Red Headed Woodpecker

These pictures were taken on May 25th in our back yard. These guys are very aggressive and territorial. They also store food and hide it under leaves, bark or whatever is available. They will also store live grasshoppers by wedging them into a crack so tightly that the grasshopper can't escape.

Red Bellied Woodpecker

This picture was taken on 17th May, 2008 in our back yard.

Blue Jay

These pictures were taken on May 25th, 2008 in our back yard. As everyone knows, Blue Jays are very noisy, but they're also very pretty.

Sharp Shinned Hawk

These pictures were taken in our back yard on May 22nd, 2008. I was shooting Hummingbirds when this Hawk swooped down, circled a Honey Suckle bush and landed on the lawn. He had something in his beak, but he also had something larger in his claws as can be seen in the flight picture. At first I thought he might have a Hummingbird in his beak and it looks something like a snake in his left claw, but I'm not sure. It would be rare if he caught two things at once. Double click on the images and see if you can figure it out.

Rose Breasted Grosbeak, male

These pictures were taken in our back yard on May 25th, 2008.

Bumble Bee

This picture was taken on May 24th, 2008 in our back yard. I wasn't aware but apparently there is 50 different species of Bumble Bee's and they are closely related to the Honey Bee.

Red Bellied Woodpecker

This picture was taken on May 17th, 2008 in our back yard.

Downy Woodpecker, female

This picture was taken on May 18th, 2008 in our back yard. This female seems to be a common visitor in our back yard but I haven't seen the male yet.

Song Sparrow

This picture was taken on May 12th, 2008 in our back yard. He's a pretty plain looking guy but has a beautiful song.

Baltimore Oriole, Female

These pictures were taken on May 12th, 2008 in our back yard.

Blue Jay

These pictures were taken on May 18th, 2008 in our back yard. They are noisy, aggressive birds, but a Mourning Dove will take them every time.

Ruby Throated Hummingbird, male

These pictures were taken on May 19th, 2008 in our back yard. Photographing hummingbirds is tough and these pictures aren't perfect, so I guess I'll have to keep trying.

Green Heron

These pictures were taken on May 12th, 2008 in our back yard. In the lower picture you'll see he's just caught a Crayfish. Double click on the image to see a better view.

Scissor tailed Flycatcher

This picture was taken on 20th March, 2008 at Kerrville, Texas. Note the long tail which in flight forms a long V.

Rose Breasted Grosbeak

These pictures were taken on 18 May, 2008 in our back yard. The more plain looking bird is the female and the one with the Rose colored breast is the male. It's hard to make the female look attractive, but apple blossoms sure helps, in fact in these pictures, she's kind of pretty.

Mourning Dove

This picture was taken on 17th May, 2008 in our back yard. This is actually the same picture, but it's cropped two different ways. I'm not sure which crop I prefer. Let me know which you like best.

Downy Woodpecker, female

These pictures were taken on 10th May, 2008 in our back yard. Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers are very similar except that the Hairy is quite a bit larger and has a longer beak.

Wild Turkey, hen

These pictures were taken on 10th May, 2008 in our back yard. I'm pretty sure this is a Juvenile because we see this particular bird at least 3 or 4 times per day and therefore she isn't nesting. There were two other hens that were visiting us regularly but their visits stopped awhile back and I'm thinking that the reason is, they are nesting. Maybe we'll see some chicks in a few weeks.

White Crowned Sparrow

These pictures were taken on 8th May, 2008 in our back yard. There's a whole flock of these guys around this year. It's peculiar though that I haven't seen any White Throated Sparrows. Maybe they'll be along shortly.

Blue Jay

These pictures were taken on 11th May, 2008 in our back yard. They're very noisy but pretty to look at.

Rose Breasted Grosbeak, male

These pictures were taken on 8th May, 2008 in our back yard.

Goldfinch

These pictures were taken on 11th May 2008 in our backyard. I took a few pictures of these guys while we were in Texas. They sure are a lot more colorful at this time of year.