My Yard Songbirds of NWA
Newest bird pic update was on:
August 23, 2019 12:30 a.m.
August 23, 2019 12:30 a.m.
I would be the first to admit, looking at someone else's bird pictures could possibly be even worse than watching your friends home video of 'their' vacation and seeing how much fun 'they' had.
However, for my sake and sanity, I am going to put up my pictures of the birds that come into my view in my own personal 'bird cafe' - if I can get a decent picture, anyway. I doubt I will be including any bird studies, articles or anything of that nature; just some pics that I have fun sharing with that rare person who actually enjoys looking at pictures of birds that they didn't see but I did. :-)
Remember, I started my 'birding' hobby in North Dakota with my 12 yellow finches. Down here in Bella Vista, we have a different variety. So, I will share my birds with you! After all, what is retirement all about? Watching birds, right? I am not very bird-knowledgeable but maybe I am not too old to learn something new yet! Remember, I grew up in the Dakotas with robins, sparrows, blackbirds, pheasants, ducks and geese. Now I have red bellied woodpeckers, bluebirds, hummingbirds, wrens, tanagers, cardinals, nuthatches, juncos...
However, for my sake and sanity, I am going to put up my pictures of the birds that come into my view in my own personal 'bird cafe' - if I can get a decent picture, anyway. I doubt I will be including any bird studies, articles or anything of that nature; just some pics that I have fun sharing with that rare person who actually enjoys looking at pictures of birds that they didn't see but I did. :-)
Remember, I started my 'birding' hobby in North Dakota with my 12 yellow finches. Down here in Bella Vista, we have a different variety. So, I will share my birds with you! After all, what is retirement all about? Watching birds, right? I am not very bird-knowledgeable but maybe I am not too old to learn something new yet! Remember, I grew up in the Dakotas with robins, sparrows, blackbirds, pheasants, ducks and geese. Now I have red bellied woodpeckers, bluebirds, hummingbirds, wrens, tanagers, cardinals, nuthatches, juncos...
My Bird Cafe
As my birds get more and more interesting and if my photography ever gets better, I will be taking down some of these pics and uploading the newer ones. Who knows, maybe I will tire of the same old thing - but for now, it is enjoyable for me to see my birds getting closer and closer and staying longer and longer. I hope you just might enjoy a few yourself.
8/21/2019 - My emphasis right now has been the hummingbirds. This is the first time I have ever had hummingbirds humming around so they have been quite interesting for me. They will be leaving soon for wherever hummingbirds go during the winter months. Enjoy the few pics and videos I have of them.
A little out of focus at times, but this one must be getting ready to fly south - it just kept drinking and drinking...
Mr and Mrs Tanager having dinner together!
Our Local Neighborhood Bella Vista Bat Cave
I am aware that bats are not birds and so they really do not belong on my bird page, but I don't know where else to put these pics and videos so others could see this unique place.
Bats are mammals and not birds because: They feed their young one's milk from mammary glands. Birds do not do that. Bats do not flap their entire forelimbs like birds. Instead, bats flap their spread out digits which are very long.
Anyway, show up around dusk hide in your car or stand outside of your car (don't move - they will spot you in their radar and will be the ones to move - NOT YOU!) and watch approximately 20,000 bats eventually fly out to scope the area above the lakes for their nightly dinner of mosquitoes. That is a good thing for them and for us! This location is just down the road from our home, thus we don't have as many mosquitoes - I like that... but I still don't like bats and never will! In fact, as a kid, I always liked Superman over Batman!
Bats are mammals and not birds because: They feed their young one's milk from mammary glands. Birds do not do that. Bats do not flap their entire forelimbs like birds. Instead, bats flap their spread out digits which are very long.
Anyway, show up around dusk hide in your car or stand outside of your car (don't move - they will spot you in their radar and will be the ones to move - NOT YOU!) and watch approximately 20,000 bats eventually fly out to scope the area above the lakes for their nightly dinner of mosquitoes. That is a good thing for them and for us! This location is just down the road from our home, thus we don't have as many mosquitoes - I like that... but I still don't like bats and never will! In fact, as a kid, I always liked Superman over Batman!
Now, back to my pretty songbirds of NW Arkansas - 2 Gretchen Lane, Bella Vista to be more exact.
Baby bluebird being fed breakfast of mealworms.
In the left picture, do you see the Cardinal peeking through the leaves.
Can you find the Turkey Vulture in the trees just off the deck?
A Red-Bellied Woodpecker. He has a touch of red on his breast - underneath his white belly feathers.
Mamma wren feeding baby wren then keeping the rest of the food for herself.
With all the trees here, there are equal number of squirrels. But if we mix a special kind of 'hot sauce' with the seed, then because the squirrel is a mammal, it burns his mouth. However, birds just have beaks - so they have no clue. So the birds eat to their beaks content while the squirrel shakes its head and leaves with a burning mouth, never to come back - well, almost never, anyway.