These chickadees clearly were upset when I got close to the bluebird house that the chickadees used last spring.
I took the photos of the chickadee and blue jays in flight by accident - the benefits of an extremely fast camera.
Of course, everyday you'll find a turkey vulture overhead.
The suet feeder installed a few weeks ago on a tree on the other end of the Habitat is not really drawing many visitors - the downy woodpeckers come and occasionally a red-bellied woodpecker. Of course, I am really looking for a pileated woodpecker to come.
Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised when one of the blue jays found the new feeder. Regardless of how often the blue jay is seen, he remains a really beauty.
Here are a few more photos from yesterday’s Colvin Run Habitat participation in the 2007 Great Backyard Bird Count. We start with the Habitat’s signature northern cardinal. 
You have to love the blue jay’s colors in the still snow-covered ground. The same maple trees that attracted the yellow-bellied sapsucker yesterday also encouraged this Carolina chickadee to grab a hold of the maple tree trunk. Is there sap running? Could be. Anyway, I have never before observed the chickadee on the trunk like a woodpecker.
And we close with this crow doing what he does best – making lots of noise.
I have previously written about the window feeder which gives a very close look at the birds. Initially, this window feeder was the sole domain of the smaller birds (chickadees and titmice). When the cardinals started using this feeder, we were well on the way to the larger birds.
Today, the Blue Jay arrived. The feeder is barely large enough to accommodate him.
Thought you might enjoy these blue jay photos. I especially like the first one where he is looking right at the camera.
I remain simply amazed from yesterday’s observation of 19 types of birds in two hours. Previously, I showed the red-tailed hawks and the flock of starlings. Here are four other types from this past Sunday. First, we have the turkey vulture flying just about at tree top – note the bare-skinned red head (click on the photo to see an enlarged view).
Second, we have the mockingbird perched in a holly tree (with the red berries, it's beginning to look a bit like Christmas).
Then for color and in the same holly tree, we have a blue jay.
And last with subtle coloring, we have a house finch in the dogwood tree (you can see that next spring’s dogwood buds are already well formed).
Overcast, rainy, winds gusts to 25 knots, daylight high temperature of barely more than 50 degrees. In short, a raw November day. And yet, there was more action in the Colvin Run Habitat today than on any warm, sunny day.
Things started by surprise. I walked out onto the back porch, only to observe not one, but two Red-trailed Hawks hunting. One of the hawks was momentarily on the ground; that quick he was airborne with something in its talons – from the victim’s size and tail hanging down, I am guessing a chipmunk. The second hawk stayed airborne and rose from about 10 feet to about 30 feet off of the ground. As the second hawk got above the trees, I took the first photograph. As you can see, I only captured its silhouette due to the extremely poor photograph weather.
Both hawks were quickly out of sight; I figured that they were gone for the day. But, within the hour they were both back, circling above the Habitat, which is when I got this second photograph. Later, one by one, they returned several times. They were very active just above the tree tops, and also flying through the Habitat below the tree level.
The Habitat sees many different types of birds during the year. However, in the two hour period that begun with the arrival of the red-tailed hawks, 19 different types of birds were observed (listed here from largest to smallest):
1. Red-tailed hawk
2. Turkey vulture
3. Crow
4. Blue jay
5. Red-bellied woodpecker
6. Mockingbird
7. Starling
8. Cardinal
9. Robin
10. Downy woodpecker
11. Nuthatch
12. Titmice
13. Dark-eyed junco
14. House finch
15. Savannah sparrow
16. White-throated sparrow
17. Wren
18. Goldfinch
19. Chickadee
This is an amazing collection. At times I needed to write down what I was seeing before I forgot. I photographed a number of these birds – I’ll share the photos later.
There were clearly some flocks of different types of birds that came through the Habitat during this two-hour period. In the third photo, you can see a flock of starlings. At the same time that the starlings were observed, robins and mockingbirds were also observed – both are unusual in the Habitat at this time of year.
As normal, the ground was full of chipmunks and squirrels. And not to be left out, and as shown in the last photo, the fox showed up late in the afternoon and took his normal observation seat in the brush. He watched the squirrels a bit, looked around a lot, but within 30 minutes he decided to leave; I can only assume he was looking for a place out of the rain.
What a truly amazing day!
After his bath, the blue jay immediately did what the jays do best in the habitat - he made noise. In this photo, you can see the jay screaming.
After splashing and drying off, the jay visited the feeder for a bit of suet and then took a favorite place in the dogwood for more squealing.
Splashing water caught my ear this morning. With the help of my camera, I caught this blue jay taking a bath in one of the flower pots.
I do not plant in several of the pots so that the birds, squirrels, and chipmunks have a different place to get a drink (or take bath) after it rains. With the 1/2" of rain in the last two days, this blue jay found the water in this pot inviting and enjoyable.
With West Nile Virus in Virginia, I only leave the water stand in these pots (and the other water sources in the habitat) for 24 hours.
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