backyardbirdingmonday

The Culprit : Superstitious Pileated Woodpecker

Posted by Ellie
 

For those who saw my black and white posting referring to a superstitious bird (knocking on wood, of course) linked below, I thought I would share a photo of the actual culprit, the pileated woodpecker himself. He was on a huge and very old maple that is one of my favourite trees, behind our house. This bird is doing his best to bring it down single handed beaked.

Superstitious bird posting: https://plus.google.com/+EllieKennard/posts/Tb49kSrCsA4

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#hqspbirds +HQSP Birds curated by +Andy Brown +Dilip Mundkur +Wade Cochran and +Serkan Mutan
+Backyard Birding Monday #BackyardbirdingMonday/105832555748880810955 curated by +Ricky L Jones 108602149449027340564 and +Marilou Aballe

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Watching Like a Hawk

Posted by Ellie
 

But isn't it supposed to be spring?

This hawk sat in the tree outside our house keeping an eye on our bird feeders, during another snowstorm. Most of the photographs we took were spoiled by having so much snow flying across the bird that it was not even clear what it was. Also, the camouflage of this bird is striking and unless you looked very carefully you couldn't even see it at all. And yes, this was taken in April. So this poor hawk is probably thinner than usual and desperately in need of a good meal although the fluffed up feathers make him look big and fat. Will this winter ever end?

Apparently it will and the clue is the sound of birdsong is filling the air as it always does in the spring. We even had an invasion of robins that managed to find some verges that had been cleared of snow by the plows next to the towering banks of white snow.

Are you not able to comment on Google+ because you don't belong? Would you prefer to comment on my blog? It's right here with all my G+ posts on it: https://www.elliekennard.ca .

HQSP Birds
#hqspbirds +HQSP Birds curated by +Andy Brown +Dilip Mundkur +Wade Cochran and +Serkan Mutan

#backyardbirdingmonday +Backyard Birding Monday #BackyardbirdingMonday by +Celeste Odono +Ricky L Jones +Marilou Aballe

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Winter Red Tailed Hawk in Flight

Posted by Ellie
 

We have an abundance of beautiful birds here, many of them being majestic birds of prey. The most commonly admired is the bald eagle, but we have hawks and owls as well. I just caught this red tailed hawk as it soared overhead when we were on our walk in our back garden. These raptors always make me hold my breath as they seem so proud, elegant and free in the skies over the poor earthbound mortals crawling around on the ground beneath.

Are you not able to comment on Google+ because you don't belong? Would you prefer to comment on my blog? It's right here with all my G+ posts on it: _https://www.elliekennard.ca__ ._

#hqspbirds +HQSP Birds​​​​ curated by +Andy Brown​​​​ +Dilip Mundkur​​​​ +Wade Cochran​​​​ and +Serkan Mutan​​​​
and
#backyardbirdingmonday +Backyard Birding Monday #BackyardbirdingMonday​​​​ by +Celeste Odono​​​​ +Ricky L Jones​​​​ +Marilou Aballe​​​​
and
#birdphotographymonday +Bird & Wildlife Photography​​​​ by +David Hemmings​​​​
And for
#minimalmonday +Olivier Du Tré​

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Male Pileated Woodpecker

Posted by Ellie

My friend Becky told me that the photo I posted the other day was of the female pileated woodpecker as it lacked a moustache. I knew I had taken photographs of both of the birds at the feeder that day, so I went back and found this of the male. This is not such a good composition with all the distractions of background and orange netting in the feeder, but at least you can clearly see what Becky was talking about with this guy's bright moustache! Thanks for making me take another look, +Becky Humphreys 

#backyardbirdingmonday +Backyard Birding Monday #BackyardbirdingMonday  #BackyardbirdingMonday with thanks to +Celeste Odono +Ricky L Jones and +Marilou Aballe


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Pileated Woodpecker – 74/365

Posted by Ellie

I don't have a long enough lens to get wonderful bird images, but when I had not one, but two pileated woodpeckers around my feeders the other day, I had to get a picture, at least of one of them. Taken through the window, this shows one eyeing the feeder hanging above it. They are the largest woodpecker we have around here and make an impressive noise when they drum on the trees around us. We don't see them very often, but you can always tell when they have found a meal in our trees as they leave huge jagged holes as evidence of where they have been.

#backyardbirdingmonday +Backyard Birding Monday #BackyardbirdingMonday by +Celeste Odono +Ricky L Jones +Marilou Aballe

#myownbackyard by +Craig Pifer

#365project +G+ 365 Project by +Simon Davis-Oakley +Patricia dos Santos Paton


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Bald Eagles 11/365

Posted by Ellie

So there we were driving along in the car on Saturday morning, not far from our house when suddenly we spotted a tree full of bald eagles. By the time we had turned around and driven back for me to photograph them, they had begun to get restless and were taking off and by the time I took my last photograph there were only 6 left in and around the tree. These wonderful birds nest in the area and feed on the carcasses thrown out from the local chicken farms, mainly. The younger ones tend to be larger than the adults and do not have the distinctive white heads which appear when they are older. 

I am catching up with my project, more to post!

#baldeagle  

For #365project +G+ 365 Project  by +Simon Davis-Oakley and  +Patricia dos Santos Paton 
and #birdloversworldwide +BIRD LOVERS Worldwide by +Robert SKREINER 
and
#backyardbirdingmonday +Backyard Birding Monday #BackyardbirdingMonday by +Celeste Odono +Ricky L Jones


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