Cheeseburger

It's been awhile for a post, because it's been awhile since a bird. Since that adult goshawk on Saturday we haven't caught any hawks. There have been a few owls, but we had our first two days of zero hawks and owls the last two days. Not only that, but the only birds we're seeing are the one or two adult bald eagles around.

Winds are bad, and it is November, so at this point we are all just kind of counting down the days, which is fine with me, as I am leaving in 8 (+/- a day). There is hope for more red tails or rough legs, and the occasional gos, but I think I'll be lucky to see another hawk before I leave. With only 7 red tails this year we have caught, by far, the fewest in the 39 years here. Fud has no idea why, but it might mean interesting things for next year.

In order to get some new pictures I set up a little potter trap on our bird feeder.


The first two chickadees I caught were banded. (Also, "Cheeseburger" is supposedly what it sounds like chickadees are saying in one of their calls...according to Larry.)



We also have a lot of red breasted nuthatches poking around and I was able to get one of each sex.

Here's a female, which has a gray-blue cap, as opposed to the male's black cap.


Male


Nuthatch tail