Changing Birds

My new hobby is bird watching. We are fortunate to have a great environment for the birds- lots of trees, a running creek, and an endless supply of birdseed. It has been fun to see how the birds have changed over the past month. All of the birds have started to change from their drab winter feathers into their bright feathers that are attractive to mates.

Here is a picture of a male goldfinch. He's so bright! Just a month ago, the finches looked so different (see the backyard birdcount post for a comparison).


I was sitting outside today on the deck. I didn't think the birds would come to the feeders with me sitting so close, but they got used to me being there in about 3 minutes. Here is a shot of a Carolina chickadee, our most frequent feeder visitor.



We were very lucky to see a female Eastern bluebird today! They are rare in neighborhoods and quite shy. We looked into what it takes to keep them around- it's very complicated. You need to provide them with housing and at least 100 mealworms a day. But the rewards sound like they are worth it! They will become so tame that they will eat out of your hand! We are looking into putting out some bluebird houses.

It's been so much fun watching the birds! We even got Fran's mom hooked on the birding when she was here.