Monthly Archives: June 2020

Backyard Birds

American goldfinch

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been trying my hand at bird photography in my back garden. The images featured in this post are the product of these efforts.

I first put up feeders in my garden a couple of years back and, as my knowledge of birds and which foods they prefer has slowly grown since then, I have managed to attract different types of birds by putting out specific foods that they like to eat. 

I recently put out nyjer seed in a purpose-designed finch feeder and, as if by magic, American goldfinches started showing up in my garden within only a couple of days. I have to say goldfinches are ludicrously pretty little birds and it always makes me smile when I glance out the kitchen window and see a flash of bright yellow as one flies in to land on the feeder.

Male northern cardinal

A regular visitor to my garden is the northern cardinal. We have a pair that live in our garden year-round and I never tire of seeing the brilliant orange-red flash of the male as it swoops in to the black oil sunflower seed feeder, placed there specifically to attract him and his partner.

Grey catbird

One bird that is common on the eastern seaboard at this time of year is the grey catbird. It spends the winter in Central America and the Caribbean and migrates back north from May to September. While unspectacular in color – this bird is all-gray with a small black cap and reddish-brown patch under the tail – I still find them pretty due to their slender profile and long, rounded tail. The grey catbird’s call resembles the meow of a cat. Hence the name.

I’ve also been fortunate to have a visit from a yellow-bellied sapsucker, a North American species of woodpecker, which hung on to a tree for several minutes, no more than three feet off the ground, boring holes in the bark to seek sap or insects.

I hope to attract and photograph further species of birds during the approaching summer months and, if successful, will publish photos of them in a future blog post.

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