Talos was so scary when I was a kid

#Monsterdon

"It must have been the wind"
Was the Skyrim quote an homage to this film all along?

#Monsterdon

So. Many. Sparrows. We had a few show up for morning seeds over the last month or so but all of a sudden there are *dozens*. Makes me a bit nervous re: H5N1, but still trying to balance providing habitat and snacks for wildlife with safety for my turkeys, goats, and (indoor) cats.

I think these are the white-morphs and tan-morphs of the white throated sparrows but I have yet to see any yellow on any of them which makes me wonder if they're something else.

They don't hold still for Seek, and my camera phone is terrible for birds, but I may try uploading to iNaturalist to see what others think anyway. So hard to identify, and can't quite justify $125 for the sparrow ID advanced course AllAboutBirds.org offers.

#birds #BirdsOfMastodon

I love tufted titmouses (titmice?), and was confused when I saw some art of them that was blue since every one I've seen is grey, until today when a blue one came to visit! Mostly the same as the others, there's the vaguest hint on the back or wings in flight that caught my eye but it's mainly some bright blue on the back of the head in the crest.

Does anyone know if it's only fresh molting and then fades or if it's an individual variation or a different sub species?

#birds #BirdsOfMastodon

Decided to list all the birds I've seen in the five years I've lived here on three acres in the Piedmont of NC, kind of a census of where we're at and hopefully as I can slowly afford a pollinator garden and other sheltering shrubs, nesting boxes, etc, there will be an increase in what is attracted here.

Anyone else want to share theirs? Also any tips for how to track this since I can't get their pics to use Seek? Any good app for just writing my seasonal nature observations? Otherwise I'll just get a journal and transcribe it periodically into a spreadsheet, maybe find a way to translate that into a temperature blanket or scarf for the variety of birds seen across one year.

Current common morning seed visitors:
Bluejay (solo, new)
Carolina wrens
Chickadees
Sparrows (recent winter droves)
House finches
Tufted titmice
Crows
Red-bellied woodpecker
Downy woodpecker
Yellow bellied sapsucker?
Brown thrasher
Towhee (recent winter solo)
Nuthatches
Dark-eyed junco (new, solo)

Around but shy:
Blue birds
Flycatchers/Phoebe
Tiny grey gnatcatcher/tree creepers
Mockingbird
Doves
Multiple sizes of hawk species
Black vultures

Around in past but not lately:
Indigo bunting(more present with winter seed heads abundant or taller grass)
Robins (winter only)
Giant migrating loud small bird flocks flying in waves
Hummingbird
Pileated woodpecker?

Found only once, dead:
Cedar waxwing
Killdeer
Brown headed cowbird

Flyover without stopping or reports from neighbor*:
Great blue heron
Osprey
Owls*
Canadian geese
Ducks
Bald eagle

#birds #BirdsOfMastodon #nature

@Taweret this feels like a 1950s era movie we'd watch for #Monsterdon

Giant Spiders From Mars!