Who is that bird visiting?

This little guy has been visiting my yard early in the morning.

This is the back of him...He enjoys the berries.

The best picture I could get. He hops around alot.
I have been unable to identify him.
Could someone help!!??
What is he?

Charlie's Pond

The first time we visited Charlie's Pond, we didn't see anything...we were very disappointed. We decided to try it again and it is now one of our favorite places to visit.



These Tree Swallows building their nest.



Letting me get a picture before he had to go back to work.

This is a Wilson's Snipe (I think).  They were so hard to see.  They blended into the ground and unless they moved, you couldn't see them.

This Horned Lark has friends everywhere. This is another bird that blends into the ground and missed.

Herons like Charlies Pond too.

Have seen them there several times.

This Chipping Sparrow was caught on the camera just a couple of weeks ago.

He was singing his heart out for us.

This odd couple, we have seen together several times. He is a Mallard, but don't know what she is.?

I think this is a Lesser Yellowlegs.  Saw this one and friends the first part of April 2011.

We have seen Vultures there too....

This little guy kept poking his head out of his hole in the groud.  Just found out that he is a Thirteen-lined Gound Squirrel.  We ran into a nice man taking pictures of him, who told us about him.

There are frogs... One day when visiting the peepers were so loud.

This isn't a very good picture of a Killdeer.

These Red-winged Blackbirds posed for me to take their picture.  There are a lot of them and Robins at Charlie's Pond.
But the most exciting sighting we had, was the Sandhill Cranes.  They were there the end of February.  We saw them on the 27th.  An amazing sight!

This is a Northern Harrier.  We have seen him several times skimming over the ground for supper.

I think this is a Savannah Sparrow.

 

There are beautiful Pheasants out there too.  We saw about 7 last night.  It is such fun to see them running thru the field.  They are fast runners and the male is so colorful.

This is an Eastern Meadowlark.  I am sorry the pictures aren't the best but he was fast and blended into the corn field. 

I hope you have enjoyed this visit to Charlie's Pond.

New sighting.....this week.....the American Bittern

We were so lucky to spot him, as you can see by the picture on the left.  He really blended into the area.  He froze and didn't more a feather.  He did sway a bit which he was imitating the blowing grass around him.  This was really a treat for us.

Here he has extended his head up to blend into the grasses more.

Robin

This Robin, whom we named Elvis,was in the yard all summer.  He built 2 nests in the yard and the last one a few trees away.  He is getting mud from the fountain here.

Doing some grooming... We thought this was his mate.  We didn't see her very much.

He loved the red berries from this tree.

Gathering worms for the babies.  He would land on the line and look all around before going into the nest in the tree.

Here taking a bath.  He seemed to enjoy being in the yard with us.  We didn't seem to bother him at all.

After the bath.

This is one of the babies.  The Robin kept them hidden.

The Robin stays around my yard all winter long.

This one was looking for dropped crabapples off the tree.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

In 2007 this little guy visited my bird feeder.  I was so thrilled.  I didn't know who he was but luckly got some pictures.  They aren't very good. I didn't have a very good camera then and I didn't want to scare him away.

You can see his colors in this picture. He is on the branch of the Rose of Sharon.

I keep a look out hoping he will visit again one day....

Red-bellied Woodpecker

I love their long black beak and the bright red head.

Here you can see the red on his belly.

High up in the tree. I wish he would visit more often...or maybe he does....just not when I am watching. 

Mourning dove

I love the sound they make and it is so funny watching them fly in and try to land.  Then watch them try to get on the bird feeder.  They seem to never have a plan.

I believe this is a juvenile.  He was on the ground one day, all day. Then he was gone.

This one had her nest in the Flowering Plum tree which was fine.  They build their nests in the strangest places.  I have had the male work so hard on a nest to just see it blow away.

This poor Dove looks like he was either losing his feathers or the Hawk caught him and he got away missing a few feathers....