Male Cardinal, holding on for dear life!
Male Cardinal, "The blizzard is messing up the doo...!"
"I'll put my face to the wind!! I will not be moved!"
Female Cardinal. "Men are such show-offs!"
Harris's Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco watching the snow coming down.
Pretty Harris's Sparrow
Harris's Sparrow coming in for a closer look.
I took these at dusk of a Dark-eyed Junco. I love the way they turned out. The snow looks tinted in blue.
pictures by cindyzlogic
We took a hike at the nature center last week and upon entering the park spied this hawk sitting on top of the tree. We didn't want to scare it off before getting close enough to snap a picture. Right when I was focusing...he took off...I clicked...and this is what I got. We did not see it again the rest of the afternoon. We're having trouble identifying it. At first, we assumed it was a Red-tailed because they're plentiful around this part of Kansas. Upon closer study, the underpart of the wing made me change my mind. We are thinking Red-shouldered??? Please leave comments if you have a different idea.
Beautiful Fall leaves at the Nature Center.
Nuts and berrys for all the little forest creatures.
American Goldfinches eating thistle seeds. We watched about half a dozen chowing down. Now we know where our Goldfinches went.
A serene little glen that we like to visit.
Not snow but sand...we were right near the river.
It was windy and cool. We saw some sort of shorebirds flying high and fast and a pair of ducks. The shorebirds were white with black wing tips. We looked up and down the river for a few minutes, then our fingers began getting cold. We went back to the shelter of the trees and trail. We started back to our base. It wasn't long before we heard two Great-horned Owls calling back and forth. We crept along as quietly as we could. I was determined to get a shot of this one. There are a lot of mature Cottonwood trees...he took off right above us. He saw us first, but we didn't see him until he launched and flew off... (next time) huge wingspan on those things Lastly, we saw 3 White-tailed Deer...super cool to see as you are walking along.
Red-tailed Hawk 
Red-tailed Hawk in flight. Notice the white underparts and black bar on the leading edge of the wings.
Red-tailed Hawks like to perch on top of electric poles. This affords them a great view of the open fields as they search for food. As you can see, this one is searching intently.
I know these aren't the best pics in the world...but this is as close and as good as I could get with my camera :( I like this one because it shows the red tail feathers. See how he's checking me out?? That's as close as he would let me get.
We just had a great crop of House Sparrows this season. I don't know what we're going to do with all of them. We are still seeing several young male and female Cardinals, which add a lot of color to the backyard. I have not seen the Chickadees for about a week. I'm wondering what that means? Also, the Titmice have been absent before noticing the absence of the Chickadees. The Chickadees and Titmice visited the feeder all last Winter, so I know they don't migrate. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the arrival of the Fall/Winter migrates like White-crowned Sparrows, Juncos, and Harris's Sparrows.
My first capture of an Armadillo this weekend :)) Curious little dudes.
Female Wood Duck
Canada Geese
Another female Wood Duck
In the foreground, I believe, a Greater White-fronted Goose. Canada Geese in the background.
It was almost dusk and the geese were preening quietly.
I finished my painting of the Semipalmated Sandpiper. I did it with watercolor pencils and watercolor paints.
Fledgling Cardinal
Black-capped Chickadee
Juvenile Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Wild Sunflowers along the lane where we walk each evening.
I love this quaint log cabin style nestbox.
This is my first try at painting with watercolor pencils. I did this rendering of one of our pink Lilies that I photographed this Summer. I liked the control of using a pencil, but could brush over it with water to get the painterly effect. The next subject I'm going to try is from a photo I took of a Semipalmated Sandpiper at the wildlife refuge.
Young Cardinals are visiting the feeder now. We still have Chickadees, House Sparrows, and the Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds.
