This female Belted Kingfisher with its punky crest was photographed along a creek in New Jersey during our trip in October 2009.  We spent some time at the ‘Shore’ and visited the Hawk Watch at Cape May to witness the migrating Bald Eagles, Hawks (four species) and two species of Vultures as well as Merlin and American Kestrels. More of our pictures can be seen by clicking on this ‘Gallery 2’ button . . . . . .

Press ‘Gallery 2’ for more pictures from the USA (2009) and our winter holiday with ‘Real Birder Tours’ in Northumberland & Co. Durham.

Tree Sparrows at Belvide
(a West Midland Bird Club reserve, permit required)

Tawny Owl at Baggeridge CP

This beautiful bird is almost certainly to be seen at the same spot and has been a favourite of ours for several years.

Collared Dove in the garden

Birds of the West Midlands, England

These shots taken with the Nikon 4500 attached to a Kowa ‘scope.
(I don’t claim any skill with the camera but these are fine as a record for my own purposes)

Above: Sparrowhawk in our garden. It appeared to have injured its left foot and was completely oblivious to us.  It flew off after a while but allowed us to get these pictures without the need of the telescope - we just walked up to it! We hope it was still able to catch its prey while the foot recovered.
Sparrowharks come through the garden every day, but they are not always successful at capturing their prey. However, we have to be aware that we are feeding the little birds that sometimes feed the big ones!

Above: Kingfisher at Venus Pool - a Shropshire Ornithological Society reserve 5mls south of Shrewsbury.  Open to the public - well worth a visit at any time.

Above: Buzzards such as this will readily land to feed, but Kites rarely do so.

Above: Common Grackles in a ‘Back Yard’
Right: Dark-eyed Junco - a very varied bird depending where in the USA you find them
Below: Another common ‘Back Yard’ bird the American Robin.  Being April, this bird was singing to defend its nest in a hole at the end of a broken branch. Its song was not unlike a Mistle Thrush

Right: Tree Swallows - they will nest in holes in dead trees, fence posts, barn eaves and, as in the picture, nest boxes (sometimes elaborate affairs in peoples front ‘yards’)  They never seem far from water and always have that burnished finish to the plumage.

American Nature Reserves are called ‘Refuges’ Below are three pictures from Refuges along the Delaware River.

Green Heron (Butorides virescens)

Greater Yellow-legs

Downy Woodpecker

A pair of Blue Jays at their nest in Roebling NJ
This shot was taken from a small playground looking towards the River Delaware and the slope of the land enabled a view into the nest.

More photos from the USA on the 2nd Gallery page . . . . . . . click the ‘Gallery 2 button above.

These two photos are provided by our daughter-in-law’s parents in tropical Queeensland: I hope the identity of the White-winged Chough is correct!