Long-legged, big eyed bird ... and what an expression! Love that photo!

David - Loved that mass birds in the sky photo!

Lin - Nice shots as always! I hear ya about the lawn mowing break for 2 months. And I agree that it probably won't be until January that we start getting some cold weather. I'll probably be running my A/C on Christmas Day!

Glen -Glad to see that your birds are ok after the storm. How did your home and garden hold up?

Becky the house was okay but watching the wind bend the trees around it was a frightening but awesome sight if you know what I mean. But elsewhere four huge gums smashed the powerlines. Surprisingly the daylily pods and their markers held up down lower to the ground in the garden but the flowers were plucked or annihilated. The vehicle barge was blown up onto the mudflats.

That must have been one super storm!

Gleni said:A terrible storm. We lost power for 25 hours. I worried about my Bush Stone-curlews but here they are.

Did you get hit with a typhoon? (Is that what they are called there?)
When you say "my" are those your personal birds? Or just a bird that hangs around in your are?
Certainly interesting looking.

BTW - Sorry folks for posting the Geese pic earlier. I was not paying close enuff attention and di not realize I was in Backyard.

David they are wild birds. It is a strange phenomenon of islands that birds rare on the mainland can be very common on islands, like these stone-curlews. Here is their spoilt-rotten baby.

Your geese picture was awesome!

Love the geese picture. All bird pics welcome here.

That's some extreme weather you had, Gleni!

David, I don't think we're that strict on here. I take photos from my yard, MOSI, up the street, Starbucks, parking lots, places I go hiking, etc. Don't stress over it.

Glen, glad to hear you are okay! That bird is really awesome. Love the way it's looking right at the camera.

I dreamed last night that I was at this park and I was taking photos of these really interesting birds. Then, I woke up. Wish I could share it with you, but my head is a freaky place, so it's probably best to stay out. Still, I thought it was funny because I dream about butterflies a lot and this was my first "birding" dream. My Spanish teacher always said it was a good sign if we started dreaming in Spanish. So I'll take it as a good sign that I apparently have birds on the brain!

birdbrain? Just kidding.

jmorth said:birdbrain? Just kidding.

Jmorth, that's a good one, very clever.

Mellielong, I think it's a good sign. Many of my dreams are about plants and flowers.

David, LOL ... I think all bird photos are welcome here! I've always used the title of Backyard Birds and the month and year when I start a new thread but then again I see all kinds of birds from my backyard here in Fla. - lots of seagulls, herons, egrets, storks, osprey, ducks etc. and also hawks and bald eagles so I just post pictures of them all! The Geese photo was awesome and I for one was happy to see it and appreciate you sharing that picture! I love seeing birds that I don't normally see in my area and I hope everyone will continue posting photos of whatever type of bird they see in their part of the world! I realize ATP is a gardening website and originally this forum was for chatting about and posting photos of the variety of backyard birds that help keep insects away from our gardens but I tend to get carried away when it comes to birds. I love em' all!

Maybe beginning with the new year we should change our monthly subject line to read Birds - January 2016 instead of Backyard Birds. @mellielong since you are our forum moderator, what do you think?

So very glad you sustained no damage to the house or the dl's Glen. I love, love that photo of the BSC! It's as if it were posing.

Geese photos are great David!!!!

I agree, we should change our monthly subject line to read Birds - January 2016 instead of Backyard Birds. Good thinking Lin.
And great photos Lin.

Glen, so sorry to hear about that awful storm that hit your area but glad you had no major damage to your place and I'm so happy that those cute little Stone Curlews are doing fine! I do understand what you mean about storms being both frightening and awesome at the same time! We board up our house when hurricanes are predicted to hit our area and it's kinda scary when you can't see out to see what is going on but you can still hear the winds!

Boat-tailed Grackle .................................. Pigeons


Pied-billed Grebe .................................. Mockingbird

Lin, I think changing the title of the thread is a fine idea. Makes it sound more inclusive. I never had a problem with people posting pictures of birds wherever they saw them. The only thing I could see making a separate thread for was like if I went on vacation somewhere and took a lot of photos. I would want to personally feature that in its own thread. Or maybe if I went somewhere like the Florida Aquarium where they have a whole exhibit of birds. FYI, they're birds that have been injured or can't live in the wild. We're pretty good here about not keeping the ones that are healthy. But for day to day pictures, I always thought this thread was the place to be!

mellielong said:I apparently have birds on the brain!

I have close contact with the folks at Squaw Creek (In November I volunteered there 4 weekends). When I hear that the peak is near (early to mid or late January), I will try to get back for some pics. Then they alone have 1 - 1.5 million birds - mostly Geese and the "water" cannot be seen in much of the area - only white. It really takes your breath away. The entire valley area, Squaw Creek and Big Lake will have pushing 3 + million.

Thanks all.

David I can hardly wait to see that!!!!!