Here are a few pictures from the GBBC weekend.

There is a pileated woodpecker in there--can you see him?

I don't blame you--he kept inside the twigs mostly.

But once he looked right at me as if I were the paparazzi!

Look how much yellow the pine siskins are getting. I had more of them today too because it's cold tonight.

This red-bellied woodpecker can't get into the cage for the peanuts, but can stick its head through far enough to reach one.

I hadn't seen the hooded mergansers for over a week, so I was thrilled when three of them came up the creek at high tide.

Chipping sparrows were the only species I had good numbers of, but still only 63. Half of what I had last year.

And only one bluejay--he looked kind of sad.

Now it's off to put my GBBC report onto the site. I hope you all had great bird counts too. It's always fun! I added a couple of species to my February yard list too.

This week by the creek

I caught this dove napping on a very cold morning.

He woke up and said, Oops, how embarrassing!

Meanwhile down on the creek a great blue struts his stuff.


A great egret flies in......

.......and settles in to absorb some sunshine.

The hooded mergansers are on the creek every morning, but will be moving north this week. The big duck migrations from here start on the first full moon in February, which is tomorrow. The hoodies are so skittish and so fast. I keep trying to get some decent shots of them, but none are very good. Here's the latest batch of three males, two mature and one immature that dropped by. So long till next year guys!

This shows how far away they really are. I need a bigger lens.

February 2-5 catch-up

Here are some pictures of the February birds on my list. The first two were actually taken in late January, but I've seen them in February too. The rest were all taken from either my computer chair or the deck just outside of this room yesterday.

Hooded merganser male

Great blue heron

Brown pelican zoomed in on

Brown pelican first glimpse so you can see where the creek is. This is at high tide.

Tufted Titmouse

The immature male Baltimore oriole close view

Same bird enjoying orange

Double crested cormorants--one diving

First view of the cormorants--I like the symmetry

Chipping sparrow

Carolina chickadee

January 2009

I know I've been very remiss and have taken three months off, but I'm going to post a whole month's worth of pictures now. These were all taken around the house this month.