Saturday, January 16, 2010

Avian Roundup (+ Rabbit Poop, Squirrel Corn, and Icog)

Or, studies in wildlife. I'd never seen a common / northern flicker before. Look at these great closeup shots I got, courtesy of my new birdbath heater near the patio door.
















This is the most beautiful bird I've seen in my backyard. And did you know they're considered ground woodpeckers? First time I saw this guy swoop through the yard I thought we had a hawk.













Flicker shunning.














Flicker balance beam.













Flicker GQ.













Floating cardinal. Most of the cardinals here are magicians who were scheduled to appear on Conan O'Brien in March, but....













Junco v. strawberry. Who will make the first move?













The squirrel soon ran up the elm and into the cedars with its catch of the day. After pillaging the bird feeders.













Rabbit scat!!! Yay!!! I pretend they are berries. Na na na, la la la la. They are berries. There are no rabbits. There are no rabbits. There are no rabbits.



















The chicken wire around the shrubs, to keep the wabbits at bay, caught the snow most interestingly.














That's a 3 foot drift on the right by the arbor. We've had almost 3 feet of snow already this year, 15 inches above average.


















With the snow melt during the day, and hard freezes at night, ice fog / freezing fog develops. This is another reason not to cut back plants in the fall. The last two mornings every object has been covered in a frothy white that is stunning in the sunlight.

And finally--GO MINNESOTA VIKINGS!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

You captured the flicker's yellow underwings which I seldom see.

Kateri said...

The flicker looks like he was showing off just for camera. Great shots!

Carol said...

Fabulous photos of the flicker! It is so quiet here ... maybe I need to get a bird bath and a heater! Thanks for the inspiration.

Wilma said...

No rabbits indeed! Dream on, Deep Middle ...

The floating cardinal is wonderful.

cheers,
Wilma

Jim Groble said...

There are always rabbits. great pics.
jim

Gail said...

Wonderful shots Benjamin! Would you tell us again who made that marvelous copper sculpture! I've been googling all manner of metal sculpture to find his work! gail

Statch said...

Wow, your pictures are incredible, especially that first one!

Lynne said...

YES, Benjamin, there are always rabbits. Just be glad they're mot DEER.
The snow pictures are beautiful - almost wish we had some snow here to cover up the gray this winter. Maybe not.

Cheers

Benjamin Vogt said...

MNG--I got very lucky!
Kateri--And yet he never saw me. Much less prone to leave then teh smaller birds.
Carol--Yes, get thee to a bird bath.
Wilma--Wait till you see the floating rabbit....
Jim--No there aren't. No. No.
Gail--Joe Papendick. I hate to go to his site because I always find something!
Statch--I still can't believe I got that shot!
Lynne--Snow's not bad, but ice is. Aren't rabbits like deer shock troops?

Rob (ourfrenchgarden) said...

Na, no rabbits, but the tooth fairy, now that's real.

lostlandscape said...

The snow makes a nice backdrop for the avian beefcake shots--the flicker GQ is great. It's a bird that's supposed to spend some time even out my way in Southern California, but apparently I'll have to head for our foothills and mountains to see it.

Miranda Bell said...

Hi have just discovered your blog - some fabulous shots of your woodpecker especially - Miranda