Georgia birding – Wandering Dawgs

Feeding the Backyard Birds

February 11, 2022February 11, 2022Posted in Birds, Nature, PhotographyTagged Are you a bird feeder, backyard birds, Carolina Chickadee, Change, Georgia birding, Lens-Artists, Painted Bunting, Photo Challenge, ruby throated hummingbird, Sunday Stills, Tufted Titmouse32 Comments

I enjoy feeding my back yard birds and keep a feeder filled with seeds close to my butterfly garden. It’s fun to see how the birds in the yard change with the seasons. During the warm months I keep three hummingbird feeders filled with nectar and grow flowers that attract them. I enjoy sitting and watching the birds and trying to capture them with my camera.

In Fall and Winter birds like Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse, House Finches, and Northern Cardinals show up frequently. All of these birds can also be seen at various times during the rest of the year. The pair of Northern Cardinals in the header photo were perched in a tree near the bird feeder this week. They like to hang around waiting for seeds to fall to the ground for an easy meal.

I start seeing a change in the birds in the spring when the weather starts warming up. The hummingbird feeders go up and I anxiously await the first Ruby Throated Hummingbird. Spring also brings the Painted Buntings to the yard. Both the hummers and the buntings come around frequently all spring and summer.

This post was inspired by John Steiner’s Lens-Artists challenge Change

and by Terri’s Sunday Stills Challenge Are you a Bird Feeder? Her post reminds us that February is National Bird Feeding Month.

Ospreys in the Neighborhood

October 22, 2021Posted in Birds, Georgia, Nature, SunriseTagged autumn, Coastal Georgia, Georgia birding, Georgia birds, Osprey20 Comments

Ospreys are commonly seen where I live along the Georgia Coast. They have been entertaining us this week by perching on a flagpole and on our weather vane.

One morning I woke up to witness one of our spectacular autumn sunrises. To my delight an osprey was perched on top of the flagpole.

June in the Butterfly Garden

June 27, 2018Posted in Birds, Butterflies, Flowers, Georgia, Nature, PhotographyTagged backyard, Butterfly Garden, garden, Georgia birding, Wandering Wednesday18 Comments

My butterfly garden is full of colorful blooms and the butterflies are starting to take notice.

20180620Butterfly-(11) — Butterfly on Mexican Sunflower

20180605Garden-(3) — Monarch on Milkweed

20180620Butterfly-(16) — Mexican Sunflower

The birds continue to come by daily.

20180604Bunting-in-rocks-(9) — Male Painted Bunting

20180603Garden-(17)-Tufted-Titmouse — Tufted Titmouse

20180613Garden-(3) — Ruby Throated Hummingbird

20180612Cardinal-(7) — The cardinals search for dropped seeds on the ground beneath the bird feeder

Happy Summer!

Linked to Ingrid’s Wandering Wednesday – Flowers

Back Yard Painted Buntings

May 6, 2016Posted in Birds, Georgia, Nature, WildlifeTagged backyard birds, Georgia birding, Painted Bunting16 Comments

We’ve been watching painted buntings come to our feeder in the back yard for the last couple of weeks. For several days every time I set up my camera to capture these beautiful birds I scared them away. They are very skittish and fly off when they sense the slightest movement.

I never gave up trying and my patience finally paid off when I was able to get a few shots of a pair at the feeder.

The male kept on eating after the female flew off.

After she left he came around to my side of the feeder so I could get a good look at him. The food must be better on this side!

Nesting Birds at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge

April 25, 2016February 24, 2018Posted in Birds, Georgia, National Wildlife Refuge, Nature, WildlifeTagged day trip, geocaching, Georgia birding, Great Egret, Harris Neck, roadside attractions, Smallest Church in America, tri colored heron, wood stork, Wood Stork Nesting9 Comments

Wood storks, egrets, and herons build their nests every spring in the trees of Woody Pond at the Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge. Located in Georgia just a few miles from I 95 in between Savannah and Brunswick, it is a great day trip from our home.

Woody Pond at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge

Wood storks were placed on the Endangered Species list in 1984. After almost 30 years of conservation efforts to increase the wood stork population, their status was upgraded to Threatened in June, 2014.

A path along the dike beside Woody Pond provides a great place to view the birds. The wood storks and egrets shared the trees.

Nesting Wood Storks and Great Egrets at Woody Pond

Many of the wood storks were working on their nests. None of their eggs had hatched yet.

As I took photos, Henry used the spotting scope and pointed out a mother egret with chicks that I would have never seen. The nests were a long way from where we were so the picture isn’t the best but it gives you an idea of the size of the baby egret.