CAPTURING FRIENDS’ BIRDIES - 6/24/20


 

CAPTURING FRIENDS’ BIRDIES

BY: PEGGY WILLIAMS AKA Birdie of Mississippi

 

Doing something different can often be a wonderful thing!  Usually my photos are taken in my own backyard of birds and bugs flying in the air. Before the Covid-19 quarantine, I would combine a visit with a backyard photo shoot. Recently my friend Janet Clark allowed me to sit alone quietly in her backyard to take photos.  We have many of the same birds such as Northern Cardinals, Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds, Blue Jays, Titmouse, Carolina Wrens, and Eastern Bluebirds. Even though she lives only a short distance from my house I was amazed at the difference in the birds that visit her yard and come to her feeders.  Some of her birds I have never seen in real life or I have rarely seen in my yard. So photographing at her home was a treat! 

 

It was my first time to ever get a good photo of a Red-headed Woodpecker!  Even though this bird comes to my yard regularly I had not been able to get a good photo because they stay near the top of my trees! The coloring of this bird is so vibrant that I have wanted a photo for a long time.  Even though I knew that he had a very long beak I did not realize how long until I actually photographed him.  It is easy to see how he can dig into a tree and pull out a juicy bug to eat!

 

Janet purchased an orange and nectar feeder and she had drawn the much desired Baltimore oriole to her yard.  To my knowledge I have had only one oriole visit my yard and that was the first spring that I began bird photography.  Since I was a beginner Birdie I didn’t have a fancy feeder to lure an oriole, but being the country girl that I am, I sliced oranges and scooped grape jelly onto a saucer and with beginner’s luck, a beautiful male oriole came!

 

Orioles use a technique called “gaping” which is stabbing with their closed beak and then opening their beak and to use their tongue to lick the juice that comes pouring out of oranges and berries! Cherries, red grapes, nectar, oranges and grape jelly are great draw items for orioles, but, these things are not always readily available. Not even a bird lover can provide these all the time!  It can become expensive and these sticky foods can draw ants pretty quickly if they stay out very long!  So orioles search out other things to round out their diet.  Orioles enjoy eating bugs – particularly caterpillars!  They will eat furry caterpillars that other birds usually don’t want. They grab the caterpillar and smack them on a branch to get rid of their hairy outside and then they become yummy for their tummies!

 

The orange, black and white feathers of an oriole are so striking that you will not easily forget getting to see this bird.  He is a show stopper!  Not only do they have gorgeous colors, but they also sing!  Birds and Blooms Magazine says “When they sing, it’s like happiness put to birdsong.”

 

I am very thankful to have friends who share their feathered friends and give me an opportunity to “Look at the birds of the air…” (Matthew 6:26) that God has provided so much variety for us to enjoy! My photos may be viewed & “LIKED” on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest - “Birdie of Mississippi”. E-mail: birdieofmississippi@gmail.com - Read my Blog @ http://www.birdieofmississippi.blogspot.com

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