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Animals roaming free

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The colourful bird below "the woodpecker" is a Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe), though this one seems to have a heavier bill than those I remember.
 
4321lynx said:
The colourful bird below "the woodpecker" is a Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe), though this one seems to have a heavier bill than those I remember.
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I've been informed that the woodpecker is a Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker. Below it? I think that's a Bullheaded Shrike?

I also learned that the one below that is an Azure Winged Magpie
 
Sunday morning. A neighboring hotel has a nice Japanese garden. Managed another photo of a Great Tit and a Bulbul. Then the rain started. The rest of today is supposed to be a washout. Bulbuls are just everywhere in the city, along with crows.





This is the same garden that last year the white eyes were all over the cherry trees. It's a bit earlier in the season this year and only a couple trees have flowers. I was hoping to see some white eyes here but not to be this time. At least I got one yesterday.
 
Back home several days. Still no place to walk other than my driveway unless I get out the snow shoes.

A red-bellied woodpecker at the Suet.

 
Fir the record here are the Japanese critters from the 3 posts.

First Post
Brown Eared Bulbul
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
Rock Dove (Pigeon)
Little Egret
Great Cormorant x2
Great Egret x2
White-Cheeked Starling

Second post
Common Pochard Female
Tufted Duck
Unknown turtle x2
Northern Pintail
Common Pochard Female
Common Pochard Male
Brown Eared Bulbul
Varied Tit
Turtle Dove
White-Cheeked Starling
Long Tailed Tit
Brown Eared Bulbul
Great Egret x2
Turtle Dove
Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker
Bull Headed Shrike
Azure Winged Magpie
Eastern Great Tit
Japanese White-Eye
Hawfinch
Japanese sign
Common Eurasian Teal
Black-Eared Kite
Great Cormorant
Eastern Spot-Billed Duck
Jungle Crow

Third Post
Eastern Great Tit
Brown Eared Bulbul
 
I just came back from a short outing to a pond I go to that's spring fed and I thought that it might have iced out. It had. And I was caught off-guard by a great blue heron that flew out the moment I came into view over the hill.

I got a couple shots on that might have been the worst possible setting I could use. "Handheld Night Shot" The evening before I had been outside in the dark experimenting with it and I had neglected to check my settings today.

I took two shots and was thinking well this could look interesting. As I understand it, hand-held night shot takes several short burst shots in succession and stitches them together to reduce blur. It's similar to how they take long exposure astronomy photos.

I was expecting that my great blue would show the wings in several locations because I could hear that the camera took at least three shots to stitch together.

Evidently though, the camera ultimately decided to use only one and so here it is. I am slightly disappointed because I was sort of looking forward to seeing a heron with three pair of wings :)

Here is the Heron, and the pond. The two heron shots are cropped about 50%. Nowhere close to fully zoomed out.

The snow pack is still over a foot deep and close to 2 feet in some places.





 
Another surprise bird today this should be captioned "never go to the end of the driveway to get the trash barrel without the camera".

It flew out of my bushes by the house and flew up in an ash tree in my front yard. It appears to have a house sparrow. It sat there for about 12 minutes and then moved to a different branch to eat. I have not yet found the remains below the tree.

Looks like a coopers hawk I think.









 
Great shots Crazyfingers. Keep them coming. Don't even think of going out of your house for any reason whatever, without your camera.
 
A few more on the Coopers Hawk yesterday. I took 175+ photos and have weeded it down to 90. Still a lot. The bird was there for over a half hour and I couldn't resist take picture after picture.

I like the portrait


Gruesome but natural. It's waiting for the house sparrow to suffocate before eating it


Fit the focus through a hole between branches


Intense
 
Springtime bird arrivals who did not get the memo. The great blue heron from a couple days ago was a surprise because there is still so little open water about.

Today I saw the first turkey vulture of the season and a flock of common grackles went through making a ruckus in my trees and then left.

These guys have not gotten the memo that there is still no open ground and very little open water.
 
From a couple days ago, I like this photo. Nothing special about it really but that I like it.



From yesterday, at what I call the swan pond, no Swans but my first red wing blackbird of the season.


Soon these reeds will be full of red wing blackbird nests.


Today my first hooded mergansers of the season. One pair at the small opening where the stream comes in and the mallards have hung out.


That's them at the opening closest to the house. Lots of mallards.


The Swan Pond is still otherwise pretty closed up.
 
Went out today to the old soccer field and pond where in the spring there are lots of birds nesting.

I was hoping some buffleheads or hooded mergansers would be where the stream cuts into the ice. No such luck.

It was a bit hard taking photos because I suffering from snow blindness. It took a long time for my eyes to adjust to looking into the viewfinder. But I took a photo of what looked like movement in an open spot of water.

It wasn't until I got home and got the photos on the computer and was really surprised that the movement appears to be at least two, possibly three river otters.



Here is where they were on that small open spot of water in the center of the photo.


I did a lot of walking looking for anything more to photograph but on my way back to the car I spotted a white spot in the trees clear on the other side of the soccer fields. Looks like a red tail hawk.


I was here and the hawk is in the trees just behind the white shack. Can't even see it. It flew off before I could get any closer.


Soon after this crow went by. I was puzzled by the gray pattern under the wings and tip of the tail but have been told it's likely a leucism condition.


Only way home I stopped at the swan pond hoping the hooded mergansers would still be there. Didn't see them. Just the mallards and the silly yuk duck.

 
The only thing special today was that the wild turkeys have shown up.

Under my neighbor's feeder.


Terrible picture under my feeder.
 
Today was a dark overcast day so not ideal conditions for photographing.

But I've mentioned the cardinals are out doing their springtime singing and here is one in the tree in my back yard.



I took 15 minutes down at the "Swan Pond". Things are picking up.

A pair of wood ducks have shown up. The migration map shows me on the border of year-around and Summer breeding. A pair nested at this pond last year. I don't know if this would be the same pair returning.




They flew farther away to sit on a log.


Common Grackles are here. Again, I am on the border between year Around and Summer breeding.



The Redwing blackbirds are arriving in large numbers now.


Bad lighting for birds in trees today but I think that the lower right of the three may be a female. Once again I am on the border between year around and summer breeding.

 
Another gray day. They are actually predicting a bit of slush/snow tonight and tomorrow. Sunday might be sunny.

Bad feather day for this Northern Cardinal


The "Swan Pond" is officially the Swan Pond again with the arrival of this pair. I'm sure it's the same male as last year and the year before. The locals call him Don Juan. I hope that they nest over on that side this spring. Last spring they nested on the side where that yellow house is a couple posts above and that's where the snapping turtle also hangs out and we suspect that's why they lost so many chicks last spring.





No sign of the wood ducks from yesterday but enough open water has emerged around the sides of the pond they could be anywhere.

But the mallards were here and about and flying around.


The redwing blackbirds were doing the batman thing.





- - - Updated - - -

Mageth said:
What does that mean?
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I knew that was Blair Witch the moment I saw it.
 
Philos said:
Folks,

I’m interested to know what animals tend to roam free near your house or in the garden?

We are festooned with them around here. There are domestic cats, foxes, squirrels, deer, badgers, common rats, mice, voles, moles, birds of prey, pigeons, gulls, magpies, blackbirds, rooks, owls, cuckoo and endless varieties of little birds I can’t name. This is before we get started on the insects, which are everywhere and apparently endless.

There is a bloke in the supermarket with a stall about ‘saving wildlife’ and sometimes I just want to pull out a shotgun and get some peace and quiet in the garden, but I don’t tell him that.

How is it for you?

Alex.
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If you're anywhere near Torquay then you should be able to see great herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically across the plain.
 
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