Posts Tagged ‘Cardinal’

I took the dog out for a walk yesterday and brought along some bird seed with me, intending to take it to a spot near the lake where I know the chickadees tend to congregate, and hoping to get a shot or two of them. I went via the jogging path that runs alongside Ashbridges Bay, and remembered that there was a small, homemade bird feeder that somebody put a a couple of years ago in a small copse of trees. I went over there to see if there was any seed, and found that there was none. So I put in a handful of seed and within seconds a flock of black-capped chickadees were excitedly chirping and diving to the feeder to grab a beakful.

Black-capped Chickadee

This started to attract other birds, seeing what the sudden commotion was about. A pair of nuthatches came to take a look, and also started darting to the feeder for seed.

White–breasted Nuthatch

Then a female Downy Woodpecker appeared, and started looking for hidden insects in the bark of an adjacent tree.

Female Downy Woodpecker

But the best was when a male Cardinal flew in for a peek, and picked a branch which was bathed in sunlight, resulting in this picture:

Male Cardinal

Will have to head back there with more seed sometime soon, since these guys seemed hungry.

Went for a walk with YoBob down by Woodbine Park, and brought along some sunflower seeds to feed the birds down there. Last time I only managed to attract some Chickadees, but this time I caught the attention of a pair of cardinals, who posed for me while they assessing the risk of flying down to grab their share of seeds while a large predator was nearby with a funny-looking device pointed at them… 😉

Male Cardinal Close-up

Female Cardinal on Tree Branch

Some minnows swimming above a lost license plate in a small creek.

Playing with the macro lens again: a close-up of a small centipede (maybe a couple of centimeters in length) who stayed still long enough for the shot.

More macro fun: small bleeding-heart buds against the stony face of our garden gnome-guy.

I thought I was done for the day, and then I heard this Cardinal chirp away in our backyard tree. He posed for this shot and then flitted away.

Labels: cardinal, centipede, garden gnome, minnows