Today is yet another ice day here in north Texas. Really I can't complain, I have lived in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex since 1989 and there have only been two winters I can think of where we have had back to back ice storms. It could be much worse! Today though caught everyone off guard. The bad weather was supposed to go to the south of us and instead, the northern edge caught us but good! Bridges were icy, there were roads closed, the whole nine yards. RacerDad (who is well by the way!) had to turn around and come back home. The bridge that takes him into work was shut down due to a wreck. He was unable to head in until after 10:00. Cold, icy weather does make for good bird watching....
The boys and I have had fun watching two hairy woodpeckers chase each other around the trees. They each have their own, then one will come over and try to get food off the tree belonging to the other and the chase begins. It has really been quite comical.
The excitement of the day came when I happened to look down on the ground and see a yellow and brown bird. I had never seen anything like it, I knew it was not a goldfinch. I pulled out my trusty Sibley's and looked for common characteristics. It described a yellow rumped warbler. The only problem, the size description was wrong, Sibley was describing a slightly larger bird, the one I saw was the size of a sparrow. I called my local Wild Bird Center to see if they could give me any help and the sweet lady there said "oh, it's a 'butter-butt' ". I evidently sounded confused and she clarified herself by letting me know the common name for a yellow rumped warbler is a 'butter-butt'. This particular warbler is the size a sparrow. It is always fun for me to be able to identify a "new" bird!
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Today is For the Birds
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2 comments:
We've been having fun watching the birds at our feeder. I'm just amazed the poor things don't freeze to death. It was 0.1 degrees F here this morning!
Your bird pictures are wonderful! My birds take off every time I try to take their pictures but I did get a nice picture of a Nuthatch yesterday.
LOL!! Thanks for letting me know about the enature pics. I just couldn't figure out how to get such great bird pictures. Here's a link to the Nuthatch pic I took http://www.flickr.com/photos/59124999@N00/358553519/ You should have seen me trying to open the door quietly and then standing them zooming in with the camera. I do like the photo but it's nothing compared to those enature ones!
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