Big bird & little bird

I happened to glance out the window one evening and saw a huge bird flying up into a tree across our driveway. Can you see it... center of photo about 2/3 of the way up?

That was just so you know how high it was. Let's zoom in...

Yep, a turkey... waaaay up there!

It appeared to be settling in for a night of roosting.

By the time the sun was going down, it had gotten all comfy.

Crazy bird. But only ONE - yay!!!

Here's a little bird visiting my birdbath.

It's an eastern bluebird. If I'm lucky, I get about a single glimpse of one a year. I did see the front of it, but in the few seconds that it took me to grab and aim the camera, it had turned around, and this was the only shot I got before it flew off. I haven't see it since and probably won't again this year. I think they only pass through here.

On the other hand, my blue grosbeak has been back, for the third year in a row! It must nest around here every year now, as I saw it several times last summer. I didn't get a new photo from this latest sighting, but maybe I can get one later. He's such a pretty bird, and I love every glimpse I get of him. His mate, not so much... she's pretty blah-looking. ;)

Birds!

I'd just mentioned in a comment yesterday that there hadn't been many birds around here lately, and all of a sudden I was seeing them all over!

I hadn't seen any robins for a long time, but this one was part of a small flock that appeared for a while yesterday morning. I hope they made good progress going south, because there's a possibility of more of that 'white stuff' in our near future. Aargh.

The bluebirds were still here all day yesterday! I managed to get a shot of the female this time. She's not nearly as bright and pretty as her mate, but still quite lovely. I saw both of them drinking out of the birdbath, and then believe it or not, they each took a bath... brrrr! The female jumped all the way in and did the whole splashy bath thing. The male perched on the rim and only dipped his head in and shook it as he fluttered his wings around... what a wimpy bath (not that I blame him)! ;-)

Below is a junco. They're plentiful this time of year. I guess he was camera shy, because he turned his back on me. But this was the only decently focused photo I managed to get through the dirty window under the deck.

Someone (Dale?) correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this next bird is a song sparrow, possibly an immature one. He wasn't very cooperative, either, and flew away before I could get a good picture.

Update: I knew Dale would know! Turns out it's a Harris's sparrow. See the comments for more info. Thanks, Dale!

And last but certainly not least, look at this nice red tailed hawk I happened to see land across the driveway as I still had the camera in my hand!

So, we do have birds, and Willow was well-entertained yesterday.

Look what brightened my day!

It's been raining ALL DAY again. I've hated to even look out the window. But I'm sure glad I did a few minutes ago! See what I saw!

A bluebird!

An eastern bluebird, to be exact.

(Click any photo to enlarge.)

I've only seen one here a couple different times in the spring... for maybe 10 seconds each. So I was shocked to see one on our deck railing, much less have it sit there long enough to take pics of it! This is a male. There was a female, too, only when I moved to get a pic of her, they both flew away.

They must've been hanging around the house for a while, and chirping, because Willow was intently looking out the deck windows for a long time... waiting. I couldn't figure out what she'd seen. But now I know. And they made my day!

Update, Thursday morning: They're still here! I saw them drinking out of the birdbath.