Bird Photo Quiz #6: Answers

Here are the answers to my Bird Photo Quiz #6:

Picture #1 is a Pied-billed Grebe

Picture #2 is a Northern Harrier

Congratulations to Kristen at Nature Notes Blog who correctly identified the Northern Harrier, and Natalie at dreamfalcon, Brendan at Catching the Thermals who were very close. Thanks for all playing along!

Feathers on Friday

(Apologies to all from prairiebirder’s mother, who was supposed to get this out earlier today, before leaving home to pick up PB from camp, and not quite so late in the day, when PB is off on her first babysitting job…)

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If you would like to join me for Feathers on Friday, please put the link to your blog post in the comments and I will add a link to my post.

Since I am away at camp my mother will be posting my posts for me. Here is one of my favorite shorebirds, a Semipalmated Sandpiper, for my Feathers on Friday post.

Birthday/Bird Day presents

Hello, this is prairiebirder’s mother. I’m writing today’s post since prairiebirder is off at 4H camp this week.

I was thinking I could write about a few of the bird-related presents we gave prairiebirder for her 14th birthday last week. Aside from the fact that birds seem to be very popular in design these days, prairiebirder loves her feathered friends — in real life and in figurative representations.

Etsy is one of my favorite places to find gifts. I like finding unique items, and I like supporting individual artisans and craftsmen and -women. Etsy is where I found the following zippered goldfinch pouch for prairiebirder, from Bags of a Feather (photo from her Etsy site):

Bags of a Feather offers a variety of  “Avian and nature-inspired bags and fabric creations”. Prairiebirder started birding because of the goldfinches that came to our first feeder, so this pouch, which is hand-washable, seemed perfect. And the pouch came wrapped in tissue paper, ready for presentation.

I’ve been a fan of Scottish illustrator Kate McClelland‘s city skyline prints, and was delighted to find she has an Etsy shop, which is where a few months ago I found her owl badges (pins),

Only $5 for both pins, which is a wonderful price. I think the owl pins would also make a dandy stocking stuffer.

And lastly, some jewelry from The Mymble’s Daughter in Cardiff, Wales; The Mymble’s Daughter specializes in “”Jewellery and Art for the Victorian Ornithologist”.  I found this meadowlark pendant (made from clay, and waterproof) to commemorate our very favorite bird, who returns to us every summer (photo from TMD Etsy site),

I also found this Victorian Egg Collection pendant there; it was $9 (there isn’t one available now but you could contact/convo The Mymble’s Daughter),

The pendants are sold on their own, without ribbon or chain, but you can buy them from TMD as well. And the packages come beautifully wrapped.

That’s it for my first post here. I’ll try to post some other items we gave prairiebirder, including some out-of-print birding books…

Off to Camp

This coming week, Monday to Friday, I will be at 4H camp. But my mother has said she might be a guest blogger, so stay tuned!

(And when I get back, I will have the answers to today’s bird quiz.)

Shore Birds and a Life Bird

I went out this morning at 6 am to look for some new birds at the lake behind our house. I was able to find four species of shorebirds: two Short-billed Dowitchers, five Solitary Sandpipers, and one Willet. The most exciting birds were about 30 Semipalmated Sandpipers, because that is sandpiper a life bird for me.

I didn’t get as many photos as I would have liked, but the light was pretty bad so early in the morning that there was no point in taking too many pictures.

Semipalmated Sandpiper,

Short-billed Dowitcher,

Three Semipalmated Sandpipers feeding,

Bird Photo Quiz #6

This is my sixth Bird Photo Quiz. Please post your answers in the comments below and I’ll reveal the identity of the birds in a week, as well as those who have made the correct identifications. Click to enlarge the pictures.