Did You See The Lunar Eclipse?

Last night, I tried my hand at photographing the lunar eclipse. I really struggled to get a good shot. I took about 50 pics standing in the cold, working hard on my Kodak Z712 IS's settings, to get one decent pic. I got a few, but would have felt better if a few more turned out.



Good Birding and God Bless!

You Yellow-bellied Sapsucker!

I've had another recent addition to my back yard this past week. It is a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker! Many believe this woodpecker to be fictious bird created only for the funny name.

They are one of only four North American Sapsuckers and are the most widespread. They are highly migratory and the only woopecker in the eastern U.S. to be completely migratory!

They are the eastern couterpart of the Red-napped Sapsucker. The other two species of North American Sapsuckers are the Red-breasted and Williamson's. The Yellow-bellied is the only sapsucker that resides in Eastern North America.

Sapsuckers drill evenly spaced holes in trees and frequent the "wells" to drink the sap and eat the insects it attracts.

I believe this male may be a first year adult as his red crown and throat aren't yet very colorful. The male and female are very similar except for the throat, which is white on the female.

God Bless and Good Birding!

New Field Guide

I recently got another new field guide that is very nice. It is a Peterson Field Guide, "Birds of Eastern and Central North America". It is very detailed and has a very nice migration map for each bird in the back.



The detailed drawings help to show the primary, distinctive marks to help identify the bird in the field!

Check out this field guide if your looking for a new one to try out.

God Bless and Good Birding!

Grand Canyon Pics

I wanted to post a few pictures of my recent trip to the Grand Canyon. I really enjoyed the short trip to see the sights. I've been there once before about ten years ago but I'm not sure if you can really ever see and appreciate all the scenery.


It had just snowed the night before and everything had a fresh coat! It was very nice there and cold.

God Bless!

Chickadee with a Racing Stripe!

I got another treat during my trip to the Grand Canyon. I was able to observe another species of the Chickadee. This chickadee is very similar to the Carolina Chickadees here in the eastern part of North America. They are very small and flighty birds. Here in Arkanas and in other areas, the Carolina Chickadees are almost always seen with a flock of Tufted Titmice.

These chickadees are unique to the species as they are the only one with a white eyestripe. The white eyebrow can be clearly seen the pic below as he is feeding. The Mountain Chickadee is just like the Carolina Chickadee, very quick.

These chickadees were also seen with their buddies, in the west they are the Juniper Titmouse.

Thanks for visiting & God Bless!

Another Dark-Eyed Junco for Me

I wanted to post a few more pictures of my trip to Arizona. We went to the Grand Canyon and I was able to get a few pictures of new birds that I added to my life list! One of them was this Gray-Headed Dark Eyed Junco. I got this shot at the Grand Canyon Village Post Office. There were two of them walking around, looking for food.


We have the Slate-Colored Junco here in Arkansas. The dark eye is not as pronounced on the Slate-Colored as it is on the Gray-Headed one here. It also has a red back and is very similiar to the Red-Back Junco. The only difference between the two is that the Red-Backed Junco has a bi-colored bill.

The Dark-Eyed Junco has six different sub-species with the Slate-Colored being the most prevelant.