Backyard Birds

Today was much colder than yesterday, but still sunny. This afternoon I took a moment to sit outside (in the cold...I was bundled up) to watch the birds come to the feeders. I sat on the steps of my deck with my camera in hand. If I do not move, the birds quickly adjust to my presence, despite the fact that I am only about fifteen feet away. Either that, or they were really hungry.

Here are my three favorite photos: Carolina Chickadee with seed in beak, Mourning Dove and Downy Woodpecker.

Occoquan Bay NWR

I took today off and created a monster five day weekend (Thanksgiving Day + Friday, Saturday, Sunday and today). There are probably lots of things that I should have spent my time on today, but I instead decided to make a trip out to Occoquan Bay NWR.

The drive was supposed to be a 90 minute drive up Interstate 95, but I managed to make it a 150 minute drive instead when I got creative in an effort to avoid a nasty backup on the Interstate. That extra time was okay because anything near the water was very foggy this morning (Occoquan Bay NWR is situated on the Potomac River...in Google Maps it is shown as Diamond Laboratories).

Here are a few pictures from the day. The second picture is a Red-throated Loon in mid-stretch, likely a female because its throat is not red. The third picture is of a very stuffed-toy looking Downy Woodpecker.

Downy Woodpecker

I have this odd little tiki hut themed bar in my backyard (built by the previous owner). I have yet to take advantage of it for anything, until today. I parked my tripod and camera under it and used it as a "blind" so that I could take pictures of birds that came to my nearby feeder.

I put the word "blind" in quotes, because it really is not a blind. I am not really sure why this worked, but it did. Other than a small amount of fake tiki grass hanging down from the roof, I was essentially plainly visible. Just the camera and tripod between me and the birds. I was about ten to fifteen feet away.

After about 10 minutes of me just sitting very still and waiting, they started to come and eat. Even a squirrel was on the ground grubbing away, either ignorant of my presence, or simply uncaring. Maybe it was because my feeders had mostly gone empty during the previous week and I had just refilled them.

This is a picture of a Downy Woodpecker. I actually think this is an immature bird, born this year. I say this because the colors on his head and upper back seem very muted and grayish. I think this bird is nearing the end of his juvenile molt.