Feathered Friends Everywhere

Well I took a snow day today so I thought I would catch up on my blog since I haven't posted in a while. Over the weekend we had warmer temperatures so it inspired me to go back to the river to see if the Eagles were out fishing. I got there and only saw two but also saw a red-headed woodpecker and a really different kind of duck. I'm not familiar with ducks and Rick said there are so many kinds it is hard to tell. I decided to call him a snow duck :) Oh I forgot to mention while I was there taking pictures I ran into a man shooting too. You know me - never met a stranger. I walked by him as he got back in his truck and said " Nice day for shooting pictures". He then asked,"what was I shooting with ?" so I replied, " A Pentax K10D." Low and behold he was too so you know my next words...."great ! then you can give me some tips" He got out of the truck changed some of my settings while he was asking "why are you shooting in this mode....etc..." My answer was I'm learning and have not read my books like I should. He said,"who needs books just get it out and shoot! " That's how my day all started. we stood and talked about pictures for an hour. I said my goodbyes and off I went- with a big grin on my face. Now enough of the blah,blah,blah let's look at some pictures.

This was the first picture for the day. This Eagle just sat there - through my whole conversation with Dan (my Pentax buddy ) I didn't zoom in more because I wanted to get the tree in the shot.

This is the "snow duck " I was talking about. It was the only one down there that I could see. If you know what kind it is please comment so I will know.

This sounds like a fisherman's tale but - this is the one that got away !

So here come the geese. I looked up and it was like rush hour in the big city. They were flying into each other and going crazy. I think the warm weather had their feathers in a tizzy.

This birds are amazingly HUGE and LOUD !!

As I was getting ready to head out I kept hearing a weird chirping noise. I looked everywhere in this big tree and finally found him. The re-headed woodpecker. He sat there only long enough for me to get one shot and then he was out of sight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So now for my snow day. As you probably know I don't drive well in this crap so I used a vacation day and made good use of it by taking pictures. I had just filled up my bird feeders over the weekend so my little friends were out singing in the Lilac bush early. Below are some pictures.

This little Finch was sitting here taking in the fight that was going on at the feeder.

Notice the bird on the bottom left. I think he is the "Boss of the feeder." It seems like he is squawking at the one on the right to get off of the feeder. I held the shutter open to see what would happen.

Here is the proof. He ran him off ! What a mean birdie !

I saw another finch sitting closer to the top of the bush and it looks like he was praying for all the other birds.Again with the shutter open I was able to get him bowing his head.

A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song. Chinese Proverb

That's it for now- I have been on this computer for a long time. Dad & Mary Ann I hope you have enjoyed reading all my blabbing. Next week I will have pictures posted from our trip to Des Moines. WOW - city pictures....I wonder if there will be birds ?