This year, there seems to be
an abundance of Cardinals in my yard, something that I am not complaining about at all! From afar they all kind of look alike but up close, their individuality becomes more obvious. I believe these are all different birds. So similar but also so different.
My favorite season,
spring, has finally arrived. On the calendar, at least, because we are currently experiencing a fun mix of wind, snow and sunshine. I know it is all part of the seasonal adjustment, and just knowing that there will probably not be another week-long deep frost makes my heart sing. The birds are staying close to food and water, and yesterday, this beauty’s hair was tussled in the breeze. I think the groundhog went back for some more napping though.
The sun was out today,
and the birds seemingly posed with proudly-swelled chests. It is still cold and gets below zero at night but the days are undeniably getting longer, and spring is starting to fill the air with bird song. Now that the darkest time of winter is over, I am pretty much ready for spring to begin, the summer birds to arrive and getting my hands dirty in the garden again.
Yesterday has been
a rather mild day. The snow started to melt, leaving a sludgy mess on the ground. This was great for bird photography because some of the ones who like feeding on the ground came up to the photo setup. And the prettiest of them all was this gorgeous Cardinal lady. Her hair game is top notch!
Against the snow,
the Cardis continue to shine. There are several couples, and I think one of the males may be a youngster from last year, he has quite a bit of yellow/ orange still in his plumage.
Finally a snow day today,
and since I knew things would thaw later, I got up really early. I was rewarded with sights of the new pretty Cardinal lady. She has so much red on her. She is in the first and last two photos. A male and another, less vibrant female, are in the other photos. I love the color combination of the female Cardinals, they are such elegant beauties.
Continuing the color scheme
was this much-beloved visitor today, one of the resident male Cardinals. There are several couples around but they usually stay on the ground or go to the bigger platform feeder that has no camera. After having been so low on variety recently, it is really nice to see my favorites back on photo.
There is a leucistic Junco around,
and Birdsy has captured it on video (you can watch on my Youtube and my social mediachannels, video uploads are always a bit of a pain here) but so far I was not lucky with photos. I have set a camera on the ground in the thicket for that, and even if it did not lure in the Junco yet, it has still gotten some visitors. It almost feels like the birds need to learn to not be shy with my cameras again, it’s been so long since a Downy has visited. The Cardinal is one of several that are hanging around.
As a lovely surprise,
the King and Queen of the Yard finally visited the photo setup again too. It was cloudy so things look a bit murky. Today, the sun is out, let’s hope they come back for more. Stay warm and have a fabulous Tuesday! If you’re shopping for Christmas presents, check out my calendars here.
While they are always around,
they tend to stay away from cameras during busy times but more recently the Cardinals have made it back in front of the lens. I have seen at least two youngsters too (one is in the picture with the male), and I hope to snap some shots of them soon too. In the evenings, several couples gather to eat the spills of the day.
The weather
has been interesting, with lots of rain and cooler temps after the hot and dry weeks. I am happy to see the lawn and garden grow, also because I know that all the baby birds that are growing everywhere are getting good nutrition from all the bugs and worms. After a bit of a hiatus the Orioles have returned in full force today, a good sign that their babies are getting bigger and ready to fledge. I loved seeing the very beautiful female Cardinal, the adorable baby Grack, and seeing the return of the most interesting Redbellied Woodpecker (in photo 2). Is it a boy? Is it a girl? The last photo is a regular male. It is the calm before baby birds are flooding the yard. Good times.
Some more spring portraits.
The weather has been nasty but things seem to take a turn for the milder now 🤞. I have seen Grosbeaks in the last two days, but no Oriole or hummer yet. In other exciting birder news, a rare Vermillion Flycatcher has been spotted in my area. I have not made the trip to seek him out but I have seen photos, and he's quite spectacular. Spring migration can be quite amazing, and I hope there will be some surprises in my yard as well.
Due to some
maintenance work, the live cams will be off for a couple of days, and I won't be able to post. Things will be back to normal next week. To hold you over, here is the King. Enjoy the outdoors and listen to the
The King and Queen of the Yard
were having some fun trying out new “couple photo” ideas. I love this female’s eyebrows so much!
The Cardinal
is a bit of a special bird to me, maybe one could call it my “spark bird”, the one that started my interest in birdwatching. My native German eyes were stunned to see the first one, it almost seemed unbelievable to me that it was a wild bird. They have remained one of my favorites, and snowy days bring lots of them. I have seen up to eight individuals recently, and I am delighted that some have started to come to the cams. It’s two different females and a male here. One of the girls has spectacular red accents.
It is a true February,
even if it sounded a lot like spring this morning with Redwinged Blackbirds singing. We are currently experiencing an ice storm, and I hope the powerlines stay put. Activity is still somewhat slow but this lovely lady came to the camera. The boxes and tripods were all covered in ice, and I do not envy anybody who has to drive tomorrow. Be safe and stay warm!
Happy Valentines Day!
Nature seems to slowly wake up from its wintery slumber, and the birds are starting to sing more. I hope you have a great day, the best time of the year is not that far away!
It is funny how much
my backyard birding reports are sounding like weather reports 😆🤪 But here we go. Today was the last more extremely cold day for a bit. It will still be wintery but not to the point where you have to use face cream to prevent frostbite (my middle German cheeks are still sensitive to extreme cold). The wind was icy and blowing, and there was not a lot going on. A group of Starlings came over and wrecked the bird baths and shooed everybody away, but there was also sun and I got these three beauties. Come good into the weekend!
Today finally
we got some snow again, and I decided to take a break from the feeder break and put the cams out. It was still rather calm generally but there were many happy Cardinals. The entire family of the King and Queen of the Yard showed off. I counted four males and at least two females. The light was still murky but here are some of my favorites from today. Come good into Monday!
The sun came out,
it was nice and frosty, and we took the last Christmas lights on the outside down. The Nuthatches, Titmice and Chickadees were happily buzzing around, the woodpeckers were busy, and the Finches were happy. And so were the squatters. They hogged the camera bowls, convinced that everybody needs to see only them 😝
