[Hyack]

We have all been using the "Critter" thread to post all of our animal pictures. My problem is that when I think of a critter, I think of a 4 legged animal. So, for all our two legged feathered friends I decided to start this thread which is strictly....for the birds.

A pair of Mute Swans who are permanent residents of the Fraser river:

[Hyack]

There may be eagles starving on the West Coast, but here's a pair of healthy looking ones putting their nest together just off the Fraser river.

[Hyack]

I finally managed to get some decent pictures of this Brown Creeper, the little bugger just won't stay in one place long enough to get a good shot.

[Hyack]

Yesterday it was a scene from Hitchcock's classic film "The Birds" there were at least a couple hundred crows in a half dozen trees along the river, all of them just going ape shit, the noise of their cawing was totally deafening. Quite often there will be a half dozen or so going crazy when they manage to chase down an owl or eagle and drive them into the trees, but that many of them at one time..... As hard as I looked there was no sign of any other large birds anywhere in the area. I should have used the video camera just to capture the incredible noise!

[Hyack]

A Downy Woodpecker from earlier today down by the river, I just love the expression they all seem to have.

[Unsound]

Awesome! I agree with you about the woodpecker

[DrCaleb]

They are cute little bastards!

[wildrosegirl]

Oh my lord those are cuties!

Great new thread, H!

[Nuggets]

Sweet woodpeckers. What do you do to get those little buggers to sit still long enough for a picture? I couldn't get a picture of them if my life depended on it, not even from a comfortable distance for them.

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[PostFactum]

Thanks, for the photos

[Hyack]

Nuggets Nuggets:

Sweet woodpeckers. What do you do to get those little buggers to sit still long enough for a picture? I couldn't get a picture of them if my life depended on it, not even from a comfortable distance for them.

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They don't hold still, this guy has decided to augment his diet with the peanuts I'm feeding the Chickadees. I lay out the seed, then focus the camera on it, when the pecker shows up I turn on the camera and take a snap-shot at him, the pics you see are the only ones that turn out decently, and even these could be better focused. This guy was actually sitting in a tree 3 feet away looking like he was going to come to hand when I was feeding the little fellers.

[Hyack]

Some more pics of my little buddy and a friend of his from earlier today. The two close in shots were taken at my feet with the 200mm lens, they could be focused better, but as I said, these are just snap-shots.

[Bodah]

[Hyack]

It seems there are now two Downy Woodpeckers who have started to supplement their diet by adding peanuts to it. From the colouring of their heads, I am assuming I've got a male and a female, they are fairly close to each other, within 50 metres, and may actually be paired up, the only problem is that I only run into one of them at a time.

[Strutz]

I came upon this couple today. I almost didn't see the nest at first until I moved over to a better angle. Mama-to-be had been tidying it up then settled down in it while Papa-to-be stood guard. They seem to have picked a good spot to nest. I zoomed in quite a bit for the shot rather than get any closer and upset them at all.

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