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Ballpark in Bellevue, WA has a mascot osprey family nesting on a light pole [video]: view link

I have been lucky enough to get a couple of shots of birds this summer and thought I would share.


A precious Hummingbird and then a pasture full of Canadas last week. Guess they are gathering to migrate.

Great Blue Heron....off my dock to night at sunset....He stayed for about a 1/2 hour !!!

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I recently saw a new bird at the lakes. We have been coming down to South Lida Lake for 14 years and this is a new one. It sat on the deck rail for a few seconds then flew back to the trees. It has never come to any of the feeders I have out. It was the size of a house finch (except it looked more streamlined) and I remember the underside was white but the amazing thing was it had a spot of neon green and neon pink on it's side (only saw profile). I think it was green on top but not sure my eyes were on the spots. It looked like someone had used a neon magic marker. I have searched my bird books and sites and unable to find it. Does anyone have any ideas?

Saw it flitting in the trees by the lake this weekend. Sorry it never landed long enough for a picture, but it sure was pretty.

I have been purchasing the thistle filled feeding sacks for the finch in my yard. This summer I purchased a large bag of thistle seeds and kept reusing the same feeding sacks. They finally fell apart. I did not want the expense of purchasing them again. I went to Lowes and purchased a roll of screening that is for windows. I sewed pouches the same size as the ones you get thistle in. I used fishing line for the string to gather and tie it. Of course, they were black instead of white. For about 5 days the bag hung in the tree and the finch would not go near it. I hung their old bag up and they immediately went to it.

Finally I purchased one white finch bag filled with thistle seed and hung it with the black bag filled with seed. The finch would come and eat from the white bag and ignore the black bag of seeds. After about 4 days the finch started eating from both bags. Even a chickadee came and fed from it.

I hope they continue feeding from the black bags because it will be a lot cheaper to have them and they are more durable. After the white bag is empty I am going to see if they continue feeding from the black bag. My experiment with nature.
Haddie

My husband and I usually have our Sunday coffee at the Cape Cod Canal. We can watch both boats and birds. On this day, we saw 15 white egrets fishing along the canal. They would alternate sides depending on how close a boat came, so we got to see alot of flying around. This is the first time I have ever seen them near such fast moving water. It was really fun!