Seeing Signs of Spring

This week I have started noticing a few signs of Spring.  One of my neighbors has a row of March Lilies down both sides of their driveway and this week the flowers began blooming.  In my own yard I have noticed tiny buds on the trees. 

Also this week, I have noticed the Grackles visiting my feeders and sitting in the trees. 







Though the bird book I have says that they are in my area year round, I generally only see them in the early Spring. I don't know if it is because at this time of year they have a harder time finding food in the farmer's fields. I have noticed a few farmers starting their plowing and field prep. Two of my neighbors have broken ground for their gardens too. 

Wednesday morning as I was watching the birds from my kitchen window I noticed there was a lot of red in the trees and on the ground. I counted 12 Cardinals and 6 Purple Finches. 





I couldn't get a good shot of both trees with all the birds. So I went out and put some seeds on the patio wall hoping that they would come a little closer. A few minutes later the birds slowly started coming over to the patio wall. I love the way this Cardinal seems to be looking at the little Finches. 

I put seeds on the patio wall quite often so the birds visit there almost as much as they do the feeders. 

The neighbors cat likes when I put seeds there, he sits and waits for the birds and tries to nab them. Luckily, the birds know to avoid the wall when the cat is around, (most of the time).

As long as I move slowly at the window they will stay on the wall and feed. Sometimes as the camera snaps they will stop feeding and listen.







I had to change my position a few times in an attempt to capture a couple of the birds at a time in the same shot, but when I would move they would fly away. 

One end of the wall has a missing light with the wires sticking up, (one of my husband's "I can fix it" projects that never seems to get totally completed), my camera often tries to focus on those instead of the birds. 








The doves like to visit the wall too, they aren't as easy to frighten away as the other birds and most of the time I can capture them in photos easily. 

I saw this bird sitting high in the tree and wasn't really sure what it was. I grabbed the camera to focus in on it in an attempt to identify my feathered visitor. I ended up taking a couple of shots, I think it is a Grackle, but an still not positive. Makes a good shadow shot anyway. 

Linked With:

The Bird D'Pot

Camera Critters

Straight Out Of The Camera

Shadow Shot Sunday 2