have feeder-envy!

 

Stay Safe. Go Birding.  Take Pics.  Share Here.  Repeat.

Mike


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