Cooper or Sharpie?

I'm half way through my hard drive.... 45GB done
with 54 to go! More pictures from the archives.

February of 07 -12:15 pm

Cooper's Hawk and Sharp -shinned are sometimes hard
to distinguish when trying to identify. I have both who
come to the yard in search of a meal from my feeder.

This one gave me the thrill of my life as I was returning
from a trip to the store, there he was on my shepherd's hook
on the side deck scoping out birds for lunch.
I actually backed out of the driveway, went around back,
ran up into the house, got the camera and returned out front
to shoot about a hundred pictures. He stayed a long time.

The Cooper's is a medium sized accipiter, longer tail than Sharpie,
it's chest has dark streaks and it's legs are thicker than it's counter-
part.

March of 08 - 9:30 am

When you factor in male, female, adult and juvenile to the mix
it becomes even more difficult to tell these birds apart.

August 06- 8:25 am

On this morning I looked out and there he was on the deck railing.

A Juvenile Coopers can be mistaken for a Sharpie

February 07 - 8:50 am

The Sharp-shinned Hawk is smaller, our smallest
accipiter, with a smaller head and shorter tail and it's
chest has coarse brown streaks.

April 07 - 10:22 am

Lighting can also make the biggest difference in how
these hawks look... This Sharpie was not much bigger
than a blue-jay and very fast when he flew.
It can go right into a bush and come up with a
bird in it's talons.

September 07 - 7:55 pm

August 06 6:38 am

Very alert and ever watching while perching
among the left over walnuts.

Almost all of these sightings were in the morning.
It pays to get up early and LOOK out the window!

To God be the Glory ~~ Great Things He Hath Done

More from the Archives...

Emily Dickins said:
Hope is a thing with feathers, That perches in the soul.

In July of 2006 my Grand daughter Alison was just turning
five. She got a trampoline for her birthday.
While in the yard that day she came running to tell me
a bird had fallen from a tree. The nest was too high to
put it back.

It looked like a blue jay to me and no mama bird
was anywhere in sight.

As soon as we got near it lifted it's head up to be fed

We placed it into the forsythia bush and hoped the mama
would return and find it.

Alison 'petted' it until it closed it eyes and fell asleep

We left it there and and when we returned later
it was gone. I told Alison the mama had come and got it.
I do not know what happened to it.

Saving Pictures

This is my office with the computer, printers, cameras
chargers, etc. etc.... My empty desk chair has been occupied
for hours and hours since last week

Occupied by ME... trying to solve a BIG problem

You know how they say you should back up your photos...

get an external hard drive and send them there...
Well, I did that a couple of years ago and felt quite confident
until last week when I started to get an error named
'delayed write failed' I no longer could send the photos
there, nor could I retrieve the ones that were on it.
AND.... I had 99 GB which is 54,000 photos archived.
Yikes!!!!!! I read and read and enlisted my son who has
a degree in computer science... It hasn't been easy.
Anyway... this is me in the computer room most
nights transferring my photos to my laptop one folder
at a time... and then I will transfer them to a new
hard drive. The only good thing about it is I am seeing
photos I had forgotten about and I'm sure I never
blogged cause they are from 06 - 07.....So.
that being said here is a find. My Red bellied feeding
a baby. I did not remember having this gem.
enjoy.

I'm sure I will find some more as I go along. I figure at
the rate I'm progressing I should only have 4 or 5 more
days of this! One thing for sure I am not out there
taking pictures.

To God be the Glory ~~ Great Things He Hath Done

My favorite bird

The Red-bellied woodpecker has been a star on my blog
in the past. He comes to my feeders for suet, for grapes
for sunflower seeds, but he also scours my dead stumps
at the edge of the yard for bugs.

I caught him on Sunday looking intently for some brunch

He's an interesting bird to watch as he checks out
all the nooks and crannies

Then, looks towards me as to say 'what?'

There's no mistaking that black and white pattern
on his back...

Or the bright red that clothes his head

Yes quite a handsome bugger he is...

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To God Be The Glory ~~ Great Things He Hath Done