[koolmnbv]

Wow that is so neat and exciting!

 

[kevin63]

These pictures are beautiful.  We get the red Cardinal and the bluejay around here.  Our hummingbirds are either green or grayish, wish we had some colorful hummingbirds around.  In the fall we do bald eagles around the cliffs across the river in Illinois (especially up around Alton).  I'd love to see one of those orange Orioles around here.

 

[drenee]

Awesome awesome pics.  I love watching birds.  Last spring when my grandson was visiting we had some birds coming to my feeders and the neighbors feeders.  He, then 4, sat with my bird book and had a great time looking up them up. 
Thank you everyone for posting. 
deb

 

[Anju]

We have some friends in Mabank, Texas that had painted buntings this spring.  I had never seen any.  There is quite a big bird watching group here year round, but it is during my t'ai chi time so I can't go. 

 

[Dori]

Beautiful photos. I have never seen a painted bunting. I love watching the birds. I collect Stangl Pottery Birds and have a curio cabinet with about 20 in it.

 

[Dori]

Wow  vsch.  Great photo editing.  I don't know how you do that.

I love eastern bluebirds.  My friends tried to get them in their yard to no avail then looked in their newspaper delivery box and found a nest there.  I thought I had photos of this in my computer but guess I do not.

 

[Meredith Sinclair]

Why we have to take our birdfeeders down in the Spring. Damn bears got another feeder this week -- I hate to take them down because I love to watch the birds! I also am aggravated because if I'm going to lose a feeder, I want to at least see the bear, LOL! This shot was taken a couple of years back. Sometimes we catch them in the act, other times we just find a smashed feeder.

Woah! Where do you live? It is sad about your feeders. I can not imagine having an animal that big in my YARD! OMG! I sit outside in the morning to drink my coffee.... I would FREAK!

 

[Meredith Sinclair]

Birds are do much fun! We had a hummingbird nest right outside the bedroom window, close enough I could have reached out and touched it. I loved watching the eggs hatch and grow, but it was even more fun to see my daughter, who was only 3 then, get to see the babies grow and learn to to fly. She wanted to keep them!

We have hummingbirds too! Got one fiesty one that dictates who gets to eat & when. We named him Rufus cause he always sits on the edge of a tree branch that is on top of our neighbors house. I have no pics but will soon try to get one.

 

[drenee]

Dori, this is off topic, but I know you're posting in this thread and I wanted you to see it. 
Yesterday I was sitting in traffic at some road construction.  One of the cars that passed me had a clown driving it.  I immediately thought of you.  LOL.

Back on topic: Since it doesn't look like I'm moving soon I guess I better go today and get a hummingbird feeder.
deb

 

[Meredith Sinclair]

Dori, this is off topic, but I know you're posting in this thread and I wanted you to see it.
Yesterday I was sitting in traffic at some road construction. One of the cars that passed me had a clown driving it. I immediately thought of you. LOL.

Back on topic: Since it doesn't look like I'm moving soon I guess I better go today and get a hummingbird feeder.
deb

OT too but my daughter really believed in clowns until this past year, she thought they wore the make-up all the time and drove cute cars like VW Beetles and stuff and she thought they had clown kiddos too...

 

[BrassMan]

We have some friends in Mabank, Texas that had painted buntings this spring. I had never seen any. There is quite a big bird watching group here year round, but it is during my t'ai chi time so I can't go.

OK, I found my wife's bird book, and I was wrong about about the range of painted buntings. Their summer breeding range includes Texas, the border areas of Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Louisiana, as well as small bleedovers into neighboring states. The winter range is the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of southern Mexico, the southern tip of Florida, and Yucutan.

The owl picture, like I said, was the best bird photo I ever took. These are more typical of my bird-snapping efforts. I guess if I were serious I'd get rid of my shirt-pocket camera and get one of those "big gun" digital SLRs. I have better shots of hummers at feeders, but that doesn't seem fair.

 

[Carol Hanrahan]

These pictures are beautiful. We get the red Cardinal and the bluejay around here. Our hummingbirds are either green or grayish, wish we had some colorful hummingbirds around. In the fall we do bald eagles around the cliffs across the river in Illinois (especially up around Alton). I'd love to see one of those orange Orioles around here.

Kevin,
In early April, I was driving with my Dad from Jacksonville to Quincy. We counted 33 red tailed hawks on the way. They were huge and easy to spot because they would perch in the trees that hadn't leafed out yet.

 

[Carol Hanrahan]

Beautiful photos. I have never seen a painted bunting. I love watching the birds. I collect Stangl Pottery Birds and have a curio cabinet with about 20 in it.

Dori,
My aunt would send me a Lenox bird for Christmas every year. My collection has really grown over the years. My aunt lives in the country and she puts out about 5 lbs of bird feed daily! She has some happy birds! She is who I based the character of Aunt Jess in my Baling novel. She is a rare gem!

 

[Meredith Sinclair]

Dori,
My aunt would send me a Lenox bird for Christmas every year. My collection has really grown over the years. My aunt lives in the country and she puts out about 5 lbs of bird feed daily! She has some happy birds! She is who I based the character of Aunt Jess in my Baling novel. She is a rare gem!

SEEEE! Now that kinda stuff is what makes me wanna read a certain book. If I know the characters, when I read I feel at home.

 

[RangerXenos]

Woah! Where do you live? It is sad about your feeders. I can not imagine having an animal that big in my YARD! OMG! I sit outside in the morning to drink my coffee.... I would FREAK!

We live in Connecticut, we're in the suburbs, but not too far in the sticks, LOL! Burlington is one of the towns with the highest number of bear sightings in our little state. It keeps life interesting, LOL! I think we've lost 5 feeders in 15 years, not too bad, but they've all been in the last 4 years or so. I hate to take them down as we love to watch the birds; without the feeders out, they keep to the trees.

I do love to see the wildlife, the bear sightings are exciting, but I just wish they'd leave the feeders intact! It's getting expensive. You never know what you're going to see, bobcat have become regular visitors as well. I swear I saw a mountain lion a few years ago, though they keep claiming there haven't been any in the state for 30 years or so. Coyote and deer are always around. No moose yet, though.

 

[BrassMan]

SEEEE! Now that kinda stuff is what makes me wanna read a certain book. If I know the characters, when I read I feel at home.

Oh? Well, I can tell you if I knew there was a book where a kid thought clowns drove cars and had little clown kids, I'd check that book out!

 

[BrassMan]

Back to birds. Here's a heron I shot at Choke Canyon State Park (TX).

Full disclosure: this is two pictures. I got the bird flying across a trashy parking lot, but it looked better once I moved it over the lake. Both pictures were taken in the same place, at least, and fifteen minutes apart.

 

[drenee]

Meredith, that is too cute.  Kids come up with the craziest ideas. 
deb

 

[Sailor]

Another Bald Eagle for our collection taken by a bud of mine.
There is just something about a Bald Eagle, or any bird of prey for that matter, that speaks volumes about their very existence and survival in nature. I love Raptors!
-Sailor​

 

[Jeff]

I apologize for the quality but I only have a few painted bunting pictures and they were all taken from inside the house, through a dirty window with a telephoto.