Woodpeckers, Chickadees, and Titmice

So, the plural of titmouse is titmice, right?  Yes, we have lots of titmice in our backyard, along with blue jays, cardinals, a couple of types of woodpeckers, doves, house finches, and chickadees.  

Here's one of a dove and a blue jay sharing the feeder at the same time.  Both are keeping an eye on the guy with the camera.  

I like this airborne dove shot.  I didn't realize how colorful they can be. The pose reminds me of religious imagery of a dove coming down to bring peace on earth.  

We get to see these tufted titmice just about every day. You can see how titmice have a yellow edge just under the front of their wings.  This one is sharp enough that you can see the white window frames of our house reflected in its eye. 

Another tufted titmouse. I like that you can see the feathers interweaving on his chest.  

This is a bird I'd seen for years, but never realized it wasn't a species I didn't know about.  Sometimes, when seeing it from the front, I would think it was a robin.  Other times, when seeing it from the back, I would think it was a sparrow.  But the size is too small for a robin, and the color is red, not the orange of a robin, and the red extends to his head also.  It's a house finch.  We're learning so much from having a bird feeder!  

Sometimes, we get a double-feature at the bird-feeder.  A tufted titmouse and a house finch sharing here. The house finch is not sharp, so not a good photo - but I just wanted to show them hanging out together.  

The chickadee is a tiny bird, about two-thirds the size of a sparrow.  

Here's the largest woodpecker we see in our neighborhood.  The red-bellied woodpecker is not very red-bellied.  Even the guidebooks say the name is a little confusing.  There is a little bit of red on his belly, but I would have guessed he'd be called a red-headed woodpecker.  Also, we read the male's head is more covered in red as it ages.  A couple of our friends pointed out how he has a sunflower seed from the feeder in his mouth.  

Finally, a type of woodpecker not much larger than a sparrow.  I'd never heard of these before.  They live near us, but they don't come to the feeders very often.  We've seen a couple of them together a few times.  It's called a downy woodpecker.  

Backyard Hawks, Nuthatches, and More, in the Time of COVID

Like a lot of people during COVID, we've put up bird feeders in our backyard to make staying at home a little more fun.  We were really surprised to see several types of birds we'd never noticed before.  It's been fun, and we're thinking of getting more into it.  So far, I've spent less than an hour total out there with my camera with the big lens and tripod .  

This first one is one of our favorite discoveries, the nuthatch.  We get two of these at a time sometimes.  They're smaller than a sparrow, and have to jockey for position to get any food.  The sparrows try to crowd them out.  They're pretty brave.  Sometimes, they'll come to the feeder even when we're sitting right next to it having lunch out on our patio.  

Just your everyday cardinal.  We get a lot of cardinals, both male and female.  It seems to me that cardinals are not as red all over as they used to be when I was a kid.  Or maybe it's just the ones that come to our feeders.   

A sparrow comes in for a landing.  I can't remember if the cardinal chased him away or not. 

After being around these birds long enough, not only do you start recognizing the sounds some of them make, but you even start to notice how they make different sounds when they're angry or distressed. 

More birds in motion.  I'll have to start trying more airborne shots.  Sparrows often crowd onto the feeder four or five at a time, with others attempting to land right on top of them.  They often get in pecking matches, even when there's enough room for all of them.  Silly birds!  

This is a Carolina Wren.  He landed on one of our patio table chairs.  This one is not quite sharp - I grabbed the camera hand-held for this one.  These birds have only shown up a few times, so I was anxious to get any photo at all of him.  

This hawk landed on the broken branch high up in the tree next door last week, while we were out on the patio eating lunch.  This is really rare.  I'm a huge fan of birds of prey, so I'm always on the lookout for them.  I've seen them every few months, but they rarely land anywhere that I can see them well, or stay there long enough for me to get the camera.  This guy lingered for quite a while, and spread out his tail.  

I wondered whether he may have been attracted to our vicinity by all the little birds feeding on our feeders.  

I think it's a broad-winged hawk, but I wouldn't mind hearing from experts out there who might be more sure.  My whole life, I've mostly seen red-tailed hawks, but this one didn't have any reddish tint at all.  

Another great bird I haven't managed to get a photo of yet is the chickadee.  We've seen them plenty of times at the feeders, but never when I've had the camera ready.  

Snorkeling Belize's Barrier Reef - Photos and Videos

Here are a few photos from our visit to Belize.  We based our snorkeling trips off of Ambergris Caye. which is one of the more populated and developed islands of Belize.  We both agreed five days was too much time there, but we got to see some pretty cool stuff on the days we could arrange snorkeling trips.

We did three snorkeling trips and got to see a dolphin and a manatee while still in the boat also.  The snorkeling trips were to marine preserve areas within an hour's boat ride from San Pedro, which is the main town on Ambergris Caye (pronounced "key").

It sounds dramatic to say we went swimming with sharks, but these nurse sharks are bottom feeders who like to suck up bits of food from the bottom.  There were lots of fleshy pale white tourists in the water, but they never took a bite. The guides like to call out "OK shark bait, who's ready to get in the water."  Or, "These sharks are especially attracted to pink and blue toenails!"

The sharks are attracted to the boats by food they put in, but I never saw the food.  I don't think it was bloody meat chum like you'd expect when fishing.  I kind of chased a couple of them to get closer.  But, the closest I got was by accident when one cruised right behind me, so I didn't even notice it until its tail almost hit me in the face.  Looks like this one is trying to decide if I'd taste good.

Here are a few types of coral and some nice fish.

We were really lucky the water was so clear.  When the wind is strong, as it was the next day, the wave action stirs the sand up into the water and it gets cloudy.  I loved these blue-trimmed ones.  Need to remember the names of these fish!  Some diver friends of mine surely know.

These fish sort of surrounded this big rock on the bottom.  I guess trying to blend in.

Here's an Eagle Ray - one of a few that we saw on the trip.  A bit more rare than the Stingrays.

You probably won't be able to see a thing in this photo if you're looking on your phone.  Shakes fist at people looking at my super-detailed photos on a tiny screen!   But there's a camouflaged sting ray right in front of your face there.  Actually, he's not even all that well hidden.

Only saw a few of this type. Love their pale blue color.

The view when the sharks, rays, and fish gathered around the boat.

I was really impressed with how large sting rays are!  These things are 3-4 feet wide.  It was a little scary.  Didn't want to step on one by accident and get stung!

Here are a few videos, 25-seconds or less each.