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Some More Birds

There have been so many new birds around this spring!  I can’t remember this variety, or this number of birds.  I have added new birds to my life list, and taken some decent photos of them.  I wanted to share the latest backyard birds with you all!

Black-Headed Grosbeak (seen May 24, 2010 at my parents’ house).  I liked his personality:

Grosbeak_black-headed_5-24-10_2.1 Grosbeak_black-headed_5-24-10_6.1 Grosbeak_black-headed_5-24-10_8.1

My trees have been full of Bullock’s Orioles.  I have a bunch of mulberry trees in my yard which are almost in full fruit.  The orioles come around for the berries, and I have seen them picking up things to make nests, so I am hoping that they are making nests in one of my trees.  Below are Mr. & Mrs. Oriole, and a young male by himself.

Oriole_Bullocks_5-23-10_1.1 Oriole_Bullocks_5-23-10_3.1

Here is a very handsome Pinyon Jay.  I hadn’t ever seen one of these before.  I think he’s lovely.  He’s smaller than the scrub jays, and bluer.   He was in my parents’ side yard on a windy afternoon.  You can see the wind ruffling his feathers in the third photo:

Jay_pinyon_5-9-10_2.1 Jay_pinyon_5-9-10_4.1 Jay_pinyon_5-9-10_3.1

My yard has also been flooded with Western Tanagers lately.  I have seen one of these before, but there have been at least five in the trees.  They are not very mellow – they hop all over the place, and are hard to photograph.  However, when they do hold still, they are beautiful!

Tanager_western_5-15-10_1.1 Tanager_western_5-15-10_2.1 Tanager_western_5-15-10_3.1

Thanks for checking out my latest birds!

9 Responses to Some More Birds

  • U Doug:

    How do you attract such a variety of colorful birds to show us? I’ve never seen so many different birds. Maybe you have some special treats for them and the word spreads in the social circles of feathered friends that there are some real goodies at Katie’s place or wherever she hangs out.

  • Sonja:

    Your bird “portraits” are beautiful. This has been a wonderful spring for seeing different birds. As far as I know, there hasn’t been a Western Tanager in your nieghborhood for almost ten years. Glad you got to see him also.

  • Janet:

    I know you get a lot of wonderful bird shots in your backyard…But the real question is, Do you ever get a photo of the elusive “creek people”? This timid riparian creature is difficult to spot in its native habitat. Keep your peepers open and your curtains drawn! (: tee hee hee

  • Jen:

    Hey Katie…

    Just got back from Phoenix/Mesa. Went to the Desert Botanical Gardens and thought of you. I think you’ve been there and blogged about it or something. Anyway – it was beautiful and sunny (like 100 degrees) and now I’m back in Montucky where the sun refuses to shine and it rains every freakin’ day! My only saving grace is the thought of being in Moab by Sunday! :)

  • barge:

    HA HA.. I am commenting on your blog on your B day.. HA!
    Beautiful pics, as always.. but do tell which one of these birds have more meat.. or match a nice merlot?

    Hope u had a great B Day!

  • cactusmcharris:

    Hi Katie,

    This year was my first up here to see evening grosbeaks – boy, they can be pretty. They seem to, like a gang, run in packs, visit the feeders, then fly away in a group at the least bit of movement by me.

    We don’t have any orioles here, but Stellar’s jays come by sometime. The western tanager I’ve seen only once, like the pine grosbeak I’ve seen only once.

    Those are excellent pictures, Kate – how do you train them to pose for you?

  • Cactus Kate:

    Thanks for reading, all!

    Uncle Doug – I am glad I am (and my parents are) so popular in the bird community. I don’t even really feed them in my yard, but they come for the ripe mulberries (which then end up recycled, and decorating my white car…)

    Sonja (AKA ‘mom’) – I am glad the tanagers have been around, too. They are beautiful!

    Janet – I can’t seem to attract the creek people back to my yard. Maybe because I feel safe, with a house-ful of men…

    Jen – I am GREEN with envy! Did you take photos at DBG?! Why wasn’t I informed that you were going there? I can’t wait to see you!

    Barge – I imagine the pinyon jay would go well with a good vintage Merlot. Delicious, braised with a plum glaze…

    McHarris – The tough part of the training is getting them to show up on time for their lessons. Then, they learn fairly quickly, with a little electric shock help…

  • Aunt Marcy:

    You certainly have beautiful birdies out there in Moab. Your pictures are fanatastic as usual. Good job on the photography.

  • Those really are gorgeous pictures of some tanagers! Believe it or not, we’ve actually been inundated with them here in Logan lately (there seems to be a flock of them that have adopted our apartment complex lately), but we couldn’t figure out what they were. I’ve never seen such brightly colored wild birds in Logan before! Hope you guys are enjoying all the lovely weather!

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