House Wren

Orchard Oriole

Wild Turkey

Hunting for insects and other goodies in our lawn.

Attract more birds into your yard...

Bring In the Birds With a Homemade Bubble Rock

A Pair of Scarlet Tanagers

The bright scarlet male in breeding plumage and the more subdued greenish-yellow female.

Solitary Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

Blue-winged Warblers

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Hooded Warblers

Common Yellowthroat and Indigo Bunting

The Common Yellowthroat is a hyperactive little warbler that thrives in thick vegetation.  I was lucky to catch this guy out in the open.

And then he decided he would just sneak away...

While the Indigo Bunting thought I didn't see him at all.

Scarlet Tanager

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have claimed their breeding territory in our yard.  The male (above) and female (below) have been driving out any other hummingbirds that dare to come near.  He has been making his "u" shaped courtship dive through the air to impress her.

White-crowned Sparrow

Heading north to the arctic tundra or high alpine meadows of Canada to breed.

Indigo Bunting

Magnolia Warblers

The Magnolia Warbler breeds in the northern United States and southern Canada.  It spends the winter in the Caribbean Islands and Latin America.

Happy Mother's Day

A beautiful female Baltimore Oriole!

Tiger Swallowtail

Unusually warm May weather brought the first Tiger Swallowtail sighting of the year into our backyard today.

International Migratory Bird Day

Today is International Migratory Bird Day.  Spread the word!

American Redstart

American Redstarts are warblers that are easy to find by listening for their incessant song.  After they breed and nest in the United States and Canada they will return to Latin and South America for the winter.

Pine Siskins

Pine Siskins are winter finches that commonly visit bird feeders.  I've seen very few this year until this week when about 40 of them showed up and have been lingering in our yard.  They will move on soon to their breeding grounds in far northern New York and Canada.

Bobolink

The Bobolink is an extremely impressive traveler.  They spend the winter in the southern interior of South America (Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil) and migrate over 6,000 miles each way in spring and again in the fall.  They breed in open grassy areas in the northern United States and Southern Canada.  This one was photographed on a fence at the Dunkirk Airport in the town of Sheridan, New York.

Red-headed Woodpecker

The Red-headed Woodpecker is listed as a "near threatened" species in danger of extinction.  They can occasionally be found in Western New York.  I was lucky to find and photograph this one in a park near Lake Erie.

Yellow Warblers

New arrivals to Western New York from the mangrove forests of Central and South America! 

Baltimore Oriole

Another neotropical beauty migrating north for the summer months

Ovenbird

The Ovenbird is a wood warbler that builds a dome shaped nest of leaves on the forest floor.  It spends the winter in a range that extends from south Florida and the Caribbean to northern areas of South America.

Moonrise through the Trees

The full Moon during the month of May is known as the "Full Flower Moon."

Blackburnian Warblers

These flying jewels are arriving to breed in our northeastern forests. They spend the winter in South America. Welcome home!

Black-throated Green Warblers

The influx of spring warblers in the northeast is now underway!

Happy May Day!

Notice the magic of Spring all around on this enchanted day of Beltane...

the midway point between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice.