Eye Candy . . . beautiful chick, au natural

[tom turner]

Sucked you right in, but you are still in for a treat for your eyes!

We noticed Mama Blue finally started building her second nest of the season last night. Today she was a little workhorse, and the fledglings and papa were around too.

Such a fun day to shoot some bluebird photos. Hope you like 'em!

[shouldazagged]

You do really good work! But nobody likes a smart-a**...

[tom turner]

I know . . . its lonely being smart.

BUT . . . duh masses love a dumb one, AND EVERYONE loves a hot chick, even if she's a bird brain!

[rwsmith]

I thought that it would be a baby chicken.

[sipowicz]

If this was any other forum I might have been sucked in....

[Sebago Son]

Nice photography and wonderful subject... I had purple finches in my feeders today.

Can't wait for the hummers to come back... should be any day now. Feeders go out tomorrow...

[Cooter Brown]

Those purple finches are pretty, Drew. I had some kind of yellow warbler the other day--but there are so many warblers I can't figure out what it was.

I did see a Red Breasted Grosbeak the other day--wish I had a longer lens to get some pics.

Love your stuff, Tom. Keep 'em comin'.

[snowman]

Great pictures; thanks!

Say, is she chewing out papa in that last picture??

Andy

[snubbyfan]

My wife says they're pretty.

[dswancutt]

Beautiful pictures Tom. But i have one question, what is the purpose of the ring around the entrance hole?

[gunlovingirl]

Beautiful photos! I have a lot of Bluebirds around here. But the sparrows fill the nest box faster than I can clean it out. I buy meal worms and put them out for the Bluebirds. They love 'em!

[Malpasowildlifer]

very nice, thanks for sharing

[PatAz]

Excellent pictures.

[bgrafsr]

Originally Posted by dswancutt

Beautiful pictures Tom. But i have one question, what is the purpose of the ring around the entrance hole?

Could it possibly be to keep other birds from enlarging the hole so they can take over the house?

[tom turner]

Originally Posted by snowman

Great pictures; thanks!

Say, is she chewing out papa in that last picture??

Andy

Actually Andy, in the last photo its one of her SONS! He hatched in late February and flew from the box on April 10th!

Bluebirds are great parents and they feed the youngsters for a while after they fly in the trees. The youngsters from the first batch of the year will stay in the family unit and actually return with the parents and sometimes even help feed they young born later in the spring!

Thus, it is a juvenile bluebird, and more specifically a male. Both male and female juveniles have the same splotchy markings during the first season . . . but the male has more blue on his wings.

[tom turner]

Originally Posted by dswancutt

Beautiful pictures Tom. But i have one question, what is the purpose of the ring around the entrance hole?

Eastern Bluebird houses have 2 1/2" entrance holes and the extra wood block on the front helps further prevent slightly larger birds from entering the birdhouse. Bluebird houses also never have a perch on them that the deadly, and non-native House Sparrow could use to help gain entrance into the birdhouse.

There are easy to make devices called "Sparrow Spookers" and sparrow traps to further protect the bluebirds. Bluebirds were on a steep decline 100 years ago, due to non-native bird species . . . but with proper houses and such we are seeing them come back in good numbers!!!

[Chipmunk6]

Great pics. I thought it was going
to be this one though

[charlie sherrill]

Lots of migratory birds still coming through here on their way north. The robins wintwer here and they've been gone for a few weeks. Right now I've got four different kinds of doves, bluebirds, Indigo blue, blue grosbeak, yellow finches, cardinal, jays, sparrows, cowbirds, redwing blackbirds, (they feed a lot and then head to a marsh to nest), cowbirds, and mockingbirds raising hell at all of them. I may have left a few varieties out. This time of year bird feed can easily run $100 a month. It slows down after some of them move on but they'll be back in the fall.

[chief38]

Ya got me!

[tom turner]

Yes Charlie, it can get s'pensive this time of the year. We too are enjoying MOST of the migratory birds . . . though a big irruption this year planted tons of those danged little Pine Siskins in our area for over two months now. Most are finally leaving but Canada can keep those quarrelsome pigs!

This week we've have Indigo Buntings AND a rarely seen Painted Bunting visit our feeders.

Here's the Painted Bunting. They mate in your area, I believe, so you may get to see 'em some, but in central Georgia it is rarely seen since it sticks to the Atlantic coastline. Gorgeous birds indeed!!!

[IMG] [/IMG]

[Cooter Brown]

Wow! That's really cool, Tom. I've never seen a Painted Bunting.

Great job with the pic!