Birds Through My Window

Outside my bedroom window there is a line of crabapple trees, and close by, there is an eastern red cedar. Both tree species are fruiting heavily right now, and birds are taking advantage of the bounty. Yesterday afternoon I noticed a lot of bird activity in those trees, so I took some time to photograph birds through my window.

First off, this European Starling seemed especially fond of the cedar berries. When I have seen birds eating berries from that tree in the past, they have mostly been House Finches, so the starling's interest came as a bit of a surprise. This individual is interesting for another reason as well. It shows feathers from two different plumage stages, juvenile (the brown patches on its head) and formative or first basic (the white-spotted body feathers).

House Sparrows were part of the crowd. How often do you get to look down at birds sitting in a tree?

Northern Cardinals were also present, though they seemed more interested in the feeders behind the house than the crabapple fruits.

Last but not least, this American Redstart was a bit of a surprise. I have been seeing them around, in the yard and further afield. This was something of a lucky shot, too, as I only had time to take two photos before it moved on, and the first was affected by motion blur. Unlike most of the other birds, redstarts are primarily insectivores, so it would have been drawn by whatever insects were in the trees rather than the fruits.