Seems like it is time to start a new Bird thread for May
a quick link to last month's thread : The thread "Bird Photos, April 2017" in Gardening for Butterflies, Birds and Bees forum

an old Carolina Wren photo because I haven't shot much lately



and perhaps a reminder to check out the two Wash. D.C. eagle cams , the babies are really getting big

http://www.eaglecam.org/ nest #1 link - cam can be rewound up to 4 hrs I think , by putting your mouse cursor over the video and sliding the red bar

http://www.dceaglecam.org/ and nest #2 link - 2 cams with sound and infrared lighting at night

LizDTM said:EEEEK! If I found a snake in my garage, I might die of fright! OMG!

They are not going to hurt you. And in truth they're probably more scared than you are. lol

Jai_Ganesha said:

They are not going to hurt you. And in truth they're probably more scared than you are. lol

People have been saying that to me my entire life, and I have never taken one iota of comfort from it I despise snakes, am terrified of them -- it wasn't a dog or a bunny rabbit in the Garden of Eden, it was a snake, and as Archie Bunker said, it rattled on Eve, and God said to them, get your clothes on and get the hell out of here!

Kurt, thanks so much for the new thread, I can't believe it's May already!

I've been outside working in the yard all morning and came in for an air conditioning break! I've seen a few birds today but the only one I managed a picture of so far is a Blue Jay:



Jai, I'm with Abbey when it comes to snakes making me nervous! I know the non-venomous types are just as afraid of me as I am of them and I'd never kill a good snake ... only those that are dangerous, if I had a chance ... usually I run the other way as fast as I can. I've seen a few of the extremely venomous Coral Snakes over the years and they really scare me!

The black racers are great to have around Lin! Yours was probably just trying to bring up his body temp by sunning on those warm pavers in the sun! I have a couple around my house and the only time I see them is when they're working on their tans!

I've loved snakes since I was a kid and moved up to the 'country' and had a science teacher who loved down the road from us. I would go visit Mr. Caroll and 'borrow' one of his boa's for the day---I thought I was SO cool riding around on my bike with a 6 foot boa around my neck! I've even had ball pythons as pets and I've let my son keep (only overnight) any ringneck and rat snakes he's found in the yard. One time my ex got a call from the school that our son had come to school with a small snake in his pocket---my ex told them, "You can blame his mother for that!". When I asked our son what the story was & how he got a snake to bring to school he told me, "Mom, I saw it at the bus stop and didn't want it to get run over by any cars so I put him in my pocket to keep him safe" How can you be mad at a kid who does that?

Anyway, back to birds...

It's a girl!! Or two, actually! And I managed to get the whole family in one shot! A lot of these are through the screen, sorry)


I loved watching this 'first' bathtime....again, sorry about the screen





I have no idea what this bird is...never saw it before and only saw it for one day (like the grosbeak pair that showed up for one day last year).



And a female (THANKS for the info regarding gender id!) woodpecker:

Patty, looks like you have a lot of Cardinal families at your place! Your unidentified bird is the Gray Catbird! I've only ever seen them in February and March here on the east coast! They used to eat the Loquats and raisins and berries I'd put in the bird feeders. Oooh, such a lovely lady Red-bellied!

No one is more surprised than I am that I got this shot:




Four food options, and they're doing everything but eating, that's par for the course...

Abbey

GrammaChar said: Abbey

Well, clap hands, indeed, Lulu's back in town!

THANK YOU for the

You guys have put up some beautiful photos! :D

Here is a couple that visits us often! They don't seem to mind us too much! :D A few weeks ago she looked like she was about to drop an egg. We didn't see them for a a couple weeks after that, but I have not seen any babies .

The birds here have been very busy at the feeders before it starts to rain yet again. I think love must be in the air today. I just saw both chickadees and white-breasted nuthatches courtship feeding within minutes of each other. The cardinals do it a lot, but I had never seen chickadees or nuthatches do it until now. It was sure cute. I didn't get any pictures of it unfortunately.

I got a pic of one of the nuthatches a couple of days ago. It must have sensed a predator or something because it froze like this for several minutes.



The goofy goldfinches decided the numerous mud puddles from all the rain were better than my birdbaths. I think the 40s is a little chilly for a dip, but they didn't seem to mind.



I did see a ruby-crowned kinglet and some white-throated sparrows out and about in between the rains too.

Jenny, I love the ducks ... I bet there's a nest nearby ... watch for babies in a few weeks!

Morgan, that Nuthatch is so pretty! I love the photo of the goldfinches having a puddle bath, so cute! The Ruby-crowned Kinglet sure is a pretty one. Wow, 40's??? That's pretty cool for daytime temps ... hope y'all warm up soon!

The only wildlife I saw this afternoon didn't have wings ... another Bunny:


A couple of days ago I saw a pair of Cardinals perched on a planter in the backyard near a feeder. The male would fly over to the feeder, grab a seed and then take it back and feed it to his lady; it went on for a little while before she finally flew to another feeder and ate by herself.

Oh yeah ... besides the bunny I did get a picture of a squirrel playing peekaboo on an oak tree:

For several reasons, I have been out of the bird loop for the last week and a half. But I do have a few post Easter weekend images for the thread.
While wandering along the Little Lehigh, I spotted what I thought were starlings. However, an internet review indicated that they were (I believe) Grackles:


A great leap forward.

As noted in an earlier post, other activities were also underway:
Is this a trout retriever?
Kayak school, Day 1.
So that is why it is called a bridle path.

Yes, Grackles and that photo of the one leaping forward is awesome! We used to get Grackles in droves, raiding the bird feeders; large flocks are very loud! Beautiful canine (Malamute or Husky?) It sure looks like he wants to be a retriever! Looks like a nice area for horseback riding too and Kayak School looks like fun! My husband talked about getting a Canoe or a Kayak when we moved here a year ago. He thought it would be fun to paddle through the St. Sebastian River. There's a boat dock and launch right here in the neighborhood but our neighborhood is at the south prong of the river, very narrow and very brackish water with lots of gators ... so, it was a No for me. I told him I'd sit at one of the picnic tables under the gazebo at the dock and wait for him to return.

I noticed that a dove has moved into an existing nest in my satsuma tree. I have not been able to check how many eggs yet, she seems to be there all the time.

Anole

Lin, forgive me, I thought I had thanked you for the acorn and I didn't,

Now, I'd like for you all to see how I perfectly timed this shot to capture the shadow:






OMG, I can't believe it, first hummingbird of my life showed up this morning, and actually, I think there are two of them, but I can't gush here, I do that in the hummingbird forum, it's only fair, most of those people have me on ignore!

Abbey, Congratulations on your very first hummingbird sighting!! With two feeders out, I'm sure you will be seeing more of them!

To wrap-up the 23 April Little Lehigh stroll, here are some images for the robin fans:

marsrover said:For several reasons, I have been out of the bird loop for the last week and a half. But I do have a few post Easter weekend images for the thread.
While wandering along the Little Lehigh, I spotted what I thought were starlings. However, an internet review indicated that they were (I believe) Grackles:

Grackles are the best bird on earth. I fell in love with one a couple years ago. I recounted her story (with lots of pictures) here: https://garden.org/thread/view...

I <3 grackles.