The Feeder Feed: new arrivals: UPDATE!

It has been a huge day at the feeder.  So far today I have seen four new arrivals of the season.

First, however, a cameo from “jake”, or “future supper”.

Here is Mr. Thrasher.  They have some 3000 different calls.

You all know Ray.

You all know the Chickadee.

Here is a new arrival: Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker, digging into the grape jelly I put out for newly arriving Orioles.

Red-winged Blackbird has been around a long time.  This one is pimping his wings a bit.

New arrival:  Red-breasted Grosbeak.

New arrival: White-Crowned Sparrow.

New arrival: Baltimore Oriole.

Just as I was transferring my photos to my computer, I saw the first Indigo Bunting of the year.  I put out some millet, which they prefer.  Hopefully I’ll be able to add a shot later.

They eat here because of your donations.

UPDATE!

I did get the Bunting.

And also Mrs. Rose-Breasted Grosbeak showed up for the first time.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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14 Comments

  1. wanda says:

    Thank you, Fr. Z. The Feeder Feed always makes my day. I’ve been looking forward to your Spring edition. I had the absolute delight the other day of seeing my very first Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks. They are gorgeous birds. There were 2 males and later on I spotted what I think was a female. Do they like jelly, too? They’ve been kind of shy, visiting to eat black sunflower seeds. Thank you for sharing your beautiful array of the birdz!

  2. wanda says:

    P.S. I’m not sure the donate button is working properly. Wouldn’t want the birdz to go hungry.
    They are big eaters this time of year. Thank you.

  3. Supertradmum says:

    Is the White Crowned Sparrow rare in your area? I do not think I ever saw one when I lived in the Midwest.

  4. Kathleen10 says:

    I have some recent photos of bluebirds in our area, and I thought they were stunning, but I have never seen an Indigo Bunting, and wow, that is truly a beautiful color!
    You must be on a flyway Fr. Z. You are getting a wonderful cross-section of birds!

    Aren’t the turkeys hilarious? At my Mom’s, there was a flock that came every few hours to her back windows. All of a sudden you would just see a turkey head over the window sill, as they peeped in to see if they were going to be fed. They acted as if they were prepared to come on in and get up at the table. The males are to me, the most beautiful bird, when they have their feathers out trying to impress the females, who coyly act as if they couldn’t care less! To see three Tom’s trying to “out-strut” each other….
    I love birds. Thank you for posting these beautiful pictures.

  5. benedetta says:

    This is great to see, Fr. Z!

  6. jilly4ski says:

    My husband put up a bird feeder outside our window for the kids to watch birds, but we have been finding it to be great fun. Unfortunately our feeder is a little small for the larger birds. So far we have 2 dueling gangs of goldfinches, a matting pair of purple finches, downy and hairy woodpeckers, Cow birds (a matting pair, they are really too big for our feeder but they try anyways), a matting pair of cardinals (that don’t eat at the bird feeder), Chickadees, a White-Breasted Nuthatch, Red Wing Black Birds (male and female), Morning doves (a matting pair), and a pair of turkeys (one tried to roost in the tree across the way, I never knew turkeys flew so well), and a Chipping Sparrow. I am excited to see what else we will get as the season goes on. We also see Blue Herons flying over head sometimes.

  7. bbmoe says:

    I love, love, love thrashers.
    At my mother’s feeder the other day we had a painted bunting. Always a surprise of garish colors!

  8. Trad Catholic Girl says:

    Wild turkey may be a little tough Fr. Z! Of the other birds, I think the chickadee is quite cute.

  9. Jim of Bowie says:

    Mr. Red-breasted Grosbeak (beautiful bird) also arrived at my feeder this week along with Mr. Gray Catbird. I love you bird pics Father.

  10. digdigby says:

    From my brother in the Ozarks in SW Missouri. The bird nests their are streaked with the most outlandish pink this year. From Joplin’s home insulation. Walking in the woods he was startled to see garish and beautiful flowers. Fake flowers from a Joplin cemetery carried 80 miles and then dropped. Hard to believe its been almost a year.

  11. Quanah says:

    I. love. red-winged blackbirds. Thanks for the great picture.

  12. RichardC says:

    That is a neat hobby, Father Z., and thanks for sharing it with us.

  13. JonPatrick says:

    This year we have had a couple of Rose breasted Grosbeaks visit the feeder which was exciting. Also the bluebirds are continuing to nest in the box we installed. They must be traditional Catholic bluebirds as there are 5 eggs in the box, and the male stands over the box fighting off the cowbirds while the mother takes care of her brood.

  14. Venerator Sti Lot says:

    My mind flew (if you’ll pardon the verb) back to this post with its range of species when I ran into a news item about a lecture (in Amsterdam, during ‘National Bird Week’, and already all-booked-up) on the Hermitage version of Frans Snyder’s ‘Concert of Birds’ (1630) by the ornithologist, Nico de Haan, and his art-history-minded wife, Els, illustrated with the songs or cries of 26 of the 27 species included (the bat is presumably supersonic), attending not only to Snyder’s fine accuracy of depiction, but also the possible symbolic dimensions of the painting (as a whole evoking the Last Judgement? – is that what the focally-placed owl is proclaiming from a book?) – to be repeated in St. Petersburg later this year, after the painting returns there. Alas, no mention of an on-line audio-visual version, which would be jolly (especially if in English or sub-titled)!

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