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Sep272018

Bet the House

What’s the old adage, “rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated”.  Yes, I’m still breathing, but to be honest, I am wearing down fast.  I’ve commented a lot about my busy schedule as of late and we are now in the pinnacle of stress and deliverables.  I am in the middle of a 4 half marathon race stretch (in a little over 6 weeks) and more pressing at the moment is our huge Halloween Haunted Trail event is this Saturday night.  I’ll catch you up if the total lack of sleep doesn’t take me out before then.  My apologies to all my blogger friends for not getting to all your posts for a while now – promise will get caught up as soon as Sunday makes it here.  For now, need to get another task out of the way – introducing my little red friend from Colorado.

House Finch shot at Colorado ?? In May 2014

That colorful bird is called a House Finch.  I found it while hanging out at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds which I think is technically in Golden, but it is just outside Denver, Colorado.   Linda and I were out there to run our furry children at the Teacup Agility Nationals back in  May 2014.

House Finch shot at Colorado ?? In May 2014
Hit the jump to read more about the House Finch.

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Mar182015

A Brush of Color

Continuing the bonus posts this month, thought I’d bring you a few shots that will help you think about Spring … as if you were not already in the mood after Mother Nature put up a whopping 77 degree day this week already (yeah).  Nothing represents a change in seasons .. oh sorry, guess I should use climate change instead .. than seeing the dull Winter feathers give way to beautiful color.
House Finch

The Purple Finch vs House Finch has always been a tough identification.  My go to characteristic is the streaking on the belly.  The House has very defined streaks where the Purple for the most part lacks the same definition.  The purple also has a more pinkish hue in my opinion.  Based on that, my choice for the shot above is the House.  Opinions to the contrary are always welcome.

Next up on the color spectrum is yellow.  Specifically, the American Goldfinch all decked out in its banana costume.  This image makes me chuckle every time I see it.  Chillin’ on a branch, shades on, hat pulled low – Raptors have nothing on this dude in the cool factor category.

American Goldfinch

If there is one bird that can rival the brilliance of the Goldfinch, it has to be the Indigo Bunting.  I swear that blue can be seen in the dead of night.  Over the last couple of years, these Buntings have been increasing their presence at my feeders and usually spot one or two on each of my runs in the Jubilee Park.

Indigo Bunting

Hit the jump to see a couple more crayons in the box.

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May172008

Still Seeing Red (Part 6 of Many)

Guess what?…. yep another bird post.  This one actually came out of a discussion with my brother Ron regarding the previous post (Part 4) on a red colored bird I had come upon previously.  Originally I had classified that bird as a Purple Finch, but upon further investigation we decided it was actually a Pine Grosbeak (at least we think).  While trying to determine that type of bird, I came upon some pictures I had taken that match much better to the description of the Purple Finch.

Purple Finch

In agreement with the guide description, this guy’s beak is a more tannish tone and he is sporting a pretty trendy crest.  To be honest, I really do not know much about this bird.  I snapped a few pictures when I had the chance, but I really have not been able to observe any of its interactions with other birds or feeding habits.

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May122008

To Live Another Day (Part 4 of Many)

UPDATE: 5/17/08 – My brother did an investigation on this little guy and we now believe that this bird really doesn’t match up with the purple finch.  For one thing the beak is different – the purple finch has a brown/tan beak that tapers to a point, where the pictures below appear to show a bent beak at the end and clearly a darker tone – it also was a fairly stocky bird which didn’t fit well with finches.  I had originally dismissed the Pine Grosbeak due to my guide’s maps which showed it really was not an Illinois bird, but my brother found some web links which matched up pretty will with the bird images and his book indicated that at times the Grosbeak can come down south a little farther.  So until someone produces alternative reasoning, we are changing the original assessment to the Pine Grosbeak  – now back to your regularly scheduled programming

Today’s bird has a special memory for me.  A month or so back, I was taking my dog out and noticed he was pretty interested in something out in the yard.  I called him off and put him back in the house to go and investigate the cause.  As it turns out, there was a small bird just laying in the grass.  It appeared to be a young bird that had either fallen out of a nest or overestimated its mastery of flying.  In any case, it seemed distraught and clearly concerned about the predicament it was in… not to mention being hovered over by a curious human.  Fortunately, for this little guy (I guess), I’m a softie for animals in distress (no, I dislike PETA if you are wondering – any organization that puts concern for a donkey higher than a human life is no organization I want to be associated with).   I first decided to snap a few pictures since I had not seen this type of bird (especially this close).

Not sure, maybe Purple Finch

Now that I am looking at the pictures up closer, he looks a little pissed.  He didn’t have any problems with me snapping a few photographs and was pretty much content to just sit there – likely pretty scared.  Here is another shot from a little sharper angle in order to get a better feel for the beak angle and reddish crown.

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