This President's Day weekend has been all about the birds. It was the annual Great Backyard Bird Count Feb 15-18th. I have been participating each day, keeping a count of all my yardbirds. It is fun and I am happy to help with the science of tracking the birds for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon
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A quote I like by John James Audubon "A true conservationist is a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children".
Having a little snow during the weekend of the Great Backyard Bird Count was actually a great thing for me. I see a lot more birds in my yard when it is either snowing or there is snow on the ground.
On Saturday, I had 23 species of birds with a total count of 143 birds. Some of my highest counts for individual birds: 33 Grackles, 26 Juncos and 13 Pine Siskins!
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Another John James Audubon quote I like " I never for a day gave up listening to the songs of our birds, or watching their peculiar habits, or delineating in the best way I could".
Above is my snowy backyard and a Redbellied Woodpecker. Snowy shots taken early yesterday morning. The snow was pretty, it covered the trees like a blanket. The best kind of snow, it was not on the streets.
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Today was extremely cold and windy day. Birds do not seem to like windy days, which I think affected my count but it was still a great day of backyard birding. For me it is a simple thing, something I really enjoy doing.
Another quote I like author unknown " Bless the flowers and the weeds, my birds and bees". This quote makes me think of spring and I am so ready for spring.
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Thanks for stopping by and I appreciate your nice comments.
Join in on the fun and for more wonderful photos please visit Simple Things Sunday and to see beautiful mosaics please visit Mosaic Monday and more from Our World Tuesday
Thanks to our host: Rebecca of Simple as that and Mary of Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group of Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia and Sandy . Thanks also for stopping by to see my post. I wish everyone a happy week!
73 comments:
pretty snowfall! and i love your sweet lady cardinal.
I admire you and your counting of the birds this weekend. I too liked the momma cardinal . . . the papa cardinal on the snowy branch was my favorite . . .
I love your snowy scenes Eileen and I'm highly impressed by 23 species and a total of 143 birds - superb. Enjoy the week ahead.
I can see how this would fun to keep a journal on tracking birds. Your photographs are beautiful and you've given me inspiration for a future hobby. I've notice a lot of cardinals coming through the yard this past week. So striking on a naked tree branch. Oh of course I never get the camera in time for the photo! I enjoy your photos of nature tremendously!
~Emily
The French Hutch
The birds in the snow are beautiful. I love the cardinal especially with his contrast of green pine needles and white snowflakes surrounding him. Very nice!
Fantastic photography of nature ~ My favorite MM is the female cardinal ~ she is beautiful and you captured her so well ~ ^_^
Beautiful photos, Eileen, I love the cardinals. xo
Hi Eileen,
You've captured more great bird photos! We just love feeding and watching the birds in our backyard, too. They really go through the food quickly when it's cold like this.
You had a bit more snow than we did. It actually came down hard here off and on yesterday, but it never stuck to the ground. Oh well.
We've been getting a good variety of birds here, as well. The Red-bellied Woodpecker is here almost every day, along with the Downy Woodpeckers. We're getting loads of bluebirds at our feeder, too, believe it or not. They love the peanuts that we put in our bark butter. I'm going to be sharing a recipe for the bark butter on my blog (probably this week). Almost all the birds really love it. The cardinals, however, prefer the seed feeder. Your cardinals are just lovely. :)
Thanks for visiting my blog and have a great day!
Denise at Forest Manor
I'd kill for some snow right now - we're having a late summer heatwave! Great quotes - I particularly like the first one!
a smorgasbord of beautiful photographs; enjoyed every one of them Eileen and especially the snow-laden pine-tree with the cardinal
I especially liked the cardinal, but how nice to finish up with the bee and butterflies on the flower. There's hope that spring is just around the corner!
I used to spend hours watching and recording the birds at our birdfeeder when I was growing up. How fun!
Oh that's a lot of birds!! Wow. Beautiful ones too -- thanks for taking time from counting to take their pictures and share them. And thanks for taking part in this important project.
Absolutely beautiful photos as usual. : )
Great counts, Eileen. Glad you had some snow also... Makes for great photos --and like you said, the little birds really come to the feeders during snowy weather...
Love your photos --all of them, but that red Cardinal has to be a favorite.
Hugs,
Betsy
Your photographs of nature and birds are grand. I especially love your bird photos always.
Karen
Wow, you had a lot of visitors to the backyard. It does look beautiful with the snow covered branches.
Wonderful pictures Eileen!The birds prefer your yard, because you always cared for them!!I love the cardinals birds!Hope you have a lovely week!
Dimi..
Such beautiful photos...the cardinal looks so handsome against the white snow. I have seen so few birds this winter. Truthfully, only crows. Lots and lots of crows.
Lovely picture of such beautiful birds.
Oh what WONDERFUL captures ! :)
Beautiful photos! Really like the Red Cardinal.
Wonderful images Eileen!
You get such great bird shots - do you have a telephoto lens? We just had too much wind to get the birds to come.
Carolina Mts
Your snowy photos and birds are always beautiful. I wish I had taken part in the count. We have so many different birds visit our feeders every day here in Florida...especially when the seasons change. Happy Mosaic Monday!
I hadn't thought about the extra activity of birds when it's snowing until you mentioned it. I have yet to capture the beauty of a female cardinal as you have.
Judith
I like your images of the female cardinals, they have such vivid colours.
Lovely snow and bird shots! Can you send a few pretty birds to my feeders?
Your snow makes me wish we had some on the ground right now...I am so hot sitting here looking at the computer, I'm about ready to turn on the fan! Not too sure I'm ready for summer, but yes, spring will be welcome...it's my favorite time of the year!
Pretty butterflies. The album is superb as well Eileen.
One day I may get fed up with seeing cardinals in the snow - but its not today!
Another great image for those of us in hotter places.
Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne
Fabulous!!
Dearest Eileen,
Lovely birds (cardinal) even in the snow♡♡♡ And I also loved the quote you introduced here.
Sending you lots of love and hugs from Japan, xoxo Miyako*
My mom told me about this about a week ago, but I can't sneak up on the birds with 4 farm cats in tow.
Lovely images for the birds count Eileen. :)
I love all these photos!! So gorgeous!
Have a nice new week!
Such a wonderful series of great shots! Snow does make for wonderful photos, but that's as close as I care to get! Love your birds, the cardinals are awesome.
You have some awesome images here! I've been participating in GBBC too. Hubby did it with me yesterday. We found 20 different species in a 20 mile radius. So fun!
Hello!!!.., Beautiful pictures.. Congrats and regards..
Birds in the snow - butterflies on flowers ..... doesn't get any better than this! Great captures!
I'm ready for spring too!!
the cardinals are amazing, such wonderful birds. The woodpecker is so bright too against the snow!
I just learned something, quite by accident, when I got ready to post a comment. haha, I never knew that the comment box could be enlarged, but accidentally did it when I clicked along the side...nice. Anyway, back to your post, some beautiful birds over the weekend Eileen and such a great thing to do the bird count. I liked your quotes used too. Happy week~
Wonderful phptps of the birds and the landscape in Wintertime. Your butterfly makes me happy. Best regards, Synnöve
Oh that's a lot of birds!! Wow.
You are having a mini virtual zoo.
Birds in the snow is especially eye pleasing. What an amazing number of birds friends you encountered Eileen.
My chilly yard has been void of birds for two days- i guess they flew to the Bahama's ~:)
WoW eileen, you got some really amazing images.
i am so happy you had so much fun with this!!
the monarch is so pretty!!
I love cardinals!!
I love that first Audubon quote. So true! Such great photos. I can't believe you saw so many birds!
lol I woudl have loved seeinga larger shot of the "stocking" where all birds are upside down. :)
I like spring too. Can´t wait.
Excellent shots! I have more birds in my yard when it snows as well!
I was a bit late getting things going, but OWT is up... sigh.
I adore your birds. We were away on the w/e and I couldn't do a bird count.
Cheers from Cottage Country!
The birds are beautiful - especially that first one - and the snowy backyard is pretty.
Beautiful birds and beautiful captures as always, Eileen!! Love your wonderful snowy shots, too! So much beauty in your world!! Hope you have a lovely week!
I loved the woodpecker. The colours stand out even more against that white background.
Love the red birds in the snow! I don't think we had as much snow as you did. We have blue jays and some small birds around every day. A cardinal was here today and some crows came cawing.
Wonderful shots of the birds. I love the way bird look against the snow. Also lovely seeing what you have to look forward too when the butterflies and flowers come.
Lovely snowfall and bird pics. Must be fun to watch so many birds in the backyard.
Lovely captures! You are so lucky!
your nature photography is superb.
oh wow, what an amazing backyard you must have with all these birds. It must be glorious to hear and see them. When the tree in our neighbors yard was in flower we could hear the birds singing and having a wonderful time.
Have a wonderful week and thanks for stopping by my blog today to say hi. I always enjoy visiting you.
I'm only just starting to feed and water the birds with the bitter cold weather. Spend many pleasurable hours watching them out my front window. On Saturday there were 6-8 cardinals in the trees at one time. They wouldn't hold up for a group photo though! :-)
Are these snowy photos of your backyard, Eileen? What a wonderful vista.
Congrats - that is a lot of birds! I so enjoyed these photos.
Great pictures / beautiful collages .... and lovely sayings / quotes. Wish you a good day / still good week :) Hanne Bente
I like very much the American style of living: Houses with gardens and backyards. Flowers, birds and bees. You create beauties around yourself. Thank you for sharing these pretty photos. They have brightened my day :)
http://1brindemuguet.blogspot.com
Great photos. The cardinals seem so much more vibrant in color this year.
~Clara
Great series Eileen!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.
You had a quite a successful weekend, methinks!
I am in total awe of the woodpeckers. Your capture of this one is drop dead perfect. all of the birds in the collages are wonderful, and what a grey count you got. Kudos to you. genie
So pretty! I fall in love with birds all over again when I see pictures like these. Have a great day Eileen.
Eileen, this was so much fun, but I couldn't fully partake in it because my dad is visiting from Wisconsin. Birding is so hard to turn off.....but it was easier to do because I have that bird app on my cell phone which allowed me to count birds while we were out. Doing they have a birder's anonymous meeting out there for those addicted?:)
Beautiful photos!
http://www.mcguffysreader.blogspot.com
Stunning collages!
så söta fåglar och det ser verkligen kallt ut på bilden
Ha en fin kväll
Kram Meta
There is something so comfortable about seeing all your backyard birds... for the most part, they all look very familiar to me. I love the house finches, and the vibrant cardinals. Beautiful captures, Eileen! xoxo
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