The prettiest red!!

Tis the time of the year that Holiday decorations surround us all! The reds, greens, silvers, blues and whites...but the prettiest red I've seen recently was this visitor to my backyard. He only spent a few minutes in our tree... but oh, what a beauty he was...and there was no denying that he had a gorgeous red-tail!!

The return of Alice... cooper that is..

...helping me to save on bird seed, again. :(

right onto my new platform feeder..
..down onto the deck, where he then..
walks right off the deck..and climbs up through the yews to another feeder..a very bold bird..indeed!!

Odds and Ends..

Looking like he heard something quite interesting this little American Goldfinch was caught tilting its head and trying to figure out what that noise was.....meanwhile having seen this hermit thrush in a nearby tree I was surprised to see him..

open up his bill and actually stick his tongue out at me..along with a little screeching noise.
Did I up set him...?? I'll never know..


but then this little Kinglet landed near my car as I was getting ready to leave and it had a huge drop of water still hanging on its bill..by the time I got my camera ready some of the water had dropped..darn!

I also found this one lone tree that was still carrying some wonderful red/pink leaves..but I have no idea what kind of tree it is..such a great color too! Just lovely to look at among all the greys, browns and blacks.

and last but no least..a great photo taken by a friend..of a Wawa bird house...Wawa is the name of a chain store/gas station here in the southeastern part of Pa. It's lone goose logo (the wawa) is actually the Lenni Lenape Indian name for a Canadian Goose. The Lenape Indians were the original people of the Mid-Atlantic area...also known as the Delaware Indians. Unlike the busy one-stop-shop, this Wawa bird house is empty and waiting for some roosting winter birds!!

Holiday Greetings!

One has to admire those creative birds!!
I do hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. A time to reflect over the past year.. and give thanks with family and friends!

Giraffe graffti!!

Some one took a lot of time over the weekend to turn a favorite hawk perch into the likeness of a giraffe. A little spray paint and some imagination...now we will have to wait and see if the artist's renderings have a positive or negative affect on those perching hawks!!

Spotting a good thing!!

A Sunday walk with the daughter and she spots that fall visitor we all love to see!!

How cute is the face on that long-eared owl?? Just love those big eyes!!

Inspired...

I am finding myself lagging in my posting duties these days. :( Sorry.. maybe it's the time of season or the change in the clocks or maybe it's because those little warbler birds became so frustrating to capture with my lens ...I don't know why but I began to only carry my binoculars when I walked. Yesterday, for some reason, I decided to snag the camera as I headed out the door...and boy, I was glad I did!! I had only been walking the trail about 5 minutes when I noticed this young red-tail sitting on a branch close to the ground! Whatever he had been eating was gone, I could still see the blood on his talons..but no evidence of his kill. He was such a stunning sight...such beautiful markings.

He didn't seem to mind that I was so close as he pecked the branch's surface over and over again.

I sat and watched him for about 10 minutes. How nice to sit and watch a beautiful bird of prey right in front of me..no killing my neck, no gymnastics to get a decent shot...just what I needed to spark that ole digital hunting desire... ;-)