Plain old brown birds aren't so plain when their heads are shaped like this hammerkop!
He may be a little ugly, but who wouldn't want to add this big fellow to their list? Of course, there's always the fun of trying to identify which hornbill is which.
A trip to the game park can keep one busy with a good bird book for quite awhile
and even longer with a bad bird book .
It seems to me a great number of the small birds wear flashier outfits in tropical countries than their American feathered friends.
But of course, one can't bird all their life in phenomenal places, but it's just a little difficult not to be bored with the same old Oregon juncos everyday after such variety. Since we were not home for a few months the bird feeders hadn't been supplied with seed anyway, so I figured we would wait until Spring and hopefully the flurry of migration would inspire some excitement again.
One day when we took a trip up North to get our dog I noticed at our friend's house quite a stack of Birds and Bloom and I spent some time perusing the pictures. Outside their windows were feeders of every sort. I could not believe the volume and array of birds at their feeders. That got my Attention! I tried forever to get some good photos and I am feeling more and more ready for an SLR camera!!! Photographing birds can be rather challenging with the wrong camera equipment. Anyway, I came home and bought some bird seed. It's a little slow going attracting the birds when their hasn't been anything offered for so long, but you can always be sure of an Oregon junco!
I hope to attract many more in time for the Great Backyard Bird Count that begins on Feb 13.
In defense of American birds I must say that they are MUCH friendlier than their African counterparts. The little birds at our feeders are used to our presence and often even seem to communicate with us when they think we ought to refill the feeder or something. I grew up where chickadees landed on your head and begged for sunflower seeds in the winter. It isn't totally unusual to feed nuthatches and jays and hummingbirds from our hands here, but birding takes a great deal of patience in Africa.
I took stock of all the birds I saw in a week here and this is my list.
1. a chukar standing by the side of the road on one foot
2. bald eagles standing on the ice of the river's edge together with a crow
3.chickadees - at the feeder
4. juncos - everywhere
5. red-breasted nuthatch at the suet feeder
6. goldfinches in on the thistle bags
7. crows
8. a wild turkey sitting in a low bush by the highway
9. a red-shafted flicker flying it's peculiar flight
10. California quail at the feeders and in the shrubs
11. Canada geese at the river
12. Mallard ducks at the river
15. pigeons on the barn roofs.
