Nov. 1, 2020 - Summer - Yard Birds

Here are some more photos I took this spring and summer but haven’t used yet for Pictures of the Week. All of them were taken at our northern Minnesota home.

This is a Northern Flicker. I can tell it’s a female because there is no black “moustache” that would be present on a male. Notice the thin line of yellow along the edge of its wing. The Flickers we see in the Midwest have a yellow wash on the underside of their wings. Sometimes people call them Yellow-shafted Flickers. Western birds have a red wash on the underside of their wings and, appropriately, are sometimes called Red-shafted Flickers.

FlickerNorthernfemaleDunningLakeItascaCounty20200426

The woods around our home are great habitat for Ruffed Grouse and, occasionally, one will wander into our yard.

GrouseRuffedDunningLakeItascaCounty20200813

This is a juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. The emerging red feathers on its throat and forehead indicate this is a young male.

SapsuckerYellowbelliedjuvenilemaleDunningLakeItascaCounty20200731

Here’s another juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. No red feathers are appearing, so this is a young female.

SapsuckerYellowbelliedjuvenileDunningLakeItascaCounty20200723

This Clay-colored Sparrow made a brief appearance in our yard in mid-May. Most of Minnesota is in its breeding range. However, our yard was probably not chosen by this bird for its nesting site. For that, it likes a more open area with a few bushes.

SparrowClaycoloredDunningLakeItascaCounty20200512

White-throated Sparrows did nest in our yard because we heard them calling all summer.

SparrowWhitethroatedDunningLakeItascaCounty20200909

This Black and White Warbler was migrating through in mid-May and found a nice juicy worm on one of our trees.

WarblerBlackandWhiteDunningLakeItascaCounty202005114

After an unfortunate impact with one of our windows, this Golden-winged Warbler rested on our deck while it recuperated. After about 10 minutes, it flew off, so we hope it was not injured.

WarblerGoldenwingedDunningLakeItascaCounty20200904