I Like Pigeons Because Nobody Else Does

Friday was delightfully warm. Temperatures in the mid forties allowed me to sit outside for several hours and attempt to get bird photos. Here is a bird with an extraordinarily high cute factor – a Carolina Wren lacking a full set of tail feathers:

Not as sharp a photo as I’d like, but chalk it up to operator error. I can no longer blame a faulty lens. Thryothorus ludovicianus is its scientific name. Thryothorus or  thryon is  Greek for “a reed” and thouros means “rushing”.  Ludovicianus  is Modern Latin for “of Louisiana”, the site where the original specimen was collected.

This cardinal never quite worked up the nerve to leave the safety of the yew bushes while I was sitting so close to the feeders:

But the blue jay did

Here’s a mourning dove:

Most birds collect food to feed their young. Pigeons and doves are the only birds to actually produce it.  They make a substance called “crop milk” that comes from fluid-filled cells sloughed off the surfaces of the crop. Both males and females are able to produce it which is why pigeon and dove offspring grow so quickly. 

White throated sparrow:

male house finch:

And this little smart-ass had the temerity to try and empty the feeders right in front of me:

I don’t mind feeding the squirrels, but when they sit on the feeder and eat seed wholesale, it irks me. I chase them off every chance I get but they’re getting to the point in which they call my bluff and don’t bother going too far. As soon as I turn my back, they’re emptying the feeder again.