Home › #gallery › A BIG DAY FOR BIRDS – Marilyn Armstrong

A BIG DAY FOR BIRDS – Marilyn Armstrong

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It snowed last night. We had no idea how much we’d get because one minute they’d say “just a dusting” and the next they’d say “maybe five or six inches” and finally someone would admit they didn’t know, but something was going to happen.

Blue Jay
Downy Woodpecker in snow
The big furry bird
Mrs. Cardinal
Mr. Cardinal
A Pair of Juncos

I sort of hoped nothing would happen, but it’s and early winter, so I was pretty sure we’d have snow. I was hoping it wasn’t going to be a HUGE amount of snow, but that’s not coming till next week.

Flying!

When I woke this morning, it had definitely snowed and every bird in the woods was diving on the feeders. It was earlier than I usually get up, but the birds were enticing. When it’s cold and snowy, they forget to hide from me. They just want food and more food. I believe they eat a great deal when it’s cold and that’s how they survive the weather.

Taking off

I took a few pictures. More than a few. I burned through a whole battery and had to insert a new one. Usually, the birds leave while I’m changing batteries. This time, though, they were too hungry to go anywhere.

A Titmouse and a Flying Chickadee

So I got some great shots of Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal, Mr. and Mrs. Downy Woodpecker, Tufted Titmice, Chickadees, Carolina Wrens and Chipping Sparrows … among others. And a squirrel who snuck in for a snack. For once, I think the overwhelming flock of birds won the day and he left pretty quickly.

Getting wings ready to fly

But Garry said the squirrels were chowing down all morning, so maybe they finally got tired and went home for a nap.

Woodpecker and Titmouse

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Categories: #gallery, #Photography, Woodpeckers

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18 replies

  1. RuthScribbles
    12/13/2019 • 09:49

    I LOVE that last photo. They are looking directly at each other and you captured it!!

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  2. Melanie B Cee
    12/12/2019 • 13:51

    My goodness!! Well now it’s evident that the birds are still plentiful, perhaps it just wasn’t cold enough nor snowy enough for them to show up in such numbers! Beautiful photography! Thanks for sending me some cheer on what is a rainy (rainy??? It’s DECEMBER! 😐 ) and gloomy day.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Garry Armstrong
      12/12/2019 • 19:37

      Melanie, I spied a cardinal when I glanced out my bathroom window at dawn’s first light. The cardinal was busy with breakfast. He had the feeders to himself.

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    • Marilyn Armstrong
      12/12/2019 • 22:02

      Don’t be too deluded. I get a lot of birds because I feed them, but overall, more than 30 million of them have disappeared in less than 10 years — and climate change will kill millions more in the next few years. So will the elimination of their natural habitats which we do by building more and more houses, businesses, and farms.

      Massachusetts is 60% forest, so we have more than the usual amount of wildlife here. But it’s a very small area. Drive a short distance towards Boston — and there’s NO wildlife. Fifty miles from here, it’s all suburbs and pavement and you won’t see more than two or three birds … seagulls. Yes, there are still birds, but a lot fewer of them than there were and with each year of climate change and the refusal of people to understand that feeding birds are the only way to keep them alive. There will be fewer birds –and eventually, all the song and garden birds will be gone, a memory. That’s why I urge people to put up a feeder. Put out some seeds, not bread. Help them survive. It’s going to get more and more difficult. We can’t wait for “the world” to come back to the way it was. It isn’t going to happen in our lifetime.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Melanie B Cee
        12/13/2019 • 11:22

        I really do get it. I’ve read the statistics and this year? Although we live with a wetland right next door and a HUGE bird sanctuary (for the migrating birds)…Brigham City Bird Sanctuary does loads….. we had no robins in my neighborhood this year. Someone said there are predator birds (hawks and goshawks and eagles and other big predators) which is the explanation for why the robins haven’t come back, but I have to wonder if it isn’t your explanation for them disappearing. The little brown birds aren’t in great numbers either, even though in past years there’s been so many (according to the noise level anyway). I don’t put out feeders because there are rats..big rats, here and field mice and voles. And there is (was?) plenty of natural seed in the wild areas still seen here. My neighbors have bushes full of seeds the birds like (apparently), because that’s where all the racket was. It’s great that you do feed them.

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  3. Kiki
    12/12/2019 • 13:37

    What a stunning collection of ‘smashing’ birds’ pics. And you even know their name – I’m so impressed. Hope you get a large portion of joy from them ‘flatterers’ 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    • Marilyn Armstrong
      12/12/2019 • 21:40

      I can’t tell one from another, but I know most of their names from bird books. I know our cardinal and there I know there’s only one because they are very territorial. if there’s another one in the area they will fight. Otherwise, though, they come in flocks.

      Liked by 1 person

  4. angloswiss
    12/12/2019 • 11:48

    You have such a wonderful choice of birds.

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    • Marilyn Armstrong
      12/12/2019 • 12:10

      But some which were really common last year are completely missing now. The finches are rare and the cowbirds are gone completely, Some may reappear in the spring, Hard to know,

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  5. robertawrites235681907
    12/12/2019 • 11:05

    These are such great pictures, Marilyn.

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  6. swo8
    12/12/2019 • 10:37

    Count on those squirrels to get there early.
    Leslie

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