Now that the world is working hard at turning monochrome for the next several months I have to work harder to find little delights. Imagine my surprise when, spurred on by the cold, I was able to get quite close to the birds at the nature center feeders.
Now traditionally my camera has shied away from taken clear and decent pictures of anything furred or feathered but, it seems the lower temps agree with it and with the crisp clear air of fall comes the (almost) crisp and (almost) clear pictures of the birds who dare to remain through the cold months.
Before we delve into the beauty I feel the need to clear something up (two things, actually):
- Birds migrate to follow food sources (insects, grass, etc.) NOT because of lower temperatures
- Canada Geese do NOT eat fish, they eat grass and other plants (I just had to get that off of my chest, sorry)
On to the cuties!
I titled this post “the bold and the beautiful” because not all of the birds were brave enough to come to the feeders while I stood nearby. The most brash and bravest among them were the chickadees. Chickadees either have a lot of confidence or are little thrill-seekers. They often buzz by me with a complaining “chickadee-dee-dee-dee” as I fill the feeders, and will even land within two feet of me and urge me to hurry up already and step aside.
You can see two of them here along with a female downy woodpecker who seems to be enjoying the suet quite a bit. Other brave birds who ventured close despite my presence were goldfinches, juncos, tufted titmice, and the nuthatches. There are two species of nuthatch which frequent the feeders at the nature center: the white-breasted nuthatch and the red-breasted nuthatch.
The white-breasted nuthatch is a common visitor to our feeders and is often seen throughout the woods when we take hikes.
Less common visitors are the red-breasted nuthatches. There was only one flying to and from the feeder on this particular day and it was pure luck that I managed to get one picture of it at all. The red-breasted nuthatches are smaller than the white-breasted and have a characteristic stripe on their heads which appears to run straight over their eyes.
