Friday, January 13, 2012

Can There Be Too Many?

As I mentioned in the last post, my friend Polly Wren brought a new neighbor over when she came the other day. Turns out Colette is a budding birder and a very good photographer! I begged more photos...

I love this shot showing the beautiful silver undersides to their wings, as well as the mixed flock of Brown-capped and Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches. Brown-capped have little to no gray on their heads, with a black forhead. Gray-crowned ...and I remember it's Grey-crowned because real crowns are usually made of something like silver or gold and not something brown (like a cap). We get both species, as well as the Black Rosy-Finches here...but didn't see them this visit. What we also get are a sub-species to the Gray-crowns called Hepburn's...which look to have a helmet rather than a crown of grey. The things I do to remember names!

I cropped this shot so that I could show the gorgeous photo Colette got of this Brown-capped Rosy-Finch. Be sure to click to embiggen!

Another fun shot of the birds close to my pond where we tossed seed under a volunteer Currant Bush. I wonder if
the less-pink birds are younger. That would be in keeping with how most young birds look; like the females, but even more drab.

Colette also took a shot right through the window, where the birds will also come to eat. It's very exciting to be nose-to-nose with these beauties. The netting is something I keep over the window; it helps keep birds from hitting the glass...most of the time. Those Evening Grosbeaks are the worst, however, and I usually have one or two that need rescuing per season.

Speaking of nose to nose, this stump, which I've photographed before, is just a few feet outside my back door. It's a blast to sit inside, with the door wide open, and watch the birds feeding practically at your feet. Thanks, Colette for a wonderful bunch of photographs!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

New Year's Rosy-Finches

Yesterday I had the first visitors of the new year. What fun, and one is a new neighbor right up my street! Colette came with another friend of mine; Polly Wren. These are some of Polly Wren's photos of the day...
The Rosy-Finches love to 'stage' up on my roof. Colette noticed lots of seed up there, and suggested perhaps they take it with them when they whirl away...and sometimes eat up there. Who knows...could be; they sure do whirl around a lot...but it's always lovely seeing those silvery underwings.
This is a lovely shot of the Hepburn's Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch. It is a sub-species of this finch that I call a 'helmet-head' to remember how much further down the head the Gray-crown comes. Usually it is just down as far as the eye, here you can see it's more like a helmet! The middle bird looks to be a Brown-capped Rosy Finch...

And you wonder why I call these Pink-butts! Ha...

Polly Wren calls this one 'Skippidy Do Dah'. This is a lovely shot of a Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch; for the oddest reason we aren't sure we saw but one single Black this visit. And none are here today...I'm happy Dale and Beverly made it over from Alamosa before the finches left.