Blue Gray Gnat Catcher

I was looking through some photos that I had taken last summer and came across a bird that I did not have in my bird photo album.

When I took the picture I thought that it was a wren of some kind and did not give it much thought. When I got home I dumped it into my computer and there it stayed.

The other day I came across this little bird and realized it was something new. So here it is, a Blue Gray Gnat Catcher. This little bird was photographed not far from the Mississippi River in Western Wisconsin.

Cooper's Hawk or Sharp-shinned Hawk?

Every once in awhile all of the birds in our back yard will freeze perfectly still and remain motionless, for what seems to me, to be no apparent reason. Then we will see a big bird fly off not knowing for sure what it was. The other day a hairy woodpecker was motionless on a suet log and in a tree very close to our house I saw this bird looking side to side and all around for...lunch? He flew away moments after I took his picture with an empty stomach.

The Cooper's Hawk and the Sharp shinned Hawk are very similar and are notorious for hunting in back yards for feeder birds. Sort of like the bully in the neighborhood; except this guy really could end your life. I am pretty sure this is a Sharp-shinned Hawk but is very close in  appearance to the Cooper's Hawk.

Check out the Cooper's Hawk:
Cooper's Hawk

Sharp-shinned Hawk:
Sharp-shinned

Hummingbird

This little thing was perched on a feeder hanger on our deck; it was being very protective of his feeder bottle. There is no way that this tiny bird could drink two cups of sugar water but he was not going to share any of it with any other hummers.

Whenever another hummer would swoop down to eat they were chased off by this tiny bully. When this guy would fly off to chase another bird away, someone else would quick fly in and get some food; now he had someone else to chase after as he returned to his perch. No wonder he looks so crabby.

Who knew being stingy and greedy was so much work and so exhausting

One Of My Favorite Birds...the Chickadee

The Black Capped Chickadee is one of my favorite little birds and I will tell you why. This little guy/gal is the same all of the time, all year long they sing, fly happy, and appear to be pretty dog-gone cheerful all of the time. When the weather is cold and freezing it flies in little swoops from it's tree in the back yard and grabs a sunflower seed from the feeder and goes off into the tree knocks the hull from around the seed and comes back for more.

I guess the thing that strikes me most is that this bird has a powerful life lesson for all of us; consistency and faithfully doing what you know is right will get us through very difficult times in our lives. Facing each day with a cheerful attitude will make things more enjoyable for the ones around us. Please understand others are watching you.