Is it my turn yet?

This woodpecker looked like it was peeking over the fence to see who was at the suet feeder when I snapped this photo

Now what do I do?

Snow birds

Space Shuttle Challenger

Today marks 25 years since the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after launch. All seven members of the crew were killed, including Christa McAuliffe, who was to become the first teacher in space. This is a photo of the Challenger Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. The memorial is located behind the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Seed cracker

His belly really is red

Dark-eyed Junco

We've had a lot of this winter visitor in our yard recently

Oranges

I finally caught something feasting on the oranges I put out. This squirrel spent 2-3 minutes digging into the orange which was frozen as temps were in the low 20s yesterday.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

My first sighting of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and I was lucky enough to get a photo of it.

Red-bellied Woodpecker seen again

Lots of birds in the area today, although not stopping at my feeders. I still managed to catch a photo of the Red-bellied Woodpecker on my neighbors shed.

Song Sparrow

If I have this correct, this is a Song Sparrow. He almost blends in with the ground.

Moon After Yule

Did you look outside last night? If you did, you saw the Moon After Yule--the first full Moon after the December solstice. I spent an hour watching it rise and took these photos. The first one isn't a great photo of the Moon but I thought the tree looked cool with the clouds behind it.

The Moon was still low here. The dark spot in the middle are clouds that kept passing in front of it.

I caught an airplane heading towards Dulles Airport in this photo.

Here you can see a cloud ring surrounding the Moon. I believe it's called a corona but could be wrong.

It looks like a hand is covering the Moon in this photo. What do you think?

This is my attempt at taking a photo of the constellation Orion. It's not a great photo either but I do see it. Look it up on Wiki and you'll see it too once you have something to compare it to. You'll have to click on this photo to enlarge it so you can see the stars. I believe that's Venus in the bottom middle of the photo.

I took this photo at 5:50 this morning. I wanted to see if the Moon surface looked different in the western sky and it does.

We've got winter weather moving in tonight so I have nothing to entertain me. Guess I'm stuck watching the idiot box (as Daddy likes to say) instead.

January 14 waxing gibbous moon

At 4 PM

At 5 PM

Dogwood blooming Goldfinch?

We got a little snow and ice overnight so had a lot of birds visiting this morning. I looked outside at one point and my dogwood tree looked like it was blooming Goldfinch.

American Goldfinch

Anyone home?

What's that orange thing?

I sliced an orange that no one was eating and put it out for the birds. They haven't touched it. This House Finch is looking at the slice as if trying to figure out what it is.

Front and back

Sir Pugsalot

Sir Pugsalot ... not his real name but what my son, who was trying to help place him and knew I want a dog, planned to call him. My husband said he's ugly and we can't keep him. Before we could make a decision, his original owner decided she wanted him back. He was fun to play with for the day he spent at our house. Who couldn't love that face!

Nut lover

I figure squirrels have to eat too so put a fruit/nut mixture out for them last Saturday. This one came and picked out all of the nuts.

Carolina Wren

Waxing crescent moon and Jupiter

The skies were clear last night so I headed outside to get a picture of the waxing crescent Moon.

You could clearly see a planet to the left of the Moon so I did a quick Google search to find out which planet it was. This isn't a great picture but you get the idea. The line you see in the middle is a telephone or some type of wire.

After figuring out that the planet was Jupiter my husband and I headed back out in the cold to see if we could get a picture. Using a tripod, he got this shot. What do you think? I did another Google search and there are rings on Jupiter's surface. Do you think we were looking at it from the bottom up?

Red-bellied Woodpecker

The Red-bellied Woodpecker I scared away yesterday came back. Maybe he'll show up today and eat off the suet facing the window so I can get a picture of his entire body.

Bird watching on a snowy morning

It snowed early this morning so we had lots of birds at our feeders for breakfast. I counted at least 10 different species. It was so much fun watching them. At one point we had two woodpeckers visit. I was so excited I screamed for my husband and they flew away before I could get a picture. I'm standing in my kitchen with the window wide open so they heard me load and clear. One was a Downy Woodpecker and I believe the other was a Red-bellied Woodpecker. I did get a picture of the Red-bellied Woodpecker in the tree which I'll share another day. It took me forever to get a picture of this Tufted Titmouse. It comes in, grabs a piece of food, and quickly leaves. At one point I heard tapping and was able to catch him trying to crack a seed open.

A perfect pose

Isn't this House Finch beautiful

Waiting for his turn

How far does it go?

Yesterday I mentioned that I'm experimenting with the zoom on my camera. This picture was taken at 35X, the max. The tree is my neighbor's and the bird was midway up.

Chickadee in a tree

I've been experimenting with the zoom range on my new camera. This Chickadee was halfway up a tree in my neighbor's yard. The Chickadee are quick and I've never been able to get a good picture of one. These aren't bad but hopefully I'll be able to catch a few more.

Hungry Goldfinch

I was actually shooting a picture of a cardinal on one feeder when this Goldfinch stopped by the other feeder next to it. I consider it my lucky day since the Goldfinch don't stop at my house much lately.

Downy Woodpecker

This Downy Woodpecker, along with several other birds, visited my feeding station at the same time as the White-breasted Nuthatch I posted yesterday. I was in bird heaven.

White-breasted Nuthatch

I saw this beautiful bird in my yard for the first time in November and was finally able to snap these pictures yesterday.