Monday, January 4, 2010

Carolina Wren Pictures- Bridgewater Snow Day!

I was so happy to be home this past weekend so I could do some backyard birding, and count birds for Project Feederwatch. Actually, I recently connected with another Bridgewater birder, the "Bird Man of Bridgewater," who also took pictures in the snow over the weekend. John is good at identifying the gender of birds in his pictures, something I blogged about last spring.

I love this picture- I'm excited to have my very own picture of a Carolina Wren at a suet feeder. It's such a common picture for carolina wrens, and I'm glad this guy came around on Saturday to pose for me. This suet actually was a Christmas gift from my mom- it's a Berry blend and the birds love it.

Carolina Wren and Downy Woodpecker:

On a related note- not sure how to tell the difference between a Downy Woodpecker and a Hairy Woodpecker? I wrote a post about it nearly a year ago.

Red-bellied Woodpecker:


Winter Goldfinch:
Dark-eyed Junco (I like how you can see the darker feathers with its neck stretched):


Dark-eyed Junco (tossing up the snow!):

Northern Cardinal:


The birds love to hang out on our grape arbor. Especially in the morning- it's the first spot in the yard to get direct sunlight.


I thought this would be a nice closing pic since it's so sharp, you can see the falling snow, and there are so many birds visible in the shot.

Purple Finch, Dark-eyed Junco, Carolina Wren:

11 comments:

meg said...

very nice pics! glad to see so many birdies are still around in the winter!

Chris Petrak said...

Nice series, and good backyard birding. How about this for sorting the downy & hairy - think wes welker verses a line backer. (I am assuming, of course, that as a NE person you know who I'm talking about.) Hairy is (usually) noticeably larger with stouter beak. Downy is petite. But I have the advantage of having both as regulars, often at same time, on my feeders, so I can (almost) always tell the difference.

Birdinggirl said...

@Meg- Thanks! My yard's been pretty quiet so I'm glad they came out in the snow. They love the sunflower seed and the new suet.

@Chris- Thanks for the kind words! And for the helpful tips about ID-ing Downy and Hairy woodpeckers. I usually look to the beak- that helps me the most since I'm not great at judging size. And I LOVE the Patriots reference. My New England-based readers will appreciate that.

Larry said...

Good to see you're enjoying the backyard birding project.Nice photos too."Bird Man of Bridgewater."I like it. It leaves no doubt about what his interest is and where he's from.

Birdinggirl said...

@Larry- yes, it's a great name. And funnily enough, turns out he's my neighbor! Isn't bird blogging great? Good luck with your January count! Hope you're getting lots of birds :)

John (Tucker) said...

Great pictures. Stop stealing my birds!! Got to Plymouth Harbor in the morning on Saturday. It was frigid. Had a few good sightings. I'll be posting soon.

John (Tucker) said...

Great pics. Stop trying to steal my birds. :) The Cooper's is around. I think it is flying from the trees sorrounding your feeders and back to mine on a regular basis. Made it to Plymouth Harbor and Schusett Beach yesterday. So cold land birds weren't moving. Will post pics of water fowl shortly.

cindyzlogic said...

I love those Wrens...they are soooo cute! I am having a tough time getting a pic of them. The photo you captured is fantastic!

John (Tucker) said...

OK Birding Girl quit trying to steal my birds. The Carolina Wren is my favorite so it needs to stay on my side of the bushes. The Cooper's that was eyeballing my birds flew right at your feeder so hopefully he didn't get the CW.

Birdinggirl said...

@John: I'll have to get caught up during lunch. I haven't noticed the hawk lately, but that could be because I don't hear it. I do my winter backyard birdwatching from my screened-in porch.
Haha- I'm glad I'm not the only one who worries about their neighbor stealing birds- I'm always glancing at your feeders, concerned if all the birds are there and not at mine. But Steve assures me it's a good thing because we've created 2 hotspots and they're sure to keep coming around with all that guaranteed food.

@Cindy: Thanks for stopping by! It's good to hear from you. Thanks for the kind words about my carolina wren photo. I love watching them- I even had a family living in my bird house last summer.

Anonymous said...

What a great resource!