Backyard Birds

We had this bird on our deck this morning and neither one of us has ever seen one before. The closest thing we could find in the bird book is a western tanager and when I ran it past Merlin it said either a scarlet tanager or summer tanager, which I don't think it is.

JanS said:

We had this bird on our deck this morning and neither one of us has ever seen one before. The closest thing we could find in the bird book is a western tanager and when I ran it past Merlin it said either a scarlet tanager or summer tanager, which I don't think it is.

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Google says it looks to be an immature male summer Tanager.

A few years ago we had a Tanager stop by too. And like you, we had never had them stop by before and I was quite delighted to add it to my bird sightings!! Mine was more of an orangey red color and I knew that it was a Tanager right away. I was pretty excited! I know i have a picture somewhere. Maybe on my last phone. If I find it, I'll post it.

MyBuddy said:

Google says it looks to be an immature male summer Tanager.

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Wow that does sound like it. Thank you!

JanS said:

Wow that does sound like it. Thank you!

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They are fairly common here and I agree!

We've had a lot of Indigo buntings hanging around out near the edge of the woods. Haven't gotten close enough for a good pic beause my big red dog, Cliford makes sure they don't stick around.

Rose breasted grosbeaks waiting for the feeder to be refilled after the pig squirrel emptied it.

I haven't seen one of these this far north. Maybe global warming?

He loves this dead palm
A large wood pecker

GennyB said:

I haven't seen one of these this far north.

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It's beautiful! What is it?

A bunch of people from the Minnesota bird page recently said that we are seeing so many birds around here that are not native to this area.

Fladobe said:

A large wood pecker

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Pileated?

Pileated? Yes , it was dark when I took the pick.

The Baltimore Orioles are finally here.

JanS said:

It's beautiful! What is it?

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It;s a painted bunting. I used to see them when I lived in Arkansas but not here.
They can be seen in southern Missouri but not usually this far north.

Just talk about it and here it is this morning! A summer tanager! Just gorgeous!

Then a couple of others birds showed up.

This Baltimore Oriole was at the suet feeder when this blue jay showed up. Boy did he give him hell! It looked like there was a lot of screaming going on by that Oriole! And guess who won out? Lol Size isn't everything! LOL



And the cat bird. Another favorite of mine. And he's here almost all summer.

MyBuddy said:

And guess who won out?

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I find blue jays are more bark than bite. They are definitely annoying and I'm VERY grateful not many show up. We have plenty of flickers that keep them at bay.

Remember the dove in my gutter that I posted a few days ago? I wonder if this is one of the babies. My husband and I were walking by rather closely when I suddenly spotted it. I quietly pointed and we walked further away so not to scare him. He never moved and that made me feel like it might be a baby. I've never really seen a dove nest with the babies. But I've heard that they seem to grow very quickly. So even though this guy looks big I just thought maybe it was somebody from that nest.
Zoom in. He's sitting on the White Rock.



And these barn swallows are in my horse barn. I discourage all birds from living inside my barn. But I always seem to get at least one pair of barn swallows. They're pretty noisy at first whenever you walk in. But once she's sitting on the nest she could be pretty quiet and barely noticeable. And they seem to go back to the same nests in the ceiling rafters. I'm not fond of the birds inside my barn but these guys eat so many mosquitoes and other bugs that I cut them a break! Later when they're all adults we'll be sitting on the back deck watching dozens of them in the air along with dragonflies. Darting around everywhere in the sky going after bugs. Go get 'em!

GennyB said:

We have plenty of flickers that keep them at bay.

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That is one thing that keeps them at bay so they are welcome here. Problem is that we stopped putting the suet out until the blue jays move on but that's what flickers come for.

I do not think he thinks that any more.