Odds and ends.....

Well, the Australian Open tennis is almost over....I've been watching tennis the last two weeks more than birds....so I figured I'd better find something to post so you wouldn't think I had died.  These are some odds and ends that I snapped between tennis matches :-)

 One of the very cold male Cardinals.  We have had some really cold weather.  Much nicer to stay indoors and not do anything.

 A Red-tail hawk we saw out at Blue Grass one day.  We have been going there to look for owls and harriers.  Have seen some of both, but haven't gotten good photos, so I won't bother posting them.  We went on an "owl crawl" one day with a naturalist (and 50 other people!)  and found out where to look for the owls.  But in the late afternoon and with my dependence on autofocus, I really can't get good shots.

A Red-bellied Woodpecker all fluffed up against the cold.  Makes him look very well fed :-) 

.....speaking of "well-fed" 

I looked out on the deck one morning and had three squirrels busy eating all the food in sight.

 Sunset at Blue Grass while we were owl hunting.

One of my titmice.  This one has a slight wing problem, but it doesn't seem to slow it down.  It has been around for a couple years and that loose feather and slight droop of the wing must not be anything major, but I can always recognize that particular titmouse when it comes to the feeder. 

 My greedy Blue jays looking for their morning peanuts.

A very fat miserable looking Robin.  It was trying to fly up and get the crab apples, but they are at the ends of the small branches where it couldn't land.  So it just sat there all fluffed up.  I finally went out and pulled some off and dropped them on the ground for it.  My birds are so spoiled! 

Mrs. Cardinal 

 White-throated Sparrow

 Goldfinch.  I can see a tiny black spot on the forehead.  A male ready to change to its summer colors?  That's a hopeful sign!

 Another Goldfinch

 Female Cowbird that has been hanging around.  All the birds are so fluffed up trying to keep warm.

 Mrs. House Finch

The "front yard" squirrel defending the feeding box from an intruder that tried to come down and join it.  Squirrels don't share well :-)

Brown stripes seem popular.....

I was going through the photos I took yesterday and realized that we had a lot of little brown striped visitors at the feeders.

A Female House Finch enjoying a touch of sunshine along with her seeds.

 I don't usually see these at the feeder!....A female Red-Wing Blackbird.

 She was very hungry.  Other birds kept trying to move in on her, and she just ignored them and kept eating.

 They are very pretty birds.  I didn't see her glossy black mate anywhere.

 And finally....a cute little Song Sparrow is picking through all the little seeds that fall to the ground.

 A side portrait.  Usually these Song Sparrows are hopping around so much, I get blurred photos.

 This White-throated Sparrow isn't quite so striped, but I hadn't seen many of them this year.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker....

I saw this sapsucker in the maple tree earlier today.  I hate to tell him, he is a few weeks too early!  I don't think the sap is flowing in this cold weather.

 He was way up high. Look at that sharp pointy beak.

 Mostly I got back views.

 These two of him digging in the bark were the best.  A juvenile....not much red on the head yet.

Last week we had some warmer temperatures, but now it is in the 20's again.  A nice diversion to see a bird that doesn't often come to visit.

Snow Goose Air....

I really enjoy watching them in the air.  I'm not usually good at flight shots....too slow to keep up :-)  But with this many geese, I am bound to catch at least a few good shots of them coming or going.

 Flying past

 I just love shots like this where they are all hanging in the air, floating back down to earth.

 "Heads up!  Out of the way!  I"m coming in for a landing!"

 These three are sort of like watching airplanes that are lined up and coming down one after the other on the same run-way :-)

 This group were taking off rather than landing.

Suspended

 "I think I see an empty spot....coming down!"

 I happened to being doing some multi-shooting when these two were landing so I have an whole series of shots of them one right after another.  It is amazing how they stay in sync with their wings as they come down together.  Kind of like watching Olympic synchronized diving.

 Fall out

 Spread wide.

Wings back, head forward, landing gear down.....

This was just so much fun :-)

The Snow Geese are still here.....

We went to Henderson, KY yesterday to check and see if the Snow Geese were still around.  We were really fortunate and they were not only there, but they were closer to the road than I have ever seen them.  There are several raised viewing stands in the area and the largest mass of geese were right behind one of them!  They were so close, I was afraid to try to climb the viewing stand for fear of scaring them further away.  So I just got out and stood next to the car and moved as little as possible!

In air... 

 .....on land.....

Trying to give you an idea of how densely massed they are!  Would love to have a count of how many are there!  This is just one "camera section".....multiply by many more sections that look the same!

.....and "sea" :-)  

There were Greater-White Fronted Geese mixed in one area as well, but I don't have many photos of them.

 Because I could get closer, I want to show some close-ups of the color phases.  Snow Geese have two main color phases: The white morph and the dark morph.  Then there are juveniles of each.  These are a bunch of mainly darks and their juveniles.

 The adult dark is very black with a white head.  It's juvenile is very dark gray.  The lighter grays are the juveniles of the white phase and they vary a lot.

 ....white juveniles

....dark juveniles 

 Everyone alert and looking around

 I don't know what that web stuff is on the grass, but it made them look like they were behind a fence!

Looking out....you can barely see another "layer" of them in the distance on the other side of that water. 

More dark juveniles. 

 "She's looking at us!....and taking photos!  Are we going to be on TV??"

I think the gray juveniles are really pretty. 

 Heads up!  I try to scan the groups hoping to find a rare Ross's Goose mixed in, but if they are there, I have never found one.  I thought I had in one photo, but think it was just a dark phase Snow, although it seemed to have a white belly, more than most.

Backs turned :-)  

Most of the time the heads were down in the grass eating, but I won't post a lot of those.

 Along one field that is totally flooded like a shallow lake, there were a few sitting alone.  Here is a white juvenile....very pretty feathers!

 The white adult

The dark adult

A huge truck drove by at one point and sent thousands of them into the air.  I love catching them when they are floating back to earth again!  I took a few videos, too, but don't know if Blogger will even let me post them any more.  I have lots of landing photos.  I'll save them for another post.  They look like they are just hanging there in the air :-)  I wish I didn't have to shrink these photos down for posting because I think it makes them look poor.  But Blogger rules and I have no choice.