Fall is here, and the Mountain Ash in our front yard has become its usual attraction for Robins and Cedar Waxwings. Though this year, there seem to be much fewer of the latter. Then again, we've been outside less with all the rain we've had.
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| American Robin in Mountain Ash |
There were only about five Waxwings in our front yard, and they are much more skittish than the robins. This was the only one that looked like an adult. The others still had mottled looking juvenile feathers.
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Cedar Waxwing in the neighbour's
Cedar tree. |
But I was headed to the nursery for the morning to get some shrubs, replacing the ones from our recent garden renovation that didn't make it during the "drought" this summer. As I headed over to the nursery, I saw a number of Red-tailed hawks. This one was perched in a small tree on the opposite side of the road. Birds are designed with so many features to allow them to achieve flight. The large size of a hawk like this is deceiving in relation to weight, and seeing them on a small branch at the top of a tree would seem that it would end up breaking its perch.
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| Red-tailed Hawk |
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| Red-tailed Hawk |
It flew to a Spruce tree nearby and displayed the red tail it is named for.
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| Red tail of a Red-tailed Hawk. |
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| Red-tailed Hawk |
At the nursery, I discovered a few birds enjoying the dense groupings of plant stock as cover to search for food. A few Yellow-rumped Warblers were there, and after my
first introduction to them in waning light, I was glad to be able to run back to the car and grab my camera and get some pictures at ISO 400 instead of 3200! This one perched nicely on top of the greenhouse hoops. Once down in the plants, it was impossible to get a picture with a more natural looking setting. The foliage was too dense and they were too quick.
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| Yellow-rumped Warbler. |
When they fly, you can see why they are called what they are... the bright flash of yellow is more obvious from the rear as their wings move to take flight.
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| Yellow-rumped Warbler. |
Not a bad day... got an errand done and saw a few birds along the way.
Those are the best days :). Nice picture of the Red-tailed's red tail....I normally only see them from the front.
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