Birds of all kinds

I'm not much of a 'birder' but I am beginning to understand the fun in it. Taking photographs of birds in their natural environment is harder than it seems. 

Grackles~~ Correction!
These are Starlings!

As annoying as these birds are, I found out that they eat insects and all sorts of bugs. So maybe they aren't as bad as all that. I wish they'd stay out of the shed though.

These were on our dead pine tree this morning.

We have a lot of crows around here and I've started to observe them. This bunch is making a new nest.

One landed on a locust tree near our house and I watched it as it tried to literally yank a branch off the tree.

Not sure if you can see that it is still hanging on to the branch above and is doing this maneuver in an upside down fashion yet still maintaining its balance.

Interesting. Can they tell which twigs are dead? The crow took three tries at it and then flew off.

I thought I'd take a chance and head out to Kickapoo Valley Reserve to see if any birds had come to the ponds since last week. 

I was rewarded by Redwing Black birds singing and the echo of swans, Sandhill Cranes, and geese from down in the ponds. 

It was a muddy trek, but worth it. 

Canada Geese

They sure can make noise! And I got to practice shooting them in flight and panning at the same time. 

11 seconds of angry birds...

I headed around the back way to the second pond. I was hoping to be able to find a good spot to watch the birds.

Midway across the pond there were Geese, Swans, Sandhill Cranes, and some crows walking about on the ice [not in the photo].

This pair of swans were building a nest.

Thanks for that link Aurora!
Their bills were all black when I blew up the photo. I think that means they are Trumpeter Swans.

Below is the swan building her nest. I was watching from the blind and trying to hold that long lens perfectly still was a bit hard.

She picks up sticks and whatnot from around her and drops it on her nest!
How cool is that?

16 seconds of nest building

On my way back to the car I found this guy serenading me on a tree next to old 131 trail.

Redwing Blackbird

This evening while doing chores, I saw a Blue Bird again. I sure hope they build their nest in the cavity by Sven's pen.

And tomorrow? We could get snow and rain. No one is quite sure where it will happen yet.