A New Plant in our Yard

The nurseries are finally open and we made a trip to Reilly's Summer Seat Farm to see what native plants we could find. We bought a spicebush, which had been on our wish list for several reasons: birds like to eat their red berries in the fall; they attract spicebush swallowtails; they are compact; and their yellow flowers add a new color to our yard in mid-spring. What's not to like?
I plan on photographing this shrub in several seasons and will keep you posted how the birds and insects take to the spicebush.

At the Rookery

It wouldn't be spring without a visit to a great blue heron rookery. So, when I learned that there is a rookery at Boyce-Mayview Park in Upper St. Clair I had to investigate it. It was a beautiful spring morning when we headed out to the park where we were greeted by red-winged blackbirds and the first bluebirds of the season.
Finally, after making a wrong turn and having to climb up a hill, we saw the rookery across the creek. It was quiet time and the only action we saw was a heron who kept flying to an abandoned nest across the creek. Was it a nest from last year? Who knows, but the heron seemed to think it was a convenient way to build a new nest. While we observed the herons we saw a red-tailed hawk from above.
All in all, it was a successful day of birding, especially once we found an almost level trail that took us back to our car.

It Works!

After the snow receded I could finally test my new birdcam. I first put it on the ground to catch birds that don't visit our feeders but rather forage among the spoils from above.
It is only appropriate that the first two photos the camera took were of a turkey (and the tail of another one). If it seems as if I'm blogging about turkeys a lot lately that's because they are around so often. The camera also captured a mourning dove, a cardinal, and a song sparrow.

Backyard Brawl

We are experiencing exceptionally sunny weather and the snow in our yard is slowly melting. The snow-free area under our feeder is getting a bit larger every day, thus exposing all the sunflower seeds that fell to the ground over the past few weeks. Visits from our "resident" turkeys are becoming less frequent. One time over the weekend, however, we witnessed three turkeys approaching said area, only to find a squirrel canvassing the ground. When one of the turkeys got a bit too close to the squirrel the squirrel defended its riches and the turkey hopped into the air. This occurred at least twice. It was quite hilarious to watch the squirrel stand up--so to speak--to the much larger turkey.

Birds & Blooms

My already award-winning photo of an airborne Tufted Titmouse is competing for the Grand Prize in Birds & Blooms Magazine's backyard photo contest. Voting has begun online at www.birdsandblooms.com/Contests/Backyard-Photo-Contest.
The news on the home front is that our backyard has turned into a wild turkey habitat. I saw five turkeys in the still snow-covered yard this morning. Their footprints are all over our yard and even close to our garage. Pretty soon they'll be ringing our door bell, demanding to be fed! We're hoping that they'll go somewhere else once the snow melts. Spring can't come soon enough around here.

Late Winter Update

When I first saw a turkey in our snow-covered backyard I was excited. Next thing I knew three female turkeys have become regulars at our bird feeders. They time their appearance precisely when my husband puts a feeder out with food for ground eaters. The plan is, of course, to feed songbirds (such as cardinals, white-throated sparrows, fox sparrows, Carolina wrens and anyone else who is more comfortable eating on the ground). We had not anticipated to feed gigantic turkeys and hope they'll disappear once the ground is free of snow. What's a photographer to do? Take photos, of course. However, they tend to disappear once I get out there.
I have another reason to wish the snow gone. I just got a Wingscapes birdcam and hope I can field-test it soon. The camera has a motion detector and a flash and I hope to capture birds with it that just aren't comfortable with me being around photographing them. I plan on posting it near our hummingbird feeder and/or our birdbath during the summer.
Until then, I watch the birds from a window. Lately, we've observed a flock of red-winged blackbirds, more starlings than we dare to count, a robin, and all the other species I mentioned during the bird count. I have also noticed that, despite the cold weather, the birds are singing more and more often. I even heard the red-winged blackbirds call this morning. Can spring be far behind?