Birds I See in The Garden

Hello! Here are some pictures of birds i saw around the garden today!

 A Yellow-Rumped Warbler ran into our window last week (pictures in my last blog) and that was the first time i had seen one. Now whenever i go into the garden i see lots flying around.

 In the summer they have darker gray and black on them, making them a bold patterned bird, but in winter they are a grayish brown with yellow on their throat, sides, and rump.

 I also see Golden Crowned Sparrows a lot. Here is one eating a yellow ladybug. Ew!

 Goldfinches love snacking on our sunflowers' seeds.

 I've seen a lot of Flickers recently. I was pleased to find one in our neighbors yard, digging through the dirt.

 My parents found this dead Red-Breasted Sapsucker on our porch this weekend. It was very sad, but also really cool that i got to hold it. After looking at it, I buried it in the forest.

 I hope you enjoyed these pictures! Bye!

Fall Birds

Hello! This September we went to Sunriver for the weekend. I was really excited to see different types of birds there. I didn't see a ton of birds in the wild, but i was pleased to see the Nature Center  had a couple birds of prey that were caged. Most of them were injured from car accidents, and wouldn't survive living in the wild.

 Here is a Red-tailed Hawk. She was so pretty. When my sister and I visited her, she kept jumping from perch to perch, back and forth. I loved seeing all these birds up close, they are so beautiful.

 They had two owls at the Nature Center, a Barn Owl, and a Great Horned Owl.

 The Nature Center also released some Trumpeter Swans into the lake a while ago. There were five total, from what i saw. Two adults and three juveniles.

 I saw this flicker on a walk and i just love how the sun light is hitting his face.

 Two days ago a Yellow-Rumped Warbler ran into our window. We carefully picked him up and waited till he could fly away. He wasn't hurt, just shocked. I had been wanting to see a yellow-rumped warbler for a while, so it was really awesome to get to see, and hold one.

New York Birds

In August, my family traveled to western New York to see family and play music at an Irish festival. I was super excited to see different types of birds there. I saw some new birds, but not as many as i hoped. I did however manage to get pictures of some cool birds that i don't see in Oregon.

 I saw a couple cardinals in my grandparents neighborhood, but didn't get any great photos of them. I'm so glad i had the camera with me when i spotted this one.

 I also saw a couple white breasted nuthatches in my cousins yard. I think these live in Oregon, but i had never seen them before.

 This little bird is my favorite one that i saw, but i'm not sure what it is yet. Its so pretty! My cousin and i chased it around for a bit trying to get photos of it.

I hope you enjoyed these photos of New York birds! Happy (almost) Fall :) 

July and August

Hello everyone! these are some recent photos from this summer.

 In July we went to the Olympic national park to celebrate my grandmas birthday. We went to several beaches and saw some cool birds. Here is a bald eagle overlooking the ocean.

 I saw many of these Double Crested Cormorants diving for fish.

 Our friends house is in the woods and is home to many birds that i love taking pictures of. These are Red Breasted Nuthatches. They are extremely fast and hop from tree to tree, like chickadees.

 I also got some pictures of this Stellars Jay.

On Thursday we hiked Falls Creek Falls trail and saw (and heard) a couple of pacific wrens. They are so cute and tiny!!!

Summer Birds

Hello! These are just some recent photos I've taken.

 I was watching for hummingbirds, and this violet-green swallow flew up and landed on top of our shed. Whenever he got scared away, he always came back and landed again, as if he couldn't fly well. I named him Frito.

 I am so happy with the shots i got of him. They are some of my favorites.

 These are some of the hummingbirds that came to our feeder. I love seeing them outside. They are so tiny!!!

 This male rufous hummingbird Is one of my favorites to see. He is so beautiful. I named him Cheeto. Below is the female rufous hummingbird. She sat there for quite awhile and i got some great shots of her too.    

Juvenile California scrub jays

Hello! This spring we have had a family of scrub jays living by our house. I often see the juvenile jays around our backyard. They are almost adults, and can already fly. You can tell the are juvenile because their head is not blue yet.

 I saw this little scrub jay fanning out his wings in our neighbors yard and i thought it was a really cool shot. Its one of my favorite pictures I've taken. I love how you can see each individual feather of the jay's wing.

 Here are two of the little jays on top of a basketball hoop.

 For comparison, here is a juvenile scrub jay (above) and an adult scrub jay (below). You can see that the adults are a brighter blue, have a blue head, and a blue band around their neck.

Below is a mama feeding the little jay. I hope you enjoyed these pictures! Happy summer!

Violet-green swallow

Hello! This blog is about my favorite bird, the violet-green swallow. 

 This is a male violet-green swallow on one of our birdhouses. The males are a beautiful green with a violet tail and neck. Their underside is white and there are two white patches on their rump.

 The females are mostly the same, expect they are a duller green and more of a dirty white on their underside. There is a female swallow living in one of our birdhouses and i am studying her behavior and nest this year.

  Violet green swallow nests are loosely made of straw and lots of feathers. They normally lay 4-6 eggs that are small and plain white. She has laid a couple of eggs, i'm not sure how many.

I hope you enjoyed this blog! Happy summer!