This is my entry for the Feathered Friends - Show Me A Photo Contest Round 51! The theme for this round is "Birds Through My Window". You can learn more about the contest and how to enter HERE!
The above photo is one of my favorites ever since the Tufted Titmouse started visiting the feeders outside my window. The male and female are identical so there is no way to tell if this is one or the other. They have a distinct kind of buzz-like chirping and they are very fast so catching a decent photo of one was a challenge. I was very happy to have gotten this one. They do remind me of a Northern Cardinal with their pointed crown on top of their head but they are smaller and are a gray-ish color. They are, however, related to the Black-capped Chickadee which visit the feeders as well. The male and female of this species are also mostly identical.
I think I have, at least, three House Sparrow couples visiting but I'm sure that number is more on the conservative side as they all do look alike. They tend to make a mess with knocking the safflower seeds out of the feeders and onto the ground. You can be sure that the thistle seed will go un-touched once I fill the feeders with the safflower seed.
The Northern Cardinals aren't too happy with the additional birds visiting their feeders and it is not uncommon to see a "squabble" going on with them and the other birds. The squabbles are short lived though and there is currently two feeders filled with safflower and one filled with thistle. Once the thistle is used up then I may just fill all of them with safflower.
My last two photos are a little funny looking and show a male House Sparrow and a male Northern Cardinal with a safflower seed in their beaks. I also thought that might be a good theme for a future #smap contest "Seed In Beak"! I can't remember if we did that already but, of course, if it is chosen to be a theme in the future then I will be sure to use different photos for a post! 😉
Thank you 
Thank you 
Thank you also to all the sponsors and 
All photos and text by me 