"All the birds that were singing have flown, except you alone"  Grateful Dead
All photos copyrighted by Gareth O. Ridout (except *). This page fiddled with 1/4/99
If you'd like to help identify some other birds and things, please visit our "UFO Page".

Below: favourites supplied by G-Bro Photos; Nancy Taylor; & other kind contributors as mentioned. Unless otherwise specified, most birds & beasties photographed in Portage or Summit counties, N.E. Ohio. Page down to other BIRD links. K=Kitchen window shot; F=flash


*Red-tailed Hawk  Paris Twp., Ohio. Winter '98. F
*Herring Gull, California.  Thanks to Jim Adams,  from his western summer vacation. Give our regards to cousin Ansel!
Chickadee  Aug 98
Common Grackle This guy's so dark I had to brighten him up to get that deep blue - and I lost the yellow in his eye.
Downy Woodpecker, young male This one intrigues me because of the way his red cap extends forward over the top of his head, instead of more to the back like his papa.  KF
Male Red-bellied Woodpecker, with the tiniest bit of red-belly showing.    KF
Young Red-bellied Woodpecker, also seen in company of presumed parental units.  Here, she (I think 'she' because there are definite browner patches where an adult female's red would be) lingered for a good 10min or so, as if Mum had said "I want you to WAIT HERE until I return!".  K
Carolina Wren "spread-eagled".  Honest, he/she's alive.  It was a hot day and suddenly it did this for a few seconds.  K Curiouser yet is just 20 minutes before I'd seen a Nuthatch do the exact same thing.  Only time I ever saw such behaviour.  Fuzzy because it was a bit far away for that lens - this is just a small part of the picture.  But worth sharing because unusual, methinks.
Red-Bellied Woodpecker, female, in our feed-catcher.   KF
Herons, young, composite  I took several shots of these 3 kids over perhaps ten minutes.  I decided to try combining 2 or 3 of the better poses, digitally.   Telescope.  Akron.
Herons, mating Didn't notice till I had this blown up that the male appears to have her neck - for stability I assume.
White-throated Sparrow Good Friday '98: very very good to me.
Field Sparrow  Field Sparrow, singing  Also Good Friday, first time I matched him with that song I'd heard so many times.
Cardinal   My "prize-winner", food on beak. Good Friday '98.  Young Cardinal - note lack of colour on beak. (June '98) K
Chipping Sparrow,  Chipping Sparrow One of the tamer birds around our place. KF
House Finch, male.  That's what I think - but honestly I'm not sure I can always tell the males from the Purple Finch.  Females I think I can spot by the eyebrow, but there haven't been many of them around of  late.  Sometimes we see one with yellow or orange [breast & rump] instead of red.  This one has a little yellow patch below his eye but the photo doesn't bring it out very well.  K

Brown-headed Cowbird of the male persuasion.  This is in bright sun - you can see how shiny he is. There was a time I thought him a handsome bird.  "Handsome is as handsome does", Mum said! K

Male Pheasant - the famous "ring-neck".  Earlier shot March 29, 1998, Export Pa. This was exciting.  Eventually he wandered directly under the window from whence I photographed - much too close to focus on.

American Tree Sparrow, March 98.  It was the first Saturday in April when I saw my first Chippping Sparrow of the season, and realized that the Tree Sparrows had moved on.  K

A Red-winged Blackbird, who caught my eye with what I presume to be leftover adolescent plumage - a lovely rusty-orange bordering feathers on his back.  Another shot.  15 March 1998, in bright sun.  K

CAROLINA WRENS in recycled nest in our porch. (Same nest as PHOEBE YOUNGSTERS, below). I thought I'd scared them away with my attentions, but they came back. Ready to go. March 1, 1998. Long distance shot (in January), and here's what I saw the first time I noticed an odd "lump" up there in the nest - while they were sleeping.

RED BELLIED WOODPECKER, male, 1996, what an impressive fellow. Not a great belly shot, but better than nought.

PINE SISKIN, 1996. A poor picture I admit, but it does show a notable feature: yellow lines on wings.

GREAT BLUE HERON, at home with young.

HERON & KIDS. Different nest, my fave.

HERONS AT HOME. I think this is much less than half of the nests at this (Akron) site.

PHOEBEon guard, and VIGILANT. The mate is nearby, sitting on some eggs.

Nuthatch with that distinctive rump. About 12k. Edited slightly to remove wire feeder hanger.

JUNCO, what a sweetie. 97k. Same day as above Nuthatch, 11/16/97, through the kitchen window. 

Female Northern Flicker, 10/11/97, on our 'Secondary Edifice' [built strictly for the eddification of birds].

Female Scarlet Tanager?: The most exciting bird to come in front of my camera in a little while. Even if we've misdiagnosed, I KNOW it's not a Goldfinch! Another look, What's going on?, Bathing.

Nuthatch: a typical position. Some of these pictures are scans of slides, and the SCANROM I got from Surplus Software really is a bit of a disappointment on that score. Works well enough for scans from prints though. Idea - for anyone who's curious, I'll try marking the slide-scans with an asterisk.

New ones from Saturday Aug. 9, bigger this time, Judi! Female Rose Breasted Grosbeak - haven't seen any of these in a while; Common Grackle; Cardinal (female or young male?), with crest down; same Cardinal I think, but with crest in quite a different position; young male Purple Finch I think, first one I've seen like this.

Mr. & Ms. Indigo Bunting, I don't know how long she'd have puzzled me if she hadn't arrived with himself one day.

Male Goldfinch, with a halo, courtesy of Joe Bica's folded lens. 6k.

Male House Finch. 11k

Red-winged Blackbird, young &/or female - I thought it acted like a youngster. 313x422x256, 17k.

Red-bellied Woodpecker (female): This one's got some yellow. Confused us the first time we saw this. 27k.

Downy Woodpecker (female), 18k, on her way to the suet. 

Young Starling: Spring '97, flying but still hanging around the nest. 221x322x256, 11k. "Can I have the keys to the car, Dad?"

Hairy Woodpecker: For scale, the suet holder is 1/2" grid. Digital confession: I doctored this picture a bit, on the right, to remove a bit of wire. Fear not, there were no tail spots for me to accidentally remove! 420x298x256, 71k.

Female Purple Finch: From 1996. Don't often see them with hint of red like this (throat). 44k

Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird, about 46k, 550x441x256. 7/10/97 Kitchen window.

Song Sparrow, 61k, 496x412x256.

Female House Sparrow, 67k, 524x508x256.

Doctored Hummingbird picture - It had a dark background, 386x433x256, 54k.

KESTREL update, same photo as was featured below (I updated that link too), but improved quality. (Fla.)

PHOEBE YOUNGSTERS in nest, (Sunday June 22, '97), they were gone the next day. 63k.

Gray Catbird 39k

Male Eastern Bluebird of a pair discovered nesting in Export Pa., Memorial weekend 97, 18k bytes.

BLUEBIRDS 58k, I bet this is a major reason they're so loved by us humans. Same pair. Yes, she's mostly in the tree with head sticking out. Sorry to say that part of the tree has since been pulled away and the birds are gone.

Cedar Waxwing. I saw these guys in small flocks. They seemed to prefer to stay high in the treetops, so it was hard to get a good shot. 17k.

FEMALE WILD TURKEY 46k, 601x510x256.

KILDEER Ohio, below the Akron Herons, spring '97. 56k

WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW Paris Twp., Ohio, spring '97. 36k

FEMALE NORTHERN ORIOLE Paris Twp., Ohio, spring '97. 220x418.

ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK (male) Paris Twp., Ohio, 1997. 130k, 768x911x256.

Yellow Warbler Cuyahoga Valley National Rec. Area - "Beaver Pond", June 4, 1997. 350x235x256, 17k.

Eastern Kingbird Paris Twp., Ohio, June 8, 1997. 17k, 386x300x256.

Male Ruby-throated Hummingbird, 784X598X256, 32k, Paris Twp., Ohio, 1997.

Male Downy Woodpecker & kid... HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!. 497x388x256, 53k, Paris Twp.

Great Blue Heron in flight, May 5, 1997, Akron's great Heron hang-out in "The Valley". 10k.

WARBLER1.JPG, WARBLER2.JPG: At first I thought Golden-Winged, but now I think Yellow Rumped Warbler. Same location as above - Bath Road, Spring '97. Comments anyone? 6k, 10k.

This beautiful Great Egret lingered by an open-air dock-side restaurant somewhere near Key Largo, Florida, April 1997. 491x751 true colour image, about 77k bytes. 
While strolling Key West Cemetery, I followed this female American Kestrel for a while - perching here and there, at one point dropping down for what might have been a tasty lizard (the bird, not me). My patience was rewarded with a bit of preening. April 1997. 458x390x256, about 20k bytes. 
"BlueWing": Early Spring '96, this little lady and her mate were the first I ever photographed with a telescope (special 'towel-coupling'). She lingered long on that apple twig, allowing me this blissful opportunity while she preened. 3 months later a pair of House Wrens were raising a family in the very same hole. The 1997 tenants are House Sparrows, at time of writing. Paris Twp., Ohio. 
blue22.JPG : 240x239x256 image (same bird and format as BlueWing), about 8k bytes. Wendy's fave - let us know when the paint's dry! Paris Twp., 1996 

Fave of the above mentioned House Wren series ['96]. A bit on the red side, digitized with incandescent light - whoops. As of Spring '97 a pair of Wrens are inhabiting a little fabricated bird-house that Nancy gave me, in view of our kitchen window. 640x480x256 image, about 67k bytes. 

*Front & *Back view of Young male Northern Flicker. Nancy tried to save this one without success (and took the photos too). 472x346x256 (26k), & 398x246x256 (24k). Pittsburgh, Pa.

Downy Woodpecker: found on our deck spring '97. Young perhaps? Measures a bit less than the book 'spec'. 460x345x256, 25k. Visible are black tail spots, differentiating it from the Hairy (in addition to size).

Listings by: SUBJECT, FILE NAME, DATE (newest @ top). HOME Pg -ASTRONOMY pg - CRITTERS pg - KINDWHILE Pg - [email link deleted to prevent spam]
Thanks to Chip Davenport for putting some of my 'owen' photos on his page, [more bird photos and links].

Thanx in advanx. And thanks to the person who corrected me on the White Crowned Sparrow, sorry - I forgot your name.
 

When packing your lunch - be sure to use pileated sandwich bags.  And who amongst us can claim any egrets about heron addiction?

This page Copyright © 1998 by Delusions of Nerdeur.