Bird Quiz

The answer to last time's bird quiz was the Steller's Jay. This week's bird quiz is of 2 birds in a nearby swimming pool. Good luck!

American Goldfinches

Today I took some time to try to get some good shots of the goldfinches at my Grandma's feeder. She has 2 feeders, one finch sock and one bird/finch feeder. The finches regularly visits both of them. They sometimes even stay at the feeders for over 10 minutes! The first 2 pictures are of a breeding female. The lat one is of a male and female breeding goldfinch pair. Enjoy!

A Really Cool Book

I went to the local library today and found an amazing book. It is the Audubon's Birds of America. The whole book consists of drawings made by John James Audubon's drawings. It is a very old book. The publishing year is 1994. I have posted a few pictures of these drawings. It is a very interesting book to look at.

Happy 4th of July!

Since today the 4th of July, I am going to do a factfile on our country's bird, the Bald Eagle.

Habitat- Around Water

1. Food- Fish and Carrion
2. Nesting- In Tall Trees
3. Was once threatened with the poisonous pesticide, DDT
4. Now is thriving again.
5. Most common in Alaska and other northwestern states.
6. Some times in groups
7. A overall majestic bird

Canoe Trip Birding

Today I went on a two and a half hour canoe trip. Along the way I saw lots of turtles, birds, and snakes. It was very fun. I saw about 4 Kingfishers, which were leading us down the river. I also saw 3 Green Herons. They are very colorful. Next, I saw some Spotted Sandpipers, flying and foraging around the banks and sandbars. I also got to see a Great Blue Heron. Next, I saw about 5 Phoebes and a couple of Bank and Northern Rough Winged Swallows. They were fun to watch. Lastly, I saw a Hooded Warbler near the bank. It was a great ending to a great trip.

Fishing Pond Birding

I went back to the same fishing pond to fish and saw lots of birds. As I was fishing, swallows would fearlessly dive right in front of me to get water. It was amazing! There is also some Purple Martin houses around the pond. I went back to the Killdeer nest and got a better shot of the Killdeer doing the fake act. It was cool. I have been looking around for hummingbirds up here and have seen very few. I will try to get a picture of one soon.

On a side note, I got a twitter. It is http://twitter.com/Gustavo82. Gustavo is my Spanish name!

Killdeer Nest

I went to a nearby fishing pond and found a Killdeer nest with 4 eggs in it! As I was walking over, the female started to flip out and fly around. I left pretty quickly. After fishing for about 2 hours, I went over to the nest again. This time, the female did the fake act and started to act like it was limping as it walked away. This is to draw predators away from the nest. It was the first time I had ever seen one do this, I have only read about it. I was lucky enough to get a picture of it. It was amazing!