14 cardinals on my deck right now...

Seven males, seven females. They are just gorgeous! They seem to prefer to come out around dusk, for some reason. I have been feeding birds (and squirrels) for the last several years and this is the first time I've seen so many cardinals. Makes me feel absolutely guilt-ridden because we're going to try to sell our house this summer; who will take care of my birds? Who? I have resolved that I won't sell to anyone who isn't extremely animal friendly (we live in the woods, there are squirrels and raccoons and opossums and birds and... all over) but that doesn't make me feel much better. I know animals probably would get along much better without our presence here on this mountain, but it seems that they've bred b/c the food has been plentiful and here I go taking it away from them.

Spring training YEAH!!

love your pictures...


I'm in Northern Virginia, on a mountain about 1.5 hrs. almost directly west of DC, about 30 miles from the WVa border. I'm originally from SoCal and I just love the east coast's colorful birds! WE also have lots of chickadees, finches, a few woodpeckers with red stripes down the backs of their heads and many other sweet birds that fly through. Oh, and of course, blue jays. In the summer we have gorgeous hummingbirds. The local wildlife is the only thing that makes me hesitate to leave.

I always miss my home in Oregon (I moved to Indiana to take an academic job), but one thing that they have here in Indiana that I adore are cardinals. I have a pair near my house that I often see.

I've never seen more than two or three at a time together. They're very shy, and I don't think they even like to be around others of their own kind, except their mates, very much. Just love Cardinals, they're really cute.

pass by the sliding glass door, I have to tip-toe around inside my own house to avoid spooking them.

I'd thrown a scoopful of sunflower seeds onto the deck and about 5 minutes later, as I peered carefully around the draperies, there were 5 females all sitting on the deck together, four males were sitting on the outskirts of the circle formed by the females, then the rest were on the deck railings. It was like the local cardinal coffee klatch or something, it made me laugh the way they were all just hanging out together.

they're back here too. Ahhhh spring will soon be here!

....were having a really, really big Catholic Mass!

As I sit here in my den getting my papers together for tax time, I am watching a feeder being visited by many Anna's hummingbirds. The males have red heads and they are so pretty.

I love it when our hummingbirds come back in the spring/summer and I can hear them whizzing around outside. We had three very territorial guys around last year, dive-bombing each other as they'd approach the feeder. I went out and purchased two more feeders so each bird would always have a place to hang out w/o having to fight it out with another bird. I am just a fool who will feed any creature that asks...

It's about 50 degrees right now. But the Anna's never go away. There was an article in the local paper about them - they are, apparently, native to here and San Francisco.

When I go out to fill the feeder they dive bomb me. The sound is funny when you hear them buzz by your ear.

I just went outside and one of the females was dead on my deck! WWWWAHHHHHHH! She had no injuries that I could see, wouldn't have flown into any glass nearby. DAMNIT! I'm going to have to bury her tomorrow. Aw damn, that makes me so sad. I have no idea what could have gotten to her!

Maybe just old age? (I hope). And they always seem so inseparable from their mates, too. Sorry to hear that. Give her a nice burial. Nature moves along...

poor sweet little thing. She's so beautiful; the males are of course brilliant but she's got such subtle coloring. There are lots of females around, I hope her widow isn't alone too long.

And I hate to be paranoid but I hope bird flu isn't in our area... I assume it spreads from poultry to other avians? There are lots of chicken farms in our county, though none nearby.