Big birds

I've noticed some bigger birds in the trees across the driveway from the house recently. This first one was a crow, I guess, but it sat there for an unusually long time. (I cropped all the photos way down for a better look.)

Occasionally it would open its beak and call (or at least I assumed that's what it was doing, since I was in the house with the windows closed and heard no sound). Or maybe it was sickly, I don't know.

Suddenly there was a bluejay above it, checking it out.

A few days later I saw an even bigger bird over there.

It turned its head around and I could tell it was a hawk.

I believe it's a red-tailed hawk. It soon flew off.

I put my birdbath out a few days ago. So far I've only seen a blackbird, a sparrow... and Rainbow (the cat) using it. Thankfully, no turkeys... yet... although they've been around plenty.

Their feathers are rather pretty when the sun shines on them. But I'd rather not see them at all. I think every single one survived the winter. Boo.

So elusive

We have bluejays that come to our back yard probably every day. They sure are hard to get photos of, though. They like to stay in the shadows and amongst the branches, plus they seldom sit still long enough to even focus the camera.

They seem to have a sort of routine... they start on the ground at the west end of the evergreen trees, and from there they hop and fly from tree to tree, heading east, till they're past the house. I saw them coming a few days ago, so I quickly got the camera ready, took the screen off the window and waited. I got a few shots, but certainly nothing like I'd hoped for. Here ya go.....

A patch of blue

Does anybody remember that movie, starring Sidney Poitier? It came out in 1965. I remember seeing it in the theater, and I liked it, if I remember right. That's beside the point, but I thought of it as I saw a LOT of patches of blue in our backyard yesterday. Bluejays! Usually I only see a couple of them at a time, but yesterday there were lots of them, and they weren't even camera shy. They didn't care if I was shooting them from the window or not.

Unfortunately, when I first saw them and went for the camera, it wasn't in its usual spot. Then I remembered I'd forgotten to take it out of the car on Friday. I went out and got it, but when I took it out of its case, it was cold, although thankfully it hadn't been below freezing out there. It indicated the batteries needed changing, so I quickly did that. BUT, the lens kept fogging up as I was trying to take pictures! Grrr! So the first ones ended up a little blurry, especially these first two where the bird had gotten right up close to the house for a couple of great shots. Shoot! (Pun intended.)

It didn't help that it was shady there, either. But he was soooo close!

Eventually I got the lens to stay clear, but by then the birds were back by the trees again, so the rest of these are zoomed shots. But still such a pretty blue! Enjoy!

I like this next one, even though it's blurry due to movement. Notice he has something in his beak!

And this one is just showing off ALL his blue!

Cocky little birds, aren't they? (Pun intended again.) ;)

REALLY hard water!

We went from 70° on Wednesday to 10° overnight on Thursday night. Yikes! That's a bit drastic, if you ask me. But, it's Minnesota... what do we expect? Land of infinite variety... and variety's the spice of life, right? (Some spices I could do without, actually!) 

The birdbath, of course, froze solid. You can't really see it on this photo, but there are lots of little chips in the ice. 

Here's why:

Not the greatest clip, but I didn't dare get any closer, lest I scare them away. (At least the windows are now clean!) After shooting that, I did try to sneak closer, but they saw me and were immediately gone.

But the poor things! After they left, I went out and put some hot water on top of the ice, but I don't know if they ever came back and got a drink before that froze, too.

Ooohh, look!

This is a first for my birdbath... or at least that I've seen, anyway! I see bluejays often in the evergreen trees behind our house, but they're always so elusive that I can never get a good photo of them. They hop around so much, in and out of the trees, and if I get near the window with the camera, they're gone. So I was VERY surprised to see them at the birdbath on Saturday. I stealthily moved to grab the camera, and then I shot these pics from the middle of the kitchen, which is probably about 25 feet away. Not too bad for a too-low light situation and through dirty windows, huh? I'm considering myself extremely lucky. :)

They even bathed in that icy-cold water! I'm not sure it was even completely thawed out yet.

They aren't exactly the nicest of birds, but aren't they pretty?

They sure made the water fly!

I hope they come back.

Before the blizzard...

... I took these pics. See him?

Look closer:

I wonder what he had in his mouth.

He wasn't very cooperative about getting his picture taken. He moved around a lot. Here's another shot, though:

And a closer look:

(Click any photo to enlarge.)

I haven't seen him (or any other birds, except pigeons and crows, come to think of it) since the blizzard. Can't say as I blame them for not hangin' around.

Bluejays

These pics are from before it snowed, but the bluejays are still around. They don't stay in one spot very long so are hard to photograph, but I got lucky that day.
Here he is at the very top of the evergreen tree. (Photos taken through my kitchen window.)