today's bird visitor

[sky otter]

saw a new bird today....
hubby had just refilled the suet for the birds and came in and said you gotta see this bird
and there he was  in the hemlock at the end of the patio..
a little guy but not shy
..he was right above our heads and didn't seem to mind us at all

and so i ran for the camera..
.he wasbusy eating and i was below him
so only got one decent shot but no good ones

then got the bird book out to ID him
it was a white winged crossbill

ahhhhhhhhh some joy for today   





here's a better look
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-winged_Crossbill/id




A medium-sized finch of the boreal forest, the White-winged Crossbill is adapted for extracting seeds from the cones of coniferous trees. It moves large distances between years tracking the cone crop from place to place.



so if we are in his winter range..he things it's winter even though our temps have been
way above avg and no snow yet.


       ****************************

anybody into bird watching in the states or now global
here's something you might be interested in


New! The GBBC is going global!
Read the story below


The 2013 GBBC Slide Show is Here Watch the show yourself or use it to make a presentation about the count.

http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/

[Pimander]

The map looks like a silhouette of the cross bill photo.

[burntheships]

Sky,

Lovely pics, birds are such interesting creatures!
Beautiful red feathers, spendid lil things.

Thanks for sharing!

I have a family of fat quail I want to get a pic of, they
are nice and fat. I dont care for venison, nor quail thankfully.

[burntheships]

The map looks like a silhouette of the cross bill photo.

It does indeed! 

[micjer]

Nice pic Sky.  Have to look for him up north here next summer!

I don't actually think I have seen one of those before.

[sky otter]

The map looks like a silhouette of the cross bill photo.


wow.. it sure does.....cool

hey Mic.. i'd never seen one either.. it goes in my notebook for sightings
which i had to look for on the shelf cause i hadn't been writting them down the last few years

and he came back yesterday morning..and posed on request..

[Shasta56]

Beautiful bird.  I have a murder if crows hanging around my house I. Ready to murder them over the mess they keep making.  I also have the ferruginous hawks and coyotes over by the base.

Shasta

[sky otter]

Shasta
yeah we have crows too..and one of my sightings was watching one take some old bread i had tossed under the bird feeder and burying it in the garden plot..only to come back later and dig it up
you can walk out with a stick that looks like a gun and they just sit up in the trees and laugh at you..but go out with a real gun and they are gone....very smart critters

bts mentions quail....we used to have them here  but the coyotoes moved in and have almost wiped out all the prey critters....the hawks and owls have mostly moved on because of them
and the bunnies and smaller critters like the quail and grouse are hard to spot anymore

and i was reading that some of the coyotes have bred with wolfs and are now bigger and badder in some areas to the north of us...

have no idea where i was going with this..lol..sigh

[robomont]

the three year drought in ne texas has lowered the amount of all prey and predator.
most of the animals have moved close to permanent water supplies as ponds and creeks are too dry and rain is in short supply.