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Thursday, January 28, 2010

"B" is for Birds




I am joining Jenny Matlock's fun "Alphabe Thursday" event and the letter for this week is the letter "B"   I know it's not very original, but I couldn't resist sharing some photographs of local birds that I took in the past few weeks.   After looking at my photos I think the letter "B" is also well  represented by the color blue, as the winter skies were uncharacteristically bright the days I took some of the photos.  I was even  able to add a third "B" to this  post as you'll read towards the end.



One afternoon I sighted this group of starlings  resting high up in a tree.  They have a  beautiful iridescent shine about their plumage and are very "chatty," so they are hard to miss.  ( all photos will enlarge when clicked on)

These two young gulls were standing in the water of the Gerritsen Beach inlet.on a very cold day. They stood motionless for so long that I suspected that they were sleeping.




I saw this flock of pigeons in a local park taking turns using a puddle as a birdbath.  If you enlarge the photo you can see the water droplets being flung around as the bird in the water shook the water over his wings,   He's a little blurry but if you look closely to the top left of the puddle in this photo you can also see one of the wild parrots of Brooklyn watching the spectacle!



Mainly sparrows frequent my bird feeder every day.  I even caught one in flight!  They are the most common type of birds that I see in my area, and so prolific in number that they will empty this feeder in a few hours.  I buy bird seed in large quantities to feed the little fellows.

To see some spectacular bird photos drop by Betsy from Tennessee's blog Joyful Reflections  Many different types of birds come to her bird feeders and she often captures beautiful close up photographs of them for her wonderful blog.




If you enjoy watching the birds please join  "The Great Backyard Bird Count"  which is a joint effort by the Cornell  Lab of Ornithology and The Audubon Society that will take place February 12- 15, 2010

Some information from the web site:

"The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent and in Hawaii.

Participants count birds anywhere for as little or as long as they wish during the four-day period. They tally the highest number of birds of each species seen together at any one time. To report their counts, they fill out an online checklist at the Great Backyard Bird Count web site."


This information is used to determine if the health and well being of native and migratory birds are normal and the effects of disease, cold temperatures and invader species might be having on the bird population.




Just for fun I wanted to mention that I was "grilled" yesterday by Lisa from the blog called "Grandma's Briefs"! Her blog header made me laugh so much when I first saw it! Please click on the blog link to read my interview and say hello to Lisa and read about all her wonderful  grandma experiences.






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43 comments:

  1. I love your B entry and love your bird feeder. We have many birds here but I could hardly take any pictures. I do know know they like to sit in the shade on our main door grills...leaving lots of poop afterwards. I dont know why but we hardly see bird feeders here, I should hunt for one. Happy week or weekend ahead Pat. Love/M
    p.s. that walk away/bargain trick is very workable here and in Thailand, we got all our rock bottom pricing using this as a last resort :)

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  2. I love birds- your bird pics are so lovely. The local seagulls here know which streets to cruise on bin day as the recycling is in open plastic crates. They swoop low between the houses checking each box along the street. :-) The shapes they make in the sky are so graceful.

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  3. I am a bit of a birder myself, so I enjoyed this. And I love your bird feeder.

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  4. What a fun this Alphabet event, Pat! Have to say the seafull pics make my heart sing... anything seaside does! But wonderful photos. I do love bird-watching. Happy Day, my friend :o) ((HUGS))

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  5. Hi

    What a fun way to use the alphabet! I particularly like the sparrow pic - sadly sparrows (london sparrows in particular) are in decline here so it's great to know and see them in large numbers where you are!

    Lovely, lovely pics!

    Take care
    x

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  6. Great entry for B Pat! I loved the gull pictures, anything with water near it will make me smile for days. Now I'm off to read your interview! Have a wonderful day. Kathy

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  7. That is neat, Pat! Love your bird shots. I've never really looked at a starling in the light that way. Neat shot of their feathers.

    Parrots in Brooklyn? I thought they were tropical birds and didn't get much futher north than the Carolinas. That's fascinating.

    There are green parrots we sometimes see in St. Augustine. Haven't seen them, though, in ages.
    I'm wondering if some bird fancier decided to capture them. They nested on Anastasia Island from what I've been told.

    I need to do this one week with you all. Sounds like fun, and I love Jenny!

    XO,

    Sheila :-)

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  8. Very fun. Wild parrots...that sounds fun. I haven't done a good job of keeping up with our bird feeders. Good job of "catching" the action.

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  9. Great photos Pat! I love birds. The bird count sounds like fun:D

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  10. Great photos Pat! I love birds. The bird count sounds like fun:D

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  11. Great B post! I love birds :) .
    Blessings,
    Catherine

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  12. Great bird pix, love the sleepy sea gulls,they remind me of Hilton Head and that's never a bad thing!
    ~Maggie~

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  13. Pat, these are beautiful photos! Absolutely loved visiting this B Page!

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  14. Oh yeah, B is for Beautiful Birds.
    Love the Bird photos, you should get an A plus for your "B".

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  15. That was so interesting, Pat. The other day when it was much warmer out, we must have had about a 100 Robins in our back yard...they really make a mess. We also have an Owl who lives in a tree behind us...it is always exciting to hear it. Your pictures are wonderful.
    ♥, Susan

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  16. Oh !You Darling,
    You did another beautiful post
    I have been feeding these beautiful creatures. I have lots of Chickadee's,Huge Ravin's, Sparrows,wild Turkey's.
    Along the Cove are ton,s of Gulls'
    Mallard's, Yesterday there were
    Beautiful Buffleheads ducks they are small, but so pretty . Love the post.

    yvonne

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  17. I enjoy birds. I love watching them at the feeders in our backyard.

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  18. You take beautiful pictures! Enjoyed all of them. Do you know about the website where you can watch the Peregrine Falcons that nest on top of an office building in Jersey City? I follow it every year.

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  19. Love your B is for Birds! thanks for stopping by my post also B is for Birds,lol, but mine were all fake! I do love the photos you took, I also love photography and have posted several photos of birds. they are so fun to watch.

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  20. Yes, I'll be following that link for the interview. Okay, even though I didn't want to get booted out on my head, you got me to enlarge the pic with the wild parrot comment. Ha! And, guess what? No boot. I just back arrowed and came right back to the post without a problem. Sometimes Blogland is unpredictable.

    And what lovely shots you've taken of birds. Capturing them in flight is not easy!

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  21. Oh Pat! I love that first picture. It would be such a neat gift card. Did you take that photo? I think you need to enter it into a contest somewhere... don't know where but it is really unique! Thanks for participating in Alphabe-Thursday! A+ for you sweet lady.

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  22. I love all the bird pictures. It reminds me of spring which I can't wait for.

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  23. Thanks everyone fro your kind comments

    Jenny -- every photograph in my blog is mine. If I use another person's photo I ask permission unless it is a copyright free image, and indicate a source whenever possible.


    Betsy -- I've done a blog post about the peregrine falcons in NYC. If you under "LABELS" on the right sidebar of my blog you will find "Birds in NYC" --click on that and it will take you to every blog post I wrote about birds, including the wild parrots, peregrine and red tail falcons.

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  24. Fabulous photos, Pat, though I admit the starling photo is my favorite. It would make a great fabric!

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  25. I'm smiling about the 'grilled grandma' interview...so sweet!

    Great bird pic's...though no one out here is very fond of the starlings with their lovely plummage! They were originally imported to NYC from across the ocean...and have made their way around North America. They seem to thrive in our area....and have become a huge problem for the farming community. I think I like them better in NYC! (smile)

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  26. That first bird photo is stunning!...the color of that sky!...great post...

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  27. What a lovely photos!I love the birds,particularly the parrots.
    Nice way to use the alfabet!
    Have a lovely evening
    Hugs,Annalisa

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  28. How nice! You captured some really great photo shots of the birds.
    I laughed my fanny off at the header of briefs too!!!
    Judy

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  29. My mother would really appreciate this post. She has a special place in her heart for birds. You did a great job in this post sharing varieties and great photography. Nice bird feeder!

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  30. Thanks Pat for mentioning me...I just got a new camera --so my bird photos should even get better. You have some great bird photos yourself.

    Don't you just love Jenny Matlock???? She is a "HOOT" for sure!!!!

    Hope you are having a good week..
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  31. Just sat here with my mouth hanging open at all the beautful photos on the last four posts.

    The birds were beautiful...the photos on your simple things day post lovely - but, the photos on your vacation posts made me decide that I need a road trip to The Dakotas!

    Oh, your blog really inspires me...

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  32. Loved your "B" post. Fun learning more about you. Love & blessings from NC!

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  33. Hi there, You've an amazing blog, i wonder where was it and why i didn't discover it before myself? I love fotografy + you write very well, i would love to enrich my reading list by adding you.
    In my city "New Delhi" India, we have many places where we can find and feed birds, whether big or small. near my house many people have pigeons and dove, i can hear to their flutter all the time, and when we have grey clouds hovering in the sky the white ones appears as if little angels are racing in the sky.. thank you..
    love Naqvee

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  34. I love the puddle picture! The bird-feeder sparrows, too!

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  35. Love the entry..love love love birds..when i was in florida a couple days ago, i got up at 5 am...first time i had heard birds in months..it was GLORIOUS!

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  36. Wonderful, glorious birds. I don't konw when it happened. One dayI am having coffee outside and the next day - I lose all track of time watching birds. Been that way for years. Lovely B posting!

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  37. oh...love the birds too, Pat..

    what a lovely post...love it from a NYC view....

    i am going to check out the bird count thing too...thanks for sharing that..

    more later, dear one

    kary
    xxx
    p.s. did you see Christina's post after Simple Things? it made me melt....

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  38. Good morning, Pat - nice to see your birds! Your feeder seems to be most popular - I'm sure the sparrows appreciate it in these winter months!

    I'm off to read your interview.

    I do believe you already read my Barcelona post but, just in case:

    Check out my "B is for Barcelona" - my favorite city in the world - at
    http://rnsane.blogspot.com/2010/01/b-is-for-barcelona.html#links

    Somehow, McLinky didn't work for me!

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