Rainy Day Tripod Fun
Published August 22, 2011
Tags: My Feeders, rainy day, tripod, seed-eaters, Northern Cardinal, American Goldfinch, Purple Finch, White-breasted Nuthatch, Chipping Sparrow
It's been one of the nice summers here in Western New York that I can
remember. We've only had a little rain and many, many beautiful, sunny,
hot summer days. As summer draws to an end, I'm finding myself
reflecting on all I've seen and learned this past year of birding. Being
a "newbie", there was much to see with each season. I'm especially
enjoying the juvenile birds of all species right now. They're beginning
to emerge from their parents' protective cover and I'm seeing them in
the yard and at the feeders more and more.
I saw one very
interesting spectacle the other day: a young Brown-headed Cowbird was
yelling to be fed and who was its surrogate parent but a much smaller
male Dark-eyed Junco! I couldn't believe my eyes as this large "baby"
followed his anxious "dad" around demanding to be fed and the Junco
hopped to it!
After a rather rare day of rain this week, I decided to set up my camera
and focus on one of our bird feeders. I don't know if anyone else has
noticed this, but it seems the feeders become unusually busy after a
rain! I thought it might be fun to capture a few photos of the seed-eaters who frequent our bistro.
 A female Purple Finch |  A female Purple Finch slides down the feeder pole! |
 Female Northern Cardinal |  Male Northern Cardinal |
 White-breasted Nuthatch |  Male American Goldfinch |
 Chipping Sparrow |  Taken from the other side of the house, this beautiful male Purple Finch visited the other feeders. |