Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Color Them Happy

These backyard birds have a new feeder.

The old feeder, even without the hopper, seemed too small to accommodate doves comfortably.
So, I built a platform feeder from scraps of wood and screen. I'm no carpenter, and it looks pretty crude...but it works! I am thrilled that the birds appear to get along with each other and dine in peace and harmony.
In the three weeks the new feeder has been up we've only noticed four species of birds using it: Mourning Doves, White-winged Doves, House Finches and House Sparrows. All very common for this area, but after sampling their colors with Photoshop's eyedropper tool, I see these "ordinary" birds in a new light.

Here are just a few of the colors lifted from the Mourning Dove:
A Baby House Finch:
Adult Male House Finch:
House Sparrow:
Male and Female Lesser Goldfinches:
Our little goldfinches have a new feeder too. We noticed that sometimes the cloth thistle seed sock gets holes in it and the seeds spill out. Now we have a plastic tube feeder up too, so the finches have seeds available while the sock is being mended.

Thank you for letting me share these little backyard wonders of nature with you.

10 comments:

Sunny said...

I love your bird pictures. The Goldfinches are so adorable.
I miss all the birds, since we moved into the country we can't feed them for fear of attracting bears!
Sunny :)

penny said...

Looks like you definitely made a lot of birds very Happy.
They found a new chuckwagon in town... Nice job, I love the color and I guess they do too :D

Leslie said...

Beautiful colors, indeed! We have all the same beautiful visitors at our feeders, except for the white-winged doves. And I have just been thinking we need a larger feeder for the doves, who have a hard time negotiating the current one. I might have to get creative too - thanks for the inspiration!

Tammie Lee said...

The colors in this post are quite lovely, as are the little critters.
Spirithelpers

Cherry said...

the birds are so lovely and so are your photos! you did colour them happy, you just painted a smile in my face. ;)

•°°• IcyBC •°°• said...

You're no carpenter? I think you're creative, and talented! You did a fantastic job building the feeder, and the colors you've picked are just so wonderful!

Lindy said...

Nice little diner you built! :) You're lucky you don't have tree squirrels to gobble up all the seed. Very interesting to see the color palettes of each bird species.

Loree said...

Wow. Who would have thought that those birds would have such interesting colour palettes?

Ezhilan said...

I like the photos with the different postures of the birds.Interesting bird watching.

Jen said...

You know I love the birds.
Oh good job on the feeder!!! I should give that a try. Makes it a lot easier to see the birds and take pictures. ;)