A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Hobbies, Crafts and Creativity The Bird Lovers Forum Don's birds

I've mentioned in other posts that my husband spent much of this past weekend photographing the rosey breasted grosbeaks that appeared on Friday here and stayed the weekend. He also captured a few other birds on the camera and I thought I'd share some with you all.

Male purple housefinch


Male red bellied woodpecker


Male hairy woodpecker


continued in next post...

Male cardinal


Titmouse


rose breasted grosbeaks


Various birds eating sunflower seeds

Lynne--tell Don those are some very nice pictures. Thanks for sharing.

Well done Don.......Guess I arent the only bird crazy photo taker.. Blame it on Thorn and his adventures.....


Now I have everyone watching birds, around us.

I love the red cardinals..And the red parts of all the birds......So vivid.

Thanks

Your Hairy Woodpecker is actually a Downy Woodpecker. The two are virtually Identical, EXCEPT, the bill on the Hairy is about 3/4 the length of the head, while the bill on the Downy is 1/3 to 1/2 the length of the head. ALSO, the Hairy is about half again as big as the Downy. Looking at the bill on YOUR Woodpecker, the bill is about 1/3 the length of the rest of the head, so your Woodpecker is a male DOWNY.

Your VARIOUS birds left to right are; male Downy Woodpecker (red on head means male), female Downy Woodpecker (NO red on head means female), two male rose-Breasted Grosbeaks, and a female Red-Bellied Woodpecker (gray cap on head means female [males have a RED cap])

Also your male purple housefinch is actually a male HOUSE Finch. Male Purple Finches ae more of a raspberry color with reddish wings. Your bird is a reddish-orange with brown wings, which tells us it is a male House Finch.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPS!

They are all very pretty birds. And very good photography. I love watching birds. I seldom wonder what type they are. I just never got the bug for that. I have a hard time remembering what my ordinary plants are called.

boy, your husband takes great, clear pictures.

The pictures are fantastic. clear sharp good lighting. I love them. I don't mean to be a jerk. I just like trying to help folks ID their birds. And in the area of Downy versus Hairy , and Purple Finch vesus House Finch, it can drive you crazy. I like to let people know the Easiest way to tell them apart. And by the way, I've only seen ONE Purple Finch in my life. And it was a female which look very little like the males.

Lynne, these pictures are SPECTACULAR!!!!!

Wow, great shots.

Hope you remember what us ordinary people are.

we all know what type of bird you are dodge. A cuckoo.

Correct...........

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSs they are!! Great job Don!!!!!!!

By seeing such clear pictures and having given Id's between all of you I am learning to ID some birds here!!



*Sheri your are sooooooo funny!! = Dodge = Cuckoo bird,,
Dodge *

YOur photography is spectacular! Thanks for the eye candy.

Thanks so much for all the kind words everyone!

I'm not sure which camera Don used, but I will ask him when he comes home tonight, and relay all the messages to him. I do know he had a tripod set up with a pretty good sized telephoto lense, and he sat on a stool on the deck very still for quite some time!

Cindy - I, too, had a Pentax with all the accessories - my dad owned a camera store way back then! I still have it all, but don't have the patience to use it unfortunately.