Piggy

What's special about this Female Grosbeak? Well she stayed on my feeder for about a half hour straight gorging herself.

But I must point out that she was very kind and allowed the Chickadees to dine with her. But only so long as they stayed on the opposite side of the feeder. Ha!

Another scene from the Exorcist?

Have you ever seen a Mourning Dove turn its head 360 degrees and then go to sleep?!

(Remember that horror movie the Exorcist when Linda Blair turned her head all the way around? That movie scared the heck out of me! Anyways, it was the 1st thing I thought of when I saw this Dove. Yep, I need help!)

Loon Family

I have to forewarn you - these are not my best Loon photos. But getting the best shots was not my purpose on this day. I just wanted to experience seeing the Loon family without disturbing them. Loons are highly sensitive during nesting season and with newly hatched Loon chicks. I shot these from a distance in my Kayak with my 300mm lens and severely cropped these photos. When the loon chick is older and more independent, I hope to get better and slightly closer shots.



The parents swim tightly together keeping the baby between them.







The parents keep a constant look out for danger to their loon chick. Predators include Eagles, turtles and even a large Pike fish.









The loon chick is brownish in color right now and very fuzzy. The parents will be teaching him how to do deeper dives and how to fish for himself. For now, mom and dad takes turns feeding him small fish.








The whole world awaits you little one....

First glimpse of my Loon chick

(Click on photo to enlarge)

It's been a great week at the cabin and I am looking forward to getting back on Sunday and catching up with all of my birdy blogger friends!

I was excited to find my Loon chick a couple days ago. He did have a sibling that hatched but sadly did not make it - I believe a predator must've gotten it. (I've seen a bald eagle in the vicinity.)

This baby is doing very well for 3 weeks old. He's already able to do shallow dives in the water. I'm praying the boaters and jet skiers heed the posted signs and are careful to watch out for him as he still can't dive deep enough to avoid them. I will have more photos upon my return. Hope all of you have had a great week!

The reddest Cardinal I've ever seen

The sound of birds stops the noise in my mind.

- Carly Simon

Bird Drought

I feel like I've been in a birding drought the past couple weeks. Even Bob the Mourning Dove hasn't been sticking around for good photos. Hopefully my luck changes this week at our cabin. This weekend I hope to get some shots of the new Loon baby (I think only 1 survived unfortunately.) Wish me luck!

Baby Blue Jay

This baby Blue Jay was causing a racket in one of my pine trees!




Yes, I see you too!