Reader Liz Strahle sent us some lovely bird photos. Her notes and IDs are indented.
The double-crested cormorant’s eyes appeared to be turquoise. I believe this one is a juvenile.Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura):
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis):
Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos). When I mentioned that I loved this photo because I’m a mallard-phile, Liz responded:
I think I mentioned that picture in one of the duck posts in a comment a little while back. When I took the picture, I really had no idea why they were standing on one foot. It looked like they might be dancing even though that was probably not what they were doing. When I saw your post about Honey standing on one foot, I thought of those ducks. Someone in the comments suggested that it might have something to do with thermal regulation or something similar. That seems to make sense but I don’t know.
Observing the turkey vultures gliding so beautifully is one of the reasons I became interested in birds a few years ago. They are just so beautiful. When I captured the shot of the first turkey vulture with the opossum, I was thinking, “Um….they are still…um…really beautiful.” Ha. When they glide together like pairs of figure skaters, they are mesmerizing.
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus):
Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus):
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis):
Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum):
Mute Swans (Cygnus olor):
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura):
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus):
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis):
These vultures and hawks though… You always know they eat this way but it’s a different thing to be watching them do this.
I think the buzzard picture got posted twice and the cormorant picture didn’t get posted.
Yep, I’ll fix that now .Thanks!
Great pictures! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you!
Really lovely!
These are great…I especially like the mute swan photo…it’s like they’re floating in outer space.
I agree!
Learned not all that long ago from an architect pal – the trade term for those ugly highway lamps the vultures are standing on is: Cobra.
They may be ugly, but they’re Dark Sky friendly.
http://darksky.org/lighting/lighting-basics/
Nice photos, thanks! Definitely a groundhog.
Nice set! Well done!