Observation: Plumage of birds.....

As I  watched birds from close quarters, could not help but appreciate their distinct plumage patterns. Some snapshots from my lens...

Mallard drake.............

Female mallard...showing the blue patch 'speculum'..

Canadian goose.....

Pekin goose....

Mixed breed pekin............

Egyptian goose.........

Flamingo...........

Screamer....

Nicobar pigeon......

Bird: Preening birds...............

Birds love to preen, comb, groom, spruce up themselves....and I love to watch them do so. Preening for birds is what hair care, oil massage, shampooing and conditioning is to human. Interesting isn't it?

Pekin goose............

Canadian goose...............

Egyptian geese...........

Gulls...........

Female mallard............

Another duck......

House finch..........

Mute swan........

Bird: Mirror-obsessed birds......

I was aware of the obsession of certain birds with mirrors, since my childhood. The house sparrows often pecked at the mirror hung in our wall, much to our amusement. At that time I was in dark about the drive behind this strange behavior. Thought, it must be a case of narcissism (self-admiration). Much later, I was enlightened about the avian behavior, that the fascination with mirror boils down to mating and territorial guarding. With a false belief of a potential mate or a contender, they vigorously attack at their own reflections in the mirrors. In the last couple of weeks, I witnessed two funny incidents of birds pecking at car mirrors, which urged me to write this piece. One of the crazy bird was a house sparrow, the other was a Western blue bird. Check for yourself.

Bird: Pretty house finches...........

Many house finches reside in the boxwood, natal plum, silverberry and mockorange bushes of our apartment complex and neighborhood... It's refreshing to be woken up by their raucous noise emanating from the feeders. From car shed, roof top to the yucca and willow tree, they are seen everywhere. With their melodious chirps and warbles they render the otherwise monotonous campus lively and cheerful.

On a bougainvillea branch.......

On a camphor tree....

On a bare wild cherry tree....

A male house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) on a bird table....

The seed eater perched on a feeder.....

A female finch atop a Yucca tree......

Vibrant against the azure sky.......

A female finch sits alone on a fence......

A male swings on a willow bough..........

On a Southern magnolia...

One can never get tired of watching these tiny charmers.