Starling and sparrow

We put out some bread for the birds, and it wasn't long before they began to arrive. The larger bird is a starling. They're quite common here, roost in trees in flocks of hundreds at a time, and make quite a distinctive chatter.

The smaller bird is a sparrow. He moved just as I took the photo. Older digital camera has a long delay between press and capture. Sparrows are so ubiquitous that I almost never think to take their photo. They're here year round and take advantage of just about any food they can find. If you put out a slice of bread, a sparrow will be along within the hour to eat it.

Yes, the snow is really almost to the top of the 4 foot picket fence, but that's where I shovel it when I'm clearing the sidewalk.

Roosting turkeys

Not the clearest of photos. Hand held at dusk. The old CoolPix 950 has decent low light performance, hurrah!

Outside temperature about 3F (-16C) when I took this. A bit of wind. The colour and shake captures what I felt when I was standing there. I can't imagine what these birds feel like.

These birds are Meleagris gallopavo, the North American Wild Turkey. They are quite large - about 3 feet from beak to tail (90cm) and weigh in at 9 pounds (4kg). Seeing them fly up into these trees, maneuvering among all those branches is quite a sight. Their wingspan is about 4 feet (1.2m) - I can't believe they do it, but they obviously feel the work of getting up there is worth it. Local predators would be foxes and dogs.

Sparrows in the rain

Sparrows are always flitting in and out of the bush behind the fence. I got lucky to get a quick snap of these sitting on the fence itself.

Early morning forager

The leaves are all off this maple tree, but the seeds aren't, and the squirrels are out in force. It's pretty amazing how well they hang onto the branches and eat at the same time. It's sort of crazy to stand under them and have the discarded maple wings fall down all round you.

Turkeys at work

A small flock of wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) have been visiting us for about a week now and I finally had the camera at work. It's not the best picture; taken through the window in the rainy afternoon but I thought it interesting. They come to eat the fruits on the ornamental trees - I think they're some variety of tiny apple. I tried to get a shot of the turkeys up in the trees but I couldn't hold the camera still enough. I work in a very urban area, but as you can see, it doesn't take much cover to attract wildlife.

Snapping turtle

At Five Rivers in Delmar, but these guys are found in almost every lake, pond and slow moving river around here. Their scientific name is Chelydra serpentina and they are as common today as they were in my youth, which is a good thing because these guys are Mother Nature's cleanup machines.

This fellow was enjoying the warm water at the top of the pond on a coolish day.