Is Spring Around The Corner?

The weather has become mellow, in the past one week, with temperature rising above 40 or 50 degree Fahrenheit in the morning. All the snows have melted, and green grasses peeking out from here and there. Squirrels are chasing across each other up and down the trees. I see them do that every spring. I guess that is how they find their mates. Birds are singing out loudly. And, I have started planting in seeds or ordering out plants. That's what happening in the nook of my world.

Here is a red-bellied woodpecker pecking out food that I leave around:



I'm joining in the memes hosted by Rambling Woods, St Germain's , and My Views of NZ.

My Experiment With Telephoto Lens

I rented a 500 mm Sigma telephoto lens. So, here are some pictures. Please click on each photo to see the larger version. The lens is so heavy, weighs as much as I am :-P, and the camera really shakes. Very fast shutter speed is the key if taking pictures without a tripod; however that can make the pictures appear dark. All these are taken without a tripod and the subjects are really far away, more than 200 feet away. My neck, hand and shoulder were aching from trying to hold the camera and steadily. All these pictures are taken of all the birds that appear in our backyard, bird-feeder. This post is linking with Rambling Wood's Nature Post. If anyone not seen her blog, please go and visit it -- her blog is a treat with beautiful pictures and information about nature. I am also linking it with Hootin Annie's I'd rather be birding .

The female and male cardinals. The male and female can be distinguished from the color of their feathers -- the males look gorgeous with beautiful orangish red feathers. The females do not have that color but grayish yellow with some reddish streak. The song of the male bird, at least to my ears, is absolutely beautiful. They sit perched on tree tops and sing, signalling the coming of spring.
Some kind of finch or sparrow in the first picture. Sparrows in the second and third picture. It seems that there are lots of different kinds of sparrows in the US. I do not know which kind these are.
The above three pictures are not taken with the telephoto lens. Thus, they are not that clear. All the various kinds of birds -- juncos, chickadees, sparrows, finch, titmouse, nuthatch, bluejays, cardinals, sterling and woodpeckers -- that come to our feeder throughout the day. In the second and third picture, one sees the Red-Bellied Woodpecker.

Nuthatch in the first and second picture. I think these birds spend upside-down throughout their lives. Whenever I have observed them in nature, they are always upside down. Tufted titmouse in the third picture in the first row. Chickadees in the first and second picture in the second row. Junco in the the last picture -- these are migratory birds. They are seen in NJ only during winter. They will go away with the coming of spring. Apparently they come from farther north in the US and Canada.

Spring Equinox of 2013 and Birds in My Bird-Feeder -- Part 1

Today is Spring Equinox for those of us in the northern hemisphere, the day from when the sun will continue to follow higher and higher path through the sky until it reaches the highest point in the sky on the summer solstice; the days will get longer, heralding the arrival of new growth, warmer days, frenzy activities in gardens and farms, and birth of newer generations in animal worlds.

Okay, that's supposedly should be happening theoretically, but not yet happening, in reality, here in the North-East USA. It's frigid cold with frozen solid grounds and forecast of more snow coming in. The only sign of spring is the loud cacophony created by birds, and the presence of American Robin and mourning dove hopping along the lawns and backyards. There are also more eating-activities in the bird-feeders. So, I take this opportunity to present some birds in our backyard. More will be presented later on.

I am not very good in recognizing birds. So, others please help. I think these are downy woodpecker, mourning dove and sparrow. There are so many sparrows. Which one is this? A nuthatch; a chickadee; a junco. Juncos are still here; thus, winter is not yet away. These birds migrate here in NJ during winter and leave with the arrival of Spring. Sorry about the poor image quality. I have to take them with the windows down, otherwise the birds were going to fly away. These bird feeders are very close to the window. Any slight noise or movement near the window, and away they will go. A red-headed woodpecker. Who Is This? I don't know the second bird. Is this a sterling? The third bird, one of my favorite, is the red-bellied woodpecker

Now, I have a question. Perhaps Jason of Gardencity can answer as he reads many books on birds. I feed all these birds the typical bird mix (peanuts, sunflower, corn and berries) and suet.

Are these foods with lots of corn good for birds? Most of the corn in the world are not GMO-types. We are constantly reading about how GMO-types affect mammals, especially in reproduction. Do any of you know about any studies that are being done to see the effect of all these food on bird-population? If they are bad, what do I feed the birds?