Our Richmond, Virginia correspondent Doug Hayes sends us the 13th episode of his continuing series, “The Breakfast Crew.” Doug’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them. This set arrived on Valentine’s Day:
We got a couple of inches of snow Friday here in Richmond, Virginia, then an all-day ice storm of sleet and freezing rain on Saturday. The ice brought down power lines all over the city that evening. Quite a bit of the Forest Hill neighborhood was without power for much of Sunday (Fortunately, we have a whole-house generator.). Despite the nasty weather the Breakfast Crew, including a couple of new birds, has to eat.
A new bird – a pine warbler (Setophaga pinus). This one showed up to the feeders and hung around for over an hour.
Despite the rain and sleet, this male Northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) made several trips to the feeders.
This white-throated sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) was hanging out at the far side of the yard, waiting for the crowds to die down at the feeders.
Another “new” bird, an eastern towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus). I’ve seen these around from time to time. This is only the second time I’ve been able to photograph one.
It was sleeting pretty hard when the male cardinal came back for another meal.
The yellow-rumped warblers (Setophaga coronata) have become regulars, preferring suet to seeds. This one was just hanging out.
The male half of a pair of downy woodpeckers (Picoides pubescens) who make several trips to the suet feeders every day.
A brown thrasher (Toxostoma rufum), looking angry as usual.
A female cardinal going for an easy meal of seeds scattered on the ground by the other birds.
A female purple finch (Haemorhous purpureus) and a red-breasted nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) share a meal.
A tufted titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) and a female house finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) at the feeder.
A Carolina wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) singing in the freezing rain.
Singing done, the Carolina wren goes for breakfast. He hung around all morning, alternating between the suet and seed feeders.
This house finch does not like to share.
A pair of house finches stand their ground as a purple finch intrudes on their breakfast.
A male purple finch (Haemorhous purpureus) wonders what happened to the nice weather.
A male cardinal checks out the food supply. The white-throated sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) just goes on eating.
A pair of purple finches and a white-throated sparrow.
A white throated sparrow at the suet feeder.
Naturally, the eastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) would show up. This one made himself at home and stuffed his face for almost an hour.
Camera info: Sony A7R4 digital camera body, Sony FE 200-600 zoom lens, 1.4X teleconverter, ISO 6400, Ifootage Cobra 2 monopod + Neewer gimbal head.
Great pictures as always.
Very nice photos, thanks Doug. I would say they are filling up because of the weather, rather than despite it!
Our tiny birds (in Minnesota) make it through nights of sub -20°F (-29°C). As long as they have food, they can keep themselves warm. 🙂
I always love the Breakfast Crew photos – thanks!
Very fine work! I spent some time just admiring all the little feathery details.
The towhee brought back a memory. In 1980 I bought my house. Shortly after moving in I was getting ready for work and standing at the bottom of my maple was a (as they used to be know) Rufus sided towhee. It was the first I ever seen and I was thrilled. When I got to work, been there for a few years, I expounded on my wonderful bird sighting. All looked at me as if I’d lost my mind. Not many birders there or then
I so enjoy seeing your pictures. Unfortunately I have more starlings than anything else. Saw a pine sisken the other day. That was exciting
Great photos. If Jerry (or someone else) could post a message including the address to which to send wildlife photos, it would be appreciated.
If you click on the link “Research Interests”, in the section “About Jerry Coyne”,
that page has our host’s email address.
Nice collection, good photos, thanks for sharing. Those are all the types of birds in my neighborhood as well in TN.
Always love the breakfast crew! The wren is one of my favourites, partly because of its birdsong.