Readers’ wildlife photos

Doug Hayes of Richmond, Virginia is back with another installment of “The Breakfast Crew”: the birds he sees at the feeders in his yard.  Doug’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

The Breakfast Crew is back as well as a couple of ducks not usually seen in the Forest Hill area of Richmond, Virginia. Things have been a bit quiet lately, but I have a feeling that we will be seeing lots of babies in a few weeks.

A female northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) at the feeders:

This rather drenched mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) doesn’t let a little rain interfere with a free meal!:

A male red-bellied woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) in a never-ending search for peanuts:

Large numbers of chipping sparrows (Spizella passerine) have recently invaded the yard. I would see a few of these from time to time, but there seems to have been a population explosion among them recently:

This rather angry-looking eastern towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) gives me the stink-eye. Not a fan of having his picture taken!:

Carolina wrens (Thryothorus ludovicianus) are a staple of the backyard. These noisy, curious birds are one of my favorites:

Most of the dark eyed juncos (Junco hyemalis) have migrated north for the summer, but we still get a few stragglers at the feeders

The tufted titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) is a frequent visitor to the feeders. You have to be quick to get a picture as they grab a peanut or sunflower seed and immediately fly back to the trees to eat:

 House finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) still remain a staple of the backyard:

A female red-winged blackbird. Rainy weather seems to attract them to the yard. Normally, they inhabit the marshy areas along the James River:

A female brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater). There only seems to be one pair of these brood parasites in the neighborhood. I see the same male and female most mornings at the feeders. A couple of years ago, I came across a sparrow’s nest that had a cowbird among the baby sparrows. It grew faster and much larger, even pushing some of the sparrow chicks out of the nest to get more room (and food) on a couple of occasions:

One day, several wood ducks (Aix sponsa) landed in the pond behind my neighbor’s house. It is very unusual to see these ducks in the city. This one is a female:

The male wood duck keeping an eye on the sky. A few moments later, something spooked them, and they flew off. Most likely one of the hawks that patrol the neighborhood:

During a birding trip to the nearby James River flood control wall, we spotted these red-breasted mergansers (Mergus serrator). The coloration is that of females or immature males, although I think the one with the darker head is a male. These ducks have a narrow, pointed bill with serrated edges, adapted to feed on fish, mollusks, crustaceans, worms, insect larvae, and amphibians:

Merganser doing a wing flap:

Camera info: I recently traded in my five-year-old Sony 200-600 telephoto lens for Sony’s new 400-800 lens. The new lens is much sharper (and slightly heavier) than the older lens, even when paired with the 1.4X teleconverter which I used in all of the photos. Camera body is the new A1 Mark II, which features improved image processing at high ISOs. All the photos were shot at 6400 ISO and did not require noise reduction when properly exposed!