Birds of the week 4/19/25: early Saturday with a rarity edition!

Going early with the bird gallery this week since tomorrow is Easter.

I have a special visitor to share with you, someone who is a rarity out here on the Plains, but like any good author, I'll keep you in mild suspense for a minute.

I have my camera set to take pictures 30 seconds apart for as long as the memory card holds out, and the picture below is of the same doves 30 seconds later. Couple of things worth noting in this one. First, doves don't sip water. They don't fill their beak, tilt up, and swallow. Nope. They stick their heads right down to the water and drink lustily til they get their fill. You can see the dove in the background filling up.

Second, see the dove in the foreground? Note the wings wiggling. This is a show of "excitement" (to use a general term). Fledglings do it when mom or dad gives them a seed while teaching them what to eat. Adult doves do it when paired off and around their partner. Signals happiness and, yes, sometimes friskiness if you catch my drift.

The gallery below has got a little of everything. Some more robins, some grackles (with the male's beautiful irredescent coloring on their heads), starlings at the birdbath, and some of the littles going town on seeds.

You'll also note some mourning doves. They're moving back in and so you'll see them more and more as the weeks go by into summer.

Oh, and the special visitor comes below the gallery! Don't forget!

The special visitor out to the Plains? It's a spotted towhee! I have seen these guys before during the transition seasons (Fall and Spring), but having my camera catch one felt like Christmas morning.

Cornell has some great webpages on birds, calls, range, behavior, diet, etc. and so I put a link to the spotted towhee page here in case you'd like to read up some.

Funny little birds, I had someone tell me that they do the little hop/kick that I've seen juncos do in order to uncover seeds. Not witnessed that yet, but I do like seeing them around.