birding Archives • Page 8 of 8 • Into the Light Adventures

tree swallow birds

What a Conundrum Amidst

By Sandra | May 28, 2021

What a Conundrum Amidst , trickery I tell you. Well, I have been watching these two birds for a couple of weeks now. Thinking they were purple martins, but because of a fellow blogger who commented on my last update about these birds, I have been tricked by these little Tree Swallows. He mentioned that they looked like Tree Swallows, so I started to investigate and by golly they are.

What a Conundrum Amidst

They fly like a purple martin and they have pointy wings like one. Their blueish, purplish sheen made me think they were purple martins. But you can see the difference below in the two birds. Now they both eat lots of bugs and are fun to watch fly. But, Purple Martins live in colonies and Tree Swallows like to be alone, just the one pair.

Purple Martin Tree Swallow

And the Tree Swallows like to have the whole house to them selves and will chase off any other birds. I noticed this week, that the female was picking up nesting material and putting it in every apartment in this house. I thought to my self, ” How nice of her to furnish the other apartments for other birds, or she was just confused which one she wanted”.

What a Conundrum Amidst

Well, I have read about how to discourage them from taking up resident here, I will be lowering the house and taking their nest out so that maybe they go find a tree to nest in. Being they are called Tree Swallows. 🙂

What a Conundrum Amidst

At the end of the day, I learned about a new bird I have never seen before and a rainbow came out in the evening as I sat on my porch watching nature in my back yard. Have a great weekend.

What a Conundrum Amidst

by Sandra J

chickadee close up bird

Nature in its Smallest Form

By Sandra | May 26, 2021

Nature in its Smallest Form, in the broadest sense, is the natural, physical, material world of Creation. It is often taken to mean the “natural environment” or wilderness, wild animals, rocks, forest, and in general those things that have not been substantially altered by human intervention, or which persist despite human intervention.

Nature in its Smallest Form

Nature; the Natural Beauty of life.

Nature in its Smallest Form

I don’t see rainbows very often and this one came out late in the evening after a little rain we were having, right before sunset.

Nature in its Smallest Form

by Sandra J

hummingbird feeder

Ruby Throated Hummingbirds

By Sandra | May 25, 2021

Ruby Throated Hummingbirds have arrived, coming from as far south as southern Mexico and northern Panama. Since hummingbirds lead solitary lives and neither live nor migrate in flocks, an individual bird may spend the winter anywhere in this range where the habitat is favorable, but probably returns to the same location each winter.

Some will skirt the Gulf of Mexico and follow the Texas coast north, while most apparently cross the Gulf, typically leaving at dusk for a nonstop flight of up to 500 miles, which takes 18-22 hours depending on the weather.

Ruby Throated Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds are carnivores, nectar is just the fuel to power their flycatching activity. Ruby-throats begin moving north as early as January, and by the end of February they are at the northern coast of Yucatan, gorging on insects and spiders to add a thick layer of fat in preparation for flying to the U.S.

Ruby Throated Hummingbirds

The initial urge to migrate is by the shortening length of sunlight and has nothing to do with temperature or the availability of food; amazing that nature follows the Light. The sun, moon and stars, they have a purpose. Amazing how it all comes together as designed.

Ruby Throated Hummingbirds

by Sandra J

chickadee song bird

The Light in Their Eyes

By Sandra | May 12, 2021

The Light in Their Eyes, Oh how I love to see these birds so close. I see the reflection of the clouds in its beautiful eye. Birds have been a part of my life since I was a child, I never get tired of seeing them and now as I am older, I see their beauty even more trough the light in their eyes.

The Light in Their Eyes

The Light in Your Eyes

The Light in Your Eyes

by Sandra J

purple martin house

I Am a Landlord Now

By Sandra | May 3, 2021

I Am a Landlord Now, that is what they call you when you put up a Purple Martin House for the birds. We use to have a house for them when I was a child. My grandfather built one and we always had birds in it. So my husband put this one up for me 3 days ago and we are already getting visitors.

I Am a Landlord Now

According to my research, having a Martin house is like being a land lord. You have to make sure no other birds try to nest in it. It has to be in the right location and the right height to attract them. In the spring this breed of bird sends out scouts to roam the landscapes looking for houses for the colony. Over the years these birds have figured out that they want their houses to be close to human houses. Because humans keep predators away, like racoons, cats, larger birds.

I Am a Landlord Now

Usually two will come by and check out the house and the location. So yesterday our first two came by for a visit and today they came back for a second look around. One sat up on top surveying the landscape.

The other one was peaking inside the apartments to see if they were up to par. They are particular about their housing units. They like a 6x6x12 room, ours are 6x6x6. We will see if they want to rent the apartments or not, it is free rent for them. 🙂

I Am a Landlord Now

They are such a pretty bird and they eat lots of bugs. We will set up a second house once they start living here. In the fall one has to take the house down and clean it and have it ready for them again next year.

by Sandra J

common grackle bird

The Common Grackle

By Sandra | April 30, 2021

The Common Grackle, doesn’t appear to be so common. They are like a beauty in disguise. Most days they look like your average black bird. As if they were created to make one stop and really look at this bird, to not just take them for granted. Wait for the sun to come out, when the Light shines on this plain bird, amazing things will happen before your very eyes. It is like seeing a rainbow for a few seconds and then it is gone.

The Common Grackle

The Common Grackle

Have a Wonderful Weekend

by Sandra J

finch bird

Friday Birding My Favorite Thing

By Sandra | April 26, 2021

Friday Birding My Favorite Thing, every now and than the beautiful Pileated Woodpecker stops by. Never in a great spot for a photo. He likes to be up very high and there are always sticks blocking my view of him. But, you can still see his red feathers on top of his head. Such a gorgeous bird.

Friday Birding My Favorite Thing

The dainty and lovable Chickadees are always out and about

What Does the Eyes See

The Nut Hatch Bird, this is my first photo of this tiny bird. They are just as fast as the chickadees. He looks all bright eyed and cheery in this photo below.

Friday Birding My Favorite Thing

I don’t know if he is blinking or giving me the stink eye.

I know this bird is a finch, but I am not quite sure which one. There are so many that have a touch of red, ruby colored feathers. So I will just go with the term Finch for now.

Friday Birding My Favorite Thing

Have a Great Weekend

by Sandra J

common grackle

Sing a Song of Sixpence

By Sandra | April 19, 2021

Sing a Song of Sixpence, does anyone remember this rhyme? Sing a song of sixpence, a pocketful of rye, four and 20 blackbirds baked in a pie. When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing. Now wasn’t that a dainty dish to set before a king?

The king was in his counting house counting out his money; the queen was in the parlor eating bread and honey. The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes when along came a blackbird and it nipped off her nose.’

Sing a Song of Sixpence

I only remembered the black birds in the pie until I looked it up to find the rest of the rhyme. These were more popular during Henry VIII days it said. But nonetheless, lots of blackbirds were out this weekend along with some very nice sunshine.

And when the sun shines on a Common Grackle, he really shines.

Sing a Song of Sixpence

I am thinking this one below is a regular black bird. All the others had the iridescent blue feathers around their necks.

And so many red Winged Black Birds this year. I do love hearing the song they sing.

Sing a Song of Sixpence

Last but never least, one Red Squirrel. They have been pretty scarce lately. I am just guessing they are finding food in the forest or they are in their nest starting to raise their babies. 😉

Sing a Song of Sixpence

by Sandra J

male hooded merganser duck

The Merganser Ducks

By Sandra | April 9, 2021

The Merganser Ducks, there are 4 types of Merganser Ducks and Merganser means fish eating ducks. This first one is called the Common Merganser. The females all look like they have mohawks when their head feathers are up. These photos did not turn out as clear as I had hoped for. But I wanted to show them anyway. I will be going back to the lake to get better photos next week.

The Merganser Ducks

The rest of these are named Hooded Merganser’s. The female is in the front with her fancy feather doo. Her hubby in the back looks a bit perturbed. Like he is saying, ” Now where are we going?” She just keeps on going. 🙂

The Merganser Ducks

The Merganser Ducks

The Merganser Ducks

Have a Great Weekend

by Sandra J

trumpeter swan close up

They’re Our Biggest Waterfowl

By Sandra | April 8, 2021

They’re Our Biggest Waterfowl – Trumpeter Swans demand superlatives: they’re our biggest native waterfowl, stretching to 6 feet in length and weighing more than 25 pounds – almost twice as massive as a Tundra Swan.

They're Our Biggest Waterfowl

Despite their size, this once-endangered, now recovering species is as elegant as any swan, with a graceful neck and snowy-white plumage. They breed on wetlands in remote Alaska, Canada, and the northwestern U.S., and winter on ice-free coastal and inland waters.

They almost appear to be smiling with that little touch of orange in the corner of their bill.

They're Our Biggest Waterfowl

They're Our Biggest Waterfowl

There is a swan behind this branch, my camera changed its focus on the mossy covered branch instead. But I find moss to be so artistic in its own way.

by Sandra J

trumpeter swans

The Beauty of Spring

By Sandra | April 6, 2021

The Beauty of Spring, I just love when the migrating birds start coming back. It was gorgeous weather all weekend and I did not take one photo or open my computer at all. Sometimes you just have to take a moment and enjoy the spring weather when it arrives.

Even though the grass is still brown, I know any day now the wild flowers will start to come up and I can see the buds on the trees now also. So today I went to the lake to see if the swans were still there and they were. There was still a little ice on the water but it will all be gone soon.

The Beauty of Spring

This beautiful duck is back as well. It is called the Hooded Merganser Duck, there are 4 types of Merganser’s. I saw this one and the Common Merganser. I will have more photos coming this week. These are so cool looking I think with their crown of feathers. This is a male and the females are just as pretty. The females look like they have mohawks.

The Beauty of Spring

The Beauty of Spring

by Sandra J

purple finch

Where is the Purple Finch

By Sandra | April 2, 2021

Where is the Purple Finch, Happy Easter Weekend, in line with Easter Egg Hunting, try and spot the purple finch song bird in this first photo. Almost like looking for an egg. 🙂 The last photo will show you a close up of the little bird, it is camouflaged pretty good.

Where is the Purple Finch

Where is the Purple Finch

Have a Wonderful Weekend

Where is the Purple Finch

by Sandra J

Chickadee

A Cheerful Tiny Bird

By Sandra | March 17, 2021

A Cheerful Tiny Bird called the Chickadee, Now I have taken 100’s of photos of this bird and many others. I never get tired of photographing the same species, but I do try to change the backgrounds and make each photograph a little different. The bird is the subject of the photo, but the challenge comes by finding new locations and different ways to photograph each bird.

A Cheerful Tiny Bird

Which takes a lot of patience to study and watch each species and try to figure out how they live so that I can showcase how they eat, nest and fly. Of course flying is the difficult one to capture, especially with this fast little bird.

by Sandra J

trumpeter swans

The Trumpeter Swans are Back

By Sandra | March 16, 2021

The Trumpeter Swans are Back – They are loud and somewhat musical creatures, with their cry sounding similar to a trumpet, which gave the bird its name. There is still a little snow on the banks of the river, but it sure is nice to see them again.

The Trumpeter Swans are Back

by Sandra J

raven bird

Portrait of the Raven

By Sandra | March 3, 2021

Portrait of the Raven, I finally was able to get a photo of this beautiful Raven. I have two that hang around my place. But they are very smart birds and don’t like to sit still for photos. I just happen to take this one through a window.

Portrait of the Raven

Portrait of the Raven

by Sandra J

female grospeak

Bright Sunny Day Today

By Sandra | February 12, 2021

Bright Sunny Day Today, the sun finally came out today and what a difference it makes for photographing birds. There are plenty of gray days all winter, so it is a real treat when the sun comes out and the birds gather around the feeders.

Bright Sunny Day Today

These are all the Female Evening Grosbeak

Bright Sunny Day Today

Bright Sunny Day Today

And one Red Squirrel

Bright Sunny Day Today

Have a Wonderful Weekend

by Sandra J