Red polls - new visitors

Much to my surprise and delight yesterday, a small group of red polls joined the goldfinches that habituate my feeders - and on the deck it's so much easier to get photographs.

Unfortunately the program on my computer that allows me to at least crop or zoom in on photos isn't working - no big surprise there since technology doesn't love me... so I can't really show you how sweet these birds really are. Lovely burgundy heads on the males and lots of striping on their vests. The goldfinch gang still have lots of subdued colouring, not their bright finery of mating yet... though some have begun to look more like spring is on its way.

In the second photo you can easily see the goldfinch hanging onto the pole that holds the feeder, with a red poll on the feeder and its little burgundy cap quite visible, the second red poll has its back to the camera - camera shy or just busy getting seeds? And I'm not sure what kind of bird is perched on top.

Some of the red polls had lovely rosy vests as well. Welcome little visitors indeed. They are first timers to my feeders.

And this morning I didn't have time to get my camera to capture the murder of crows and ravens flying overhead. (I was letting the dogs out at the time.) I have four ravens with distinctive calls that hang about - and they greeted me on their way northward with about half a dozen crows. I've never seen so many flying together, usually the crows are dive bombing the ravens, but this was an obviously happy group flying together. I just never know what I'm going to see outside my doors. Makes living here such fun.

Friendship

 These two beautiful pictures of a red poll at a niger seed feeder were taken by a friend of mine - Sue Dickens.

I've mentioned her before in previous blogs.

The reason I have these photos to share with you is because I was moaning to Sue about not being able to take photographs outside, nor getting good close-ups for the blog.

Being the good friend she has been to me for more than  30 years... she's actually one of my best friends, she immediately sent the two pictures along and said "use these if you want." Now in my book that makes her a special friend - the kind of person you want to be too, at least I do.  Friends are so important, can make you smile when you're down, tell you fearlessly when they think you're wrong, and give you a hand when you need it as well. Boy I'm lucky to have a few of these special people in my life.

So thanks Sue for sending along these fabulous shots of a tiny bird that has never visited my feeders, though they do hang around up here. And thanks for being my friend!

And aren't these the cutest little guys? Look at those little feet clinging to the feeder and that tiny beak pulling out a seed. Did you know that niger seed is full of fat, and it's not a relative of the thistle as some people (including me) thought?

Hope you have friends in your life today and get to enjoy something as special as these tiny birds.

Winter birds need seeds

Common visitors to my feeders in winter are the mourning doves, goldfinches,  and sparrows. They feed from the ground, though I've seen a mourning dove hanging on for dear life to a small feeder or get itself trapped inside a hopper feeder when it's frightened and can't figure out how to escape...a friend of mine calls them Norma Jeans, after the reputation Marilyn Monroe had for being a ditzy blonde - so untrue. She was smart as a whip about her career, not personally perhaps. However the mourning doves truly are not the brightest of the avian population. But lovely soft, beautifully-feathered creatures indeed.

This group of red polls (Common and Hoary I think from the photograph taken by a friend - Sue Dickens) shows how important feeders are to most seed and berry eating birds in winter. When there is lots of snow - like right now where I live - their normal supply of food is buried. They then rely on Mountain Ash, (the Rowan,) other berry bushes and trees and on people to put out seeds. Pounds of seeds, tons even - at least that's what it seems like

Red polls are adventurous birds and travel in flocks. They don't seem to stay long, only one to three weeks in any given location, but they certainly add to the  landscape with their burgundy heads, pink breasts and white underwings. Such fun to watch.

Hope you find something fun to watch or do today - it's one of those good to be alive days.