bird paparazzi

Now that we've got a backyard, I've been enjoying the wildlife that comes with it. In the fall, we picked up a couple of bird feeders, which are now hanging off of our dogwood tree, and all sorts of crazy birds showed up. I knew some of them, but there were many that I didn't reconize from the feeders in upstate NY.

I got a bird guide for Christmas, so I spent yesterday morning looking out the dining room window through the telephoto lens of Pat's camera trying to identify the regulars and snap their pictures. Here are the highlights:

The cast of Cirque du Squirlé.

There were plenty of sparrows. A nuthatch and a couple of tufted titmice showed up.

A family of slate-colored dark-eyed juncos came and went a few times.


And the pair of bluejays -- the only ones brave enough to take on the squirrels.

A mockingbird was hanging out in the bushes.

And I finally identified the woodpecker. It's a female red-bellied woodpecker.

Daisy was sent out on squirrel-chasing expeditions throughout the day.