Red Headed Woodpecker, juvenile

These pictures were taken on October 19th in our back yard. The juvenile starts out with a black head which slowly turns red. On this guy you can just see a bit of red starting to show up on his head.

Downy Woodpecker, male

These pictures were taken on October 19th, 2009 in our back yard. Actually I took these pictures from inside our solarium, through the window. This little guy decided to pay us a visit and perched on the outside of our house. These shots aren't quite as sharp as I would like them to be, but that's what happens when you shoot under adverse conditions with a birch tree in the background, but he was too cute not to take his picture.

White Crowned Sparrow

These pictures were taken on October 10th & 17th, 2009 in our back yard. The first two pictures are juveniles.

Red Breasted Nuthatch

These pictures were taken on October 19th, 2009 in our back yard. These little guys are very tame, similar to Chickadees.

Purple Finch

These pictures were taken on October 10th & 17th, 2009 in our back yard. The female is the upper picture, rather drab, more like a sparrow whereas the males' head is read and much more read during breeding season. I have no idea why they're called a Purple Finch instead of Red Finch.

Black Capped Chickadee

These pictures were taken on October 10th to 19th, 2009 in our back yard. They're fast little guys and you have to be quick to get there picture.

Raccoon

These pictures were taken on September 29th, 2009 in our back yard. Raccoons (also sometimes spelled Racoons) are normally nocturnal and therefore I was surprised to see him in mid day scavenging for food under my bird feeder. When I took a closer look at the pictures I understood why he was out during the day. Double click on the pictures and on the right side of his mouth you will see 6 or 7 Porcupine quills protruding from his mouth. This poor little guy must have done battle with a Porcupine and by the look of him, the Raccoon lost.

White breasted Nuthatch

These pictures were taken on September 25th & 27th, 2009 in our back yard.

Red Breasted Nuthatch

These pictures were taken on September 25th, 2009 in our back yard.

American Mink - Neovison vison

These pictures were taken on October 3rd, 2009 in our back yard. The scientific name used to be Mustela Vison but was recently reclassified as Neovison Vison. They are a member of the Weasel family and are heavily prized for their fir. They are excellent swimmers and eat fish, frogs, rabbits or anything else they can catch. There main predators are owls, hawks, fox and coyotes. I spotted this guy going around the edge of a pond in our back yard. He came up from the edge of the pond and for a few moments just sat there and looked at me even though I was only about 30 feet away. He didn't appear to mind my presence and after a few moments continued his search for frogs or whatever else he could find to eat.

Black Capped Chickadee

These pictures were taken on September 25th & 27th, 2009 in our back yard. Chickadee's are so friendly that they will eat out of your hand. I haven't tried to train them to do this but when I put out bird seed, especially black oil sunflowers, they will land on the feeder as I'm putting seeds in it.