Saturday 5 May 2012

Birds sing of spring: rose-breasted grosbeak

Rose-breasted Grosbeak - male
Female - she landed on my foot!
Used to critters, I didn't flinch!
It was a different story when I stepped on the snake in the grass!

I was sitting on my front porch, when I heard the grosbeak chipping away. He was really hard to get video for. I inserted my close-up photos into the video. This isn't their full song. Here is a YouTube video, when the male sings, and sounds 'like a robin who has taken singing lessons!'  I didn't realize what the female was, until I got help IDing her. She landed on my foot, which was propped up on the railing!

wood duck pair
I'm still trying to capture a good photo of the wood ducks. They are camera-shy. I set up my plantcam to take photos every 10 minutes and have a grainy photo! I am making progress.
Thing is, when I go down to 'the point', where they hang out, my cats come with me. Felix meows if I go too fast.
The Point

This is where I sit, a landspit, and watch the birds.
You can see Buster & Felix in the middle ground.
My black twins like my bridge!

 I'll have to go down in camouflage, or find a duck blind!


Camera Critters #213

15 comments:

Olga said...

I just had my morning coffee with three male grosbeaks flitting around outside the window. Such a contrast between the male and female.

Anonymous said...

What a lovely grosbeak.

TexWisGirl said...

the grosbeaks are so beautiful!

Unknown said...

Great post!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

Pat said...

They are such pretty birds!

Dan said...

Gotta love the arrival of birds! It's like opening presents with each new arrival.

They (male and female) are both beautiful birds.

Red said...

Check out the Cornell bird site. They have calls recorded.
Spring bird activity is exciting although Mr. Crow flew of my house with a bird in his beak.

Kay L. Davies said...

I enjoyed this post so much, Jenn, and the YouTube video of the grosbeak.
K

Linda said...

Beautiful birds...eek with the snake!

eileeninmd said...

Cool, two of my favorites. The RB Grasbeak is a beautiful bird and I love the wood ducks. Great post.

Roan said...

The grosbeaks are amazing. Nice capture! I'm a big fan of the wood duck, too. I don't think we have them here, although I was able to take some pictures of them at the zoo.

Sallie (FullTime-Life.com said...

So gorgeous! We've only seen the yellow ones and they are great enough but not as exotic-looking as yours. Thanks for sharing.

Ann said...

Beautiful birds. Excellent photos.

Anonymous said...

Hi there, I am planning a trip to Muskoko next week. Would you mind telling me what the black flies are like right now? We hope to visit a lake near Huntsville.
With many thanks for the awesome posts I read here!
Kelly


kellyjones (at) sympatico (dot) ca

Jessica Cassidy said...

beautiful birds and animals, what a perfect spot to enjoy watching the birds too :-) Dropping by from Camera Critters