Winter's in the air

[Radman]

Don't get me wrong, I like the squirrels. They are very cute, bold and entertaining, and there's quite few of them interacting with each other most of the time. I do scatter some seed and corn for them, but they are furry little pigs and will relentlessly empty a feeder if access is easy. So far, a couple days have passed and they still haven't solved the paper plate baffle!

[Radman]

Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis



Male and female pair, they are always together.

[zopteryx]

Why does the east have all the good birds...

[gwangi]

Feb 20, 2012 4:51:29 GMT zopteryx said:

Why does the east have all the good birds...

Why does the west have all the good mammals? Oh that's right...we killed them all.

[zopteryx]

Feb 20, 2012 5:08:29 GMT gwangi said:

Feb 20, 2012 4:51:29 GMT zopteryx said:

Why does the east have all the good birds...

Why does the west have all the good mammals? Oh that's right...we killed them all.

Sadly, I don't live in that part of the west.

[gwangi]

Where in the west are you?

[zopteryx]

Coastal CA.

[gwangi]

Well...you're closer to a lot of large mammal species than I am and you also have marine mammals.

[zopteryx]

That's true, I forgot about marine mammals. I don't mean brag, but I just saw some whales last weekend. ;D Too far to tell what kind, probably Blues.

[gwangi]

As much as I love our cardinals here in east I would really love to see some whales. I suppose I only live 5 hours from the coast, I should probably go see some.

[takama]

We in Iowa don't have as much interesting wildlife, just hawks rabbits squirrels Pheasants Turkeys deer woodchucks and coyotes.

However it is the time of the year when all the Bald Eagles flock around the Mississippi river for the open water, so we get those two

[Radman]

Here are some better shots of the female cardinal:





While not as flashy and colorful as the male, which is perhaps the most striking bird in NA, at least as far as common birds go, she is still a very interesting and colorful birdie in her own right.

[tyrantqueen]

Since Winter is in the thread title



I think some of these guys have started to hybridize.

We have some Canada geese here too, and they often pair up with the white geese, which results in strange looking offspring.

[DinoLord]

Never seen a female cardinal before. Great pictures!

[dinonikes]

Feb 26, 2012 15:37:08 GMT Radman said:

Here are some better shots of the female cardinal:

While not as flashy and colorful as the male, which is perhaps the most striking bird in NA, at least as far as common birds go, she is still a very interesting and colorful birdie in her own right.

In this area there are a lot of cardinals, both male and female- one of my favorite birds- I tend to think that of the common birds in my area its hard to pick between the Cardinal and the Bluejay which is more striking to see- the noise of the Bluejay calling tends to add to the show as well- the male Cardinal sitting in the tops of the trees in his territory singing loudly is another benefit to having Cardinals around- once I had a baby male Cardinal,who was out learning to fly with the adult male, jump out of the garden, and hopping over to me along the sidewalk as I sat on the porch steps- the adult male came swooping down making a weird whistling chirping noise as he got between me and the baby keeping the baby from me- that baby male sure was cute looking, not quite a full crest yet on his head-

[Radman]

Thanks y'all for the comments and pix! I've really enjoyed this thread the most out of all the one's I've started, and hope to continue until I run out of wildlife in my backyard, but that will take a while! I always enjoy seeing what the rest of y'all have as well.
So, back to the critters:

Purple Finch, Carpodacus purpureus:





I realize it's a small passerine seed-eater, but there's something vaguely raptorial about it, IMHO, probably the big bill. Anyway, I'm always happy to see a pair of these at the feeder. These are about the size of a standard sparrow, but the males are much more colorful.

[takama]

May 15, 2011 20:25:32 GMT Griffin said:

In my experience feral cats don't really take well to being pets. Often sort of standoffish. But if this one is young enough maybe it has a shot.

late reply

my aunt has caught and adopted this cat

as a little kitten directly from the streets. And she still has her wild side in her, and i have the scars to prove it.

but i sill like her ;D. no matter how much she sucombs to her wild side.

[gwangi]

I think this thread is going to need a name change again soon. Spring is underway here at least.

Hooded Mergansers, one of my favorite duck species.

Female


Male

[zopteryx]

One of my favorite ducks too! Great photos.

[Radman]

Spring is indeed in the air, and I will change the thread title soon. So, I've schlepped my heavy tropical plants out onto the patio and backyard at least three times this year, each time thinking it would be the last, only to find that temps will drop into the mid 30'sF tomorrow, so back inside they go tonight. Ow, my back!
Still, pollen is abundant and omnipresent, so that I actually have to hose my car off in the morning as it is covered with yellow-green film, and buds, blooms and bees are everywhere. I like to start off the spring on an optimistic note, so here is a beautiful loquat that is putting out new leaves, but they look like blossoms from a distance.



Originally from China and Japan, this ornamental has become a common tree in this area. I got it when my son was in kindergarten, once when I came to pick him up I noticed a number of tiny seedlings that had sprouted under a nearby tree at the school, and seeing that they were soon to be mowed over and mulched, I pulled a few and brought them home and planted them. Now 5 years later, this tree towers over the fence at about 15 feet (~5m).