Today we have some birds from our youngest contributor: Jamie Blilie, son of reader James Blilie. Jamie’s only 12 but is already taking very good photos.
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) with feathers puffed out:
Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis):
Black-Capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) grabbing seed and taking off:
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) checking out our thistle seed feeder:
White-Breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) enjoying our feeder:
Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) going for our suet block. We’ve had a struggle keeping the suet and seeds away from raccoons this winter. We are trying to create a bird-friendly space in our back yard. It’s going pretty well.
These photos at excellent! Good job, Jamie, and thank you for sharing!
Well done!
Great photos-loved the Black-Capped Chickadee taking off, but all the photos are just beautiful.
My parents have had such a problem with raccoons at the feeders that they’ve resorted to bringing the feeders in at night. Nothing works! If they were just eating the seed and suet, that’s really not too big of a deal, but they knock the feeders off the poles, which then roll down the hillside, occasionally into the lake.
I’ve never had raccoon issues, but squirrels have stolen two suet feeders and I have the same or similar feeder to the one pictured with the nuthatch which is now missing the lid. The thieving bastards ran off with that, then proceeded to insert themselves bodily into the feeder to clean it out. Somewhere I’ve got a picture of one with only the tail sticking out of the feeder tube. It’s a good thing I like the little buggers!
I have squirrel baffles on all the posts where my feeders hang, and they work just great.
I ordered them online. You have to size them for the posts you’re using, so find a site that sells several sizes and pick the one that works for you. L
“squirrel baffle” : good name for the device!
Very nice photos – sharp and well composed! Nice work, Jamie!
Very good stuff, Jamie! My favorite is the nuthatch, as it has the color, composition, and very soft out of focus background. But these are all far better than what I can do.
Beautiful pictures! And only 12 years old. Imagine what he will do later on!
All these are familiar friends. You see them anywhere at least east of the Mississippi. They are sometimes the best friends you can have on a dark winter day. Great job Jamie.
Beautiful!
Thanks Jamie, for sharing your great photos!
Great pictures.
Does anybody know how to tell the difference between a Black-capped Chickadee and a Carolina Chickadee?
Your best bet is voice! Try listening to recordings of both at xeno canto ( http://www.xeno-canto.org/ ) or Macaulay Library ( http://macaulaylibrary.org/ )
There are some minor plumage differences but they can be difficult to discern in various stages of feather growth/wear.
http://feederwatch.org/learn/tricky-bird-ids/black-capped-chickadee-and-carolina-chickadee/
Thanks, Diane. It looks like my bird feeder guests are Carolina Chickadees: http://www.xeno-canto.org/309487
Also, according to the zone maps, I am outside of the Black-capped Chickadee zone (I am in MD, DC Area).
Oh, right, distribution is also a good key. 🙄
This is a fascinating (if ominous) story, too. While as you’ve noticed the two spp are very similar, they’ve always maintained a narrow but constant hybrid zone where their distributions meet. (Because hybrid offspring are decidedly less fit than pure species young.) Recent research, though, has documented that the hybrid zone is moving northward, presumably due to climate change.
https://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/media/pressreleases/2014/0307-1.html
Beautiful shots, Jamie!