Saturday Surprise — Winter Birds!!!

Posted on by under animals, Saturday Surprise

A fellow critter-loving friend of mine posted a few pictures of winter birds a few days ago on Facebook, and a link to an article featuring lots of such birds.  Some of them are so gorgeous that I knew right then I would share them for Saturday’s surprise!  It amazes me that these small, seemingly-delicate creatures can withstand the cold of winter, but somehow they do!

American-Goldfinch

American Goldfinch

American Robins

Annas-Hummingbird

Anna’s Hummingbird

Barred Owls

Black-Capped Chickadees

Blue Jays

Bohemian-Waxwing

Bohemian Waxwing

California-Scrub-Jay

California Scrub Jay

Cedar-Waxwing

Cedar Waxwing

Common-Grackle

Common Grackle

Common-Redpole

Common Redpole

Coopers-Hawk

Cooper’s Hawk

Downy-Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

Eastern Bluebirds

Great-Grey-Owl

Great Grey Owl

Mockingbird

Mockingbird

Mourning Doves

Northern Cardinals

Northern Flicker (left); European Starling and Northern Flicker (right)

Snowy-Owl

Snowy Owl

Tufted-Titmouse

Tufted Titmouse

White-Breasted Nuthatch

Yellow-Shafted-Flicker

Yellow-Shafted Flicker

Aren’t they beautiful?  I hope they made you smile this Saturday winter morn!  Be sure to check out the website for some tips about feeding winter birds and winter bird photography.  Have a wonderful weekend, my friends!

54 thoughts on “Saturday Surprise — Winter Birds!!!”

  2. Benjamin was ecstatically laughing and clapping as we scrolled through the photos. I was surprised at how many of the birds that he recognizes and correctly names. I am quite proud of what he has learned from all the books that we read and the nature blogs that we follow, not to mention the backyard birding and our outdoor exploring jaunts. Tomorrow is the last of Benjamin’s 5 day course of antibiotics and prednisone. Thankfully, he is afebrile and his lungs are clear. Benjamin says : “Thank-you for the beautiful birds!”

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    • I had forgotten that you told me how much he loves birds, so the Saturday post was purely coincidental, but I am thrilled that he loved it! Y’know, for a kid just about to turn five, he is one sharp cookie!!! You have taught him so much! You deserve the Gem of the year award! I’m so happy he’s feeling better. Hugs to you both!

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  5. Benjamin will love this post! He is quite the Birder, mostly from the confines of my kitchen sink, peering out the window at the backyard feeders. The past two years, we have used cheap wood bird houses that we cover with a gelatin based “glue” to which we affix birdseed. The beauty is that they can be re-glued and reseeded over and over. This year, we also made suet based seed ornaments inside cookie cutters suspended on string…gingerbread men, of course! We follow several nature blogs and have learned some interesting facts about birds and winter. Food + Feathers = Warmth! It is important to fill feeders with fatty seeds like black oil sunflower seeds and to have suet blocks hanging and provide fresh water. Fluffing up their feathers keeps warm air inside and some also have an adapted shivering method of warming. Benjamin’s favorite bird is the Eastern Bluebird that he renamed “Orange-Bluebird” last year…because they have orange feathers too and orange is his favorite color! Thank-you x 2!! P.S. Benjamin may not see this on Monday, both Mommy and he are ill. He has an otitis media and wheezing in his lungs that are being treated with antibiotics and prednisone.

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    • I thought I remembered you telling me that he had a penchant for birds! I hope he will enjoy it whenever he gets to see it. I’m so sorry the poor little guy is sick! When you talk to him, tell him that Miss Jill sends a big hug and that I hope he feels much better soon!!!

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  6. Dear Jill! Beautiful pictures! 🙂 I wanted to send you some Merry-Christmas-Greetings, but I was in Germany for a week, visiting the in-laws, and for some reason I had trouble logging into WordPress from there! – Just so that you know I have not forgotten you…. 😉
    Thus: A belated, but still very Merry Christmas to you! I hope you have recovered from your back problems! – I am now back in the Netherlands, looking forward to the second holiday week at home, with the kids and Hubby.
    Hugs!

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    • I’m so happy to hear from you! I was thinking about you a night or two ago and thought that I really must email you, as I hadn’t seen you about on the blog lately. Did you enjoy your trip to Germany? I’m glad you’ll get a week to wind down from the holiday madness at home, with hubby and the boys! I hope you had a very Merry Christmas also, and that the New Year will be a good one for you and the family! Thanks for popping in! I missed you! And I’m glad you liked the birdies!!!

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  9. Oh, I forgot to add, surviving winter is all in the feathers. Notice how most birds have their feathers puffed up? They all combine to create an unpenetrable barrier against the cold. If we had feathers, we would not need clothes in winter either.
    But where are the ravens? They are the ultimate winter bird. Fantastic pictures…

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    • Quite true … but then I have to ask … the birds that fly south for the winter have feathers too, so why can’t they take the cold? Quoth the Raven … I don’t know where they were, but they weren’t on that website … perhaps they popped over to Edgar’s website instead. 😉

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      • Lol. The birds that fly south probably feed on insects. No insects to eat in the winter. Just a guess…
        Edgar’s website has a tell-tale heart, maybe the ravens are waiting for its tale to be told.

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        • Now I’m curious … your explanation is logical, but … I will have to go in search of, for my ponderous little mind is curious. Edgar has a website? Who knew? I will have to go there … he’s the only author that gave me nightmares as a child. My father read The Pit and The Pendulum to me when I was around 8 years old and I didn’t sleep for nights afterward!

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          • Actually, Jill, I was going along with your comment that Edgar has a website. I never looked, I was just playing with words, lol.
            The Pit and the Pendulum was NOT one of my favourites. I don’t know if it gave me nightmares, but I’ve never read it again.
            Just to share, I was about 6 or 7 years old when I watched a movie about a man-eatingtiger loose in some city in India. I was at my friend’s house who had just got the first television of anyone on our block. I wouldn’t walk the 7 houses to my house because I was sure I was going to get eaten by the tiger. My brother came to get me and walk me home. That night I woke up screaming. That was my scariest night ever, as a child.

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            • Turns out he does have a website … http://www.poe200th.com

              Your nightmares and childhood fears sound similar to mine. Then we grow up and … the fears are more complex, more real-world, but they never go completely away. A few months ago I was having night terrors every night … I kept dreaming that there was a knock at the front door, and when I opened it, a man started chasing me with an axe. They disappeared, thankfully, but every night I awoke thinking I was screaming, when actually no sound was coming out at all.

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              • How wellI know that feeling, the voiceless screams. At one time in my life they were so bad I went to see a psychiatrist about them. After about 10 sessions he asked me to sit down and just listen. He proceeded to tell me he thought I was the most sane person he had ever met in this world, that I was screaming for all the voiceless people in the world, or something like that. I had forgot all about him till just now. I wonder if he is still around today, I remember thinking that if he thought I was the sane one, he wasn’t going to last much longer as a psychiatrist…

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                • I think perhaps I agree with the psychiatrist, though I might not have said so two years ago! But as I’ve come to know you better, come to understand some, though not all, of your thoughts and realize that you want for the world the same things most of us do, I consider you as sane as any. What, really, defines sane, anyway? What you see in an ink splotch? I joke about having lost my sanity, but the truth is that I, too, am as sane as any, for while I may have thoughts of assassinating Trump, for example, I don’t act on them and never would. So, I agree largely with the conclusion of the psychiatrist … and I send kudos to him, because another one might have kept you coming back for years, allowed you to think you had serious problems, just to line his own pockets. This guy, at least, was honest.

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  10. Hey, Jill. Love the photos, especially the first one all lined up on the fence. It brings back memories when we set up our first feeder up here, though it wasn’t winter. We were constantly trying new feeds for the many birds, and one day we tried chicken feed. It drew a crowd of over 500 birds sitting on our fences (not just the tops, but the poles, and the crossboards, three levels of them, and on every branch of our trees). We thought we must have hit the jackpot. But it ended up being just the new smell that attracted them, because they did not come back the next day, not in big numbers. But that one day was like a scene from Birds II, the Peaceful Birds. The sky turned black over our yard whenever a noisy car or truck drove by on the street. 500 birds winging into the air all at once. Incredible! That was before we bought our first cell phones, so no pictures…
    And the birds, somehow they knew when it was their turn to sit at the feeder. The only conflict that day was when a grackle tried to cut into the front of the line, and he got attacked by at least fifty birds. He headed for the hills right quick. The little birds, mostly sparrows, waited respectfully.

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    • Thanks Gronda … I’m happy you enjoyed them! I agree … we used to live in a wooded area where it was common to see birds similar to these in the winter, but now our neighborhood has almost no trees and too may apartments/people, so we see few, although we do get quite a few hummingbirds in the summer.
      Hugs!!!

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  14. A wonderful find this cold morning, Jill. I’ve always wondered how the smaller birds manage to get thru the winters outside when I have problems getting thru it here in my warm apartment. They do create beautiful streaks of color in the trees

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    • I’m so happy that you liked them and I hope they brought a bit of a smile to your face. I’m the same as you … rawgod tells me it’s their feathers that form a barrier to the cold. But now my question is … what about other birds, the ones who fly south for the winter … they have feathers, too.

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