Happy February everyone! I hope you will all share your bird photos with us. To get us going, I'll start the month off with a couple of pictures from yesterday and the only two pictures I've taken today.

Red-winged Blackbird, female ............... Boat-tailed Grackle


Mourning Dove ....................................... Cormorant

Lin - Your boat-tailed Grackle looks like he has on bronze armor ! They always have that mean look on their face, too! I don't live near the water here, so I don't know if I have ever seen a Cormorant. I am sure they are here, just don't recall ever seeing one.

Becky, LOL I call the Grackles "Mean Birds" because they always seem to have a mean look on their faces. Yes, the Cormorant is a very common water bird throughout Florida. We saw them in the Sebastian River when we were out on my brother in laws boat.

It's those crazy eyes that make the Grackles look so mean, I think. I had a whole flock of them at my feeder today. I call them the "squeaky birds" because of their very squeaky voices. Must admit, I took my pellet gun out there and shooed them off because they were hogging the feeder and no other birds were coming around.

We have crazy Cormorants that hang around your boat when we are out on the Bay here, too. I wonder if the boat scares up some fish for them to eat, or what?

Thanks for the new thread! My computer just crashed but it did a self-repair and so far, so good. I went ahead and ordered a new laptop, though. I had been trying to put it off, but no longer! But if I'm not here much for the next week, it's because this one is acting up.

I got a few bird pics yesterday. I was leaving for MOSI when I saw the resident Cardinal. I took this picture through my car window so if it looks funny, I'm blaming it on that.



I was looking for caterpillars at MOSI with not much success, when I heard an awful squawking. I mean, it was horrid! I looked, and found the source was a Blue Jay. Soon after, he changed to a different sound which I can only compare to a bird mimicking the Emergency Broadcast System sound. It was so annoying. When he flew to another tree further away, I was so happy.



I vaguely remember taking this picture. I think it's a Mockingbird.



Speaking of tame Egrets, I saw a large white bird fly over the parking lot. I went to investigate, and it was a Great Egret. I got so close to it; I was shocked!



I guess I got too close because it flew over to the employee parking lot. But I got a better look at it, so that was okay.



And I think this is another Mockingbird that totally had his eye on me.

I love cardinals.

Melanie, Great shots! Usually the Blue Jays make very loud screeching sounds when predators (snake, hawks etc.) are nearby. Love the Great Egret, it must have been stalking breakfast in that Pampas Grass. The Mockingbird is watching you in those last shots, love that first picture where his head is cocked.

Glen, Love the kitty in your Avatar picture ... so pretty!

I've been out cleaning my screened porch all afternoon ... but I've hardly made a dent in it. I did have my camera out there with me because I've been hearing the jays screeching off an don all day so I knew hawks were probably around. Another small hawk was perched on the power line a little while ago.


I got back to moving furniture and plants and sweeping when I suddenly heard a loud *Kerplop* sound in the water and horrid screeching sounds. There were two Cormorants in the water right behind the porch and they were fighting over a large fish that one of them had caught. I grabbed the camera and went out on the edge of the deck to try to get some shots. Cormorants are skittish around humans and always duck under the water or take off and fly away if they feel someone is too close. Well, one did fly off and the who had the big fish swam away from my direction but I zoomed in as much as my camera would allow and even with the poor lighting of the sun glaring on the water I got these pictures. It amazes me how they can swallow such big fish! Look at that fat neck in the last picture after he's finally swallowed the whole thing!

Wow, great pics Lin! Like a snake swallowing his prey; it is amazing how some animals can do that.

great photos, Lin! What I find really interesting is how the cormorant somehow ducks its body under the water while it's eating the fish, leaving only its head and neck above the surface. I've only ever seen birds dive into the water head-first. Does it do it to stretch its neck as vertically as possible in order to swallow that very large fish? A puzzle...

Debbie, Nature is amazing, isn't it!

Mika, That Cormorant kept diving head first beneath the water with the fish in it's mouth and then re-surfacing. They do dive underwater to catch their prey and I wondered if it was getting more water in it's mouth to aid in swallowing or perhaps it was positioning itself for a better angle to swallow that fish. It sure is interesting to watch birds like the Cormorant (and also Herons and Egrets) swallow those big fish, especially when their necks look so skinny!

Lin, you sure do get some fantastic action shots!

Thanks Ibis ... I've been lucky to have my camera at hand when I see shorebirds eating fish.

Not my back yard (nor even my garden!) and not February, but what the jellybean?

Augur buzzard


I think this one looks a bit like a grackle on his way to a fancy dress (costume) party? :


He may (or may not) be a Hildebrant's starling.

plantladylin said:Debbie, Nature is amazing, isn't it!

Mika, That Cormorant kept diving head first beneath the water with the fish in it's mouth and then re-surfacing. They do dive underwater to catch their prey and I wondered if it was getting more water in it's mouth to aid in swallowing or perhaps it was positioning itself for a better angle to swallow that fish. It sure is interesting to watch birds like the Cormorant (and also Herons and Egrets) swallow those big fish, especially when their necks look so skinny!

I think Lin's thinking on this sounds right.
Great shots Lin!!!

Mika, that buzzard is gorgeous!!!! The starling isn't too shabby either. Where were those taken?

Thanks, Ann. Photos from Tanzania, where we went on safari. If ever you want the holiday of a lifetime, I so so so recommend it!

That buzzard is gorgeous!

I always thought that vultures and buzzards were the same things, but after looking it up, a buzzard is more related to a hawk. They eat live prey, and their heads are feathered.

Vultures, on the other hand, primarily eat carrion and have a bald head. And they're not that cute.

Always learning something on this forum

IbisFla said: That buzzard is gorgeous!

I always thought that vultures and buzzards were the same things, but after looking it up, a buzzard is more related to a hawk. They eat live prey, and their heads are feathered.

Vultures, on the other hand, primarily eat carrion and have a bald head. And they're not that cute.

Always learning something on this forum

And you just taught me something Ibis. Thanks for that. Most people I know, including myself & my dh use the word buzzard & vulture interchangeably for our VULTURES. I will not make that mistake again. I was wondering why that buzzards head was so prettily feathered.

Mika, thanks for the recommendation. I think Ireland would be on my hit list first and I'd have to win the lottery to even go there.

Wow, that Buzzard really is a beautiful bird! Wow, that second bird does resemble a Grackle but sooo much prettier with that red breast ... and oh my, that eye!! Yep, I'd say that's a Hildebrant Starling: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... ... wish we had such a pretty one here!

Ibis: Yeah, buzzards are a lot prettier than vultures!