More pictures to share from the Aerie

So, yesterday I was shooting pictures like crazy off the back deck as I tried to get used to the new camera. Some of them were terrible as the subjects (birds, chipmunks, squirrels and bunnies twitched or fluttered at the wrong moment. Others I could crop and otherwise alter to make semi-decent photos.

And what’s the point of taking photos if you’re not going to show them to anyone!

After a hiatus of several weeks, the gray squirrels have started to reappear at the feeders. During the last week, only one has been a regular visitor and it has plenty of brown highlights. (A second, grayer, squirrel was here with this one this morning.)



With all the tall weeds (bergamont, goldenrod, multiflora rose, etc.) around the edge of the lawn area and with all the clover in the lawn we have our share of Eastern Cottontails. This young fella showed up the beginning of the week. He’s really tiny compared to the adults. This is likely his first full week away from his momma.



Chipping Sparrows are among the smallest of the sparrow world. And among the noisiest. Usually they will feed on the ground or on the platform feeders and leave the perches on the other feeders for the larger birds. This one just couldn’t wait for someone to knock seed to the ground.
 


Over on the tray feeder we had a female Purple Finch.



And over in the “garden” atop one of the poles supporting the Climatis we had this little guy:



When a flycatcher keeps its mouth shut, it can be difficult to ID correctly. With no eye ring visible, no tail flick as it sat there, no shading of pale yellow or rouge of brown along the flanks and no crest atop its head, and based upon its small size, I’m calling this one an Eastern Wood-Peewee. (Although, with the light breast and returning to the same perch after catching a fly, it could be an Alder Flycatcher.)

(Flycatchers and sparrows are the bane of my existence! Oh and some of the small shorebirds. The devil is in the details.)