This is a juvenile Harris’s Hawk who stopped by last week. The spotted chest and leggings are why I know it’s a juvie. Adults are solid brown in those places.
On the smaller side of birds are these two House Sparrows.
A Mourning Dove enjoyed the bird bath too and got fluffed up.
A quail couple feasted on the birdseed block.
A Roadrunner took over a bench in the backyard.
Another look at the Harris’s Hawk.
Which birds are your favorites out of this batch of photos?
A male House Sparrow on our cactus statue.
Latin Name: Passer domesticus
House Sparrows are one of the most common birds we have. Their success in the wild is a result of their close relationship to humans. They are found in backyards, cities and throughout North America and most parts of the world. The House Sparrow was introduced in Brooklyn, New York in 1851. By 1900 they spread to the Rocky Mountains. They originated in Eurasia and North Africa.
Here’s a map of their range in North and South America:
This is a female House Sparrow on the birdseed block.
They are a small bird that has an average length of 16 cm and a mass of 24–39.5 g. Females and young sparrows are pale brown and grey, while males have brighter black, white, and brown markings.
They eat mostly seeds but will also eat insects as well as left over fast food from people or bread crumbs.
A House Sparrow visiting our birdbath.
They nest in manmade objects like eaves of houses, light boxes and planters. They also take over other birds nests in trees. A typical clutch size is three to four eggs and they may have several broods per year.
Three male sparrows splashing in the bird bath. House Sparrows are my most frequent visitors to the bird bath.
Calls: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/House_Sparrow/sounds
Red seems to be around every day. But the only time he sits still for a photo is when he’s at the Bird Buddy feeder! Otherwise, when I try to get his portrait, he flies away so quickly that I’m left with an empty photo.
This House Sparrow knows how to strike a pose!
Papa Quail keeps watch on his brood. It’s almost baby quail season!
A squirrel likes it when I put out a block of birdseed. They aren’t able to access the bird feeders.
Have you noticed the moon this week? I took photos of it over several days. March 3 was the day it was full.
This was taken on March 1.
A friend of mine texted me from Dubai yesterday. She and her husband were traveling for a safari in Nairobi and had a brief layover there. Which turned into four days! I told her to please let me know what they return safely to the United States! We had dinner with another couple over the weekend who were traveling to Israel this week. They have changed their itinerary and are going to Turkey instead. I think I’d rethink that trip, too.
Which photos do you like best?
Would you be comfortable traveling this week to the Middle East?
A House Finch at the bird bath.
I saw Red and Mrs. over the weekend. Plus, an intruder, another male Cardinal. There was a chase between the two bright red birds and it didn’t look friendly. Mrs. was on the fence sitting between her Mourning Dove friends watching the show. The Cardinals dashed around and flew out of the yard. Mrs. flew away, too and I haven’t seen a Cardinal since.
I haven’t been taking many photos, because I only have “ordinary birds” in my yard. But yesterday I sat outside and watched them and decided they are all beautiful in their own way. That reminds me of a song that I posted below.
A Sparrow in the Fire Stick plant.
Mrs. Gambel Quail with her spouse.
A Mourning Dove sat on a branch floating in the air.
A Gila Woodpecker took over the Bird Buddy AI feeder. The blur on the left hand side is saguaro cactus spines.
Mourning Doves on the fence.
Quail playing King of the Mountain, or king of the rock!
I hope you enjoy my backyard “Ordinary Birds.”
Here’s the Grammy Award-winning song by Ray Stevens from 1970. I don’t think this song would be produced today with the opening of children singing “Jesus Loves the Little Children.”
I have one more week of recovery and then my post op appointment. I’m not in pain, but am unusually tired! I guess that is to be expected.
What’s on your calendar this week?
Do you have any favorites of the ordinary birds?
What birds do you view as ordinary where you live?
This chipmunk was part of last week’s photo assignment. The photo is an example of Point of View. It turns out my sunken pool bar is good for more than bird photography. I like the perspective of being eye to eye with the critters.
For the assignment, I had to pick three out of severn composition techniques or aesthetics. My three were Point of View, Depth of Field and this one is called Centering. It’s a Century Plant stalk. The professor said centering is one of the most dissed aesthetics, but can be effective.
The House Sparrow photo shows off Depth of Field. I like how the background is out of focus and looks like an impressionistic painting. I had rarely noticed the yellow planter barrel before, but it’s finding it’s place in my photos.
Mr. Curve Billed Thrasher was another example of Depth of Field. I like how he pops out of the photo from the blurry background. He also shows an extreme dislike of my taking his picture.
Photos I took for fun:
Red gets his time in the limelight. But he’s been pretty flighty, even though he yells at me to fill the feeder every morning and afternoon, he doesn’t stick around for a lengthy photo session. The photo below has wispy aloe blossoms in the foreground that look ghosts or accidental lights. The focus was on Red.
However, there are other birds in the yard to photograph:
Gilded Flicker.
House sparrow.
Mrs. Red on the yellow barrel.
This quail reminds me of myself, facing a steep walkway.
My newest objective is to catch birds in flight. With a fast enough shutter speed you can stop their action. But I wasn’t very good at getting the whole Mourning Dove in the picture.
Which photos do you like and what’s your favorite of my three composition techniques?
A return of a cardinal in our back yard.
Good news! The solar panel roof of my AI bird feeder with a camera arrived. I ordered it in January after a covey of quail leaped onto the bird feeder and it fell off the fence into the wash behind our house.
The tiny metal piece that plugged into the camera from the cord to the solar panel broke. It seemed like it would be an easy fix, but the Bird Buddy folks said my only option was to order a new solar panel roof and they’d give me a discount. I waited until June for it to arrive! In the meantime, I charged the camera every few days in the house.
I’ve been disappointed with my birds because two species are bullies and take over. White winged doves and mourning doves. They literally sit at the feeder and eat until it’s empty. So all my photos and videos for the past few weeks have been of big gray birds. I would get the occasional house sparrow which was a welcome treat.
Sunday morning I was shocked and thrilled to see a Cardinal! YAY! Here’s a video:
I’m also enjoying a few families of quail, even though our nest of eggs never hatched.
Here’s a video of quail mom, dad and babies visiting our yard:
Here’s a House Sparrow getting a turn at our Bird Buddy
What do you have planned this week to enjoy the world around you?
A young cardinal stopped by again.
I have seen several articles the past few days about how listening to bird songs or watching birds is good for mental health. There’s been a number of studies from the US to Finland that back this up.
Maybe that’s why I’ve been in a good mood lately? It certainly doesn’t hurt to enjoy my Bird Buddy feeder with a camera or sit in the backyard and listen to birds.
My phone alerted me to a story about studies connecting better mental health to birds in the Washington Post. It’s behind a paywall so I didn’t read it. But I did read one by Desert News called “Being around birds can boost mental health, studies say” by Britney Heimuli.
Here’s an excerpt:
Two studies, published last year in Scientific Reports, named something that may improve mental well-being and reduce feelings of depression, anxiety and paranoia: being around birds.
The Washington Post said, “In one study, researchers asked about 1,300 participants to collect information about their environment and well-being three times a day using a smartphone app called Urban Mind.”
The Post said the data collected, which included other variants like sleep and air quality, showed seeing or hearing birds had a positive association with improved mental well-being in participants.
“Everyday encounters with birdlife were associated with time-lasting improvements in mental well-being. These improvements were evident not only in healthy people but also in those with a diagnosis of depression,” according to that report.
Another study the Post reported showed that, out of 295 online participants who were asked to self-assess their emotional state, those who were randomly assigned to listen to different kinds of bird songs reported reduced depressive symptoms and a decrease in feelings like anxiety and paranoia.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/being-around-birds-can-boost-mental-health-studies-say/ar-AA1bxaCw
A house sparrow.
Not the most attractive bird but a frequent visitor — a curve-bill thrasher. I wonder how he got his name? /s
It does make sense that connecting with birds helps our mental health. I think being outside in nature does that with or without birds.
In an article from Time Magazine called “Birdwatching Has Big Mental-Health Benefits” by Angela Haupt said:
Researchers have long sought to understand the perks of observing birds. A study published in October in Scientific Reports found that seeing or hearing birds improved people’s mental wellbeing for up to eight hours. Nearly 1,300 people used a smartphone app to log their mood several times a day, noting whether they could see or hear birds. People with depression, as well as those without a mental-health condition, experienced significant improvements in wellbeing when they had these encounters. The benefits weren’t explained by other environmental factors, like seeing trees, plants, or water, all of which the study controlled for.
https://time.com/6231886/birdwatching-mental-health/
My question is why? Why do birds help our mental health? Is it being outside? Is it some connection we have to birds? What are your thoughts?
