Here are a few birds from one summer in Iowa for this #featheredfriday by
Here's a Rose-breasted grosbeak I got up in the hills of the Mississippi river on an old hunter's trail. This is one of the few times I have been able to get a descent shot of one of these guys. Usually they are hidden high up in the trees by leaves and I can only hear their loud call.
I think the hunter's trail was meant for deer hunting but I saw quite a few wild turkey roaming around as well. They would be an easy shot but I'm not sure if summer is their hunting season or not. Either way it takes quite a bit of brining to get rid of the gamey taste.
These Indigo Buntings are all over the place in the Midwest during summer. I hear them everywhere but since they are so tiny its a bit difficult to get a good closeup shot. Fortunately this guy was on a dead branch and not shrouded in leaves.
Turkey vultures love flying around over the Mississippi river looking for dead things. I was at the top of one of the banks high up when this guy flew overhead.
In the lower forest I spotted quite a few copper headed cowbirds. These guys are a bit destructive as they lay eggs in other birds' nests. Then their larger chicks usually end up kicking out the smaller songbirds out of the nest. Then some poor tiny warbler ends up raising a huge cowbird. Researchers have tried removing their eggs from songbirds nests before but then the mother cowbird is vengeful and will go back to the nest and destroy the other eggs. I suppose this is what pellet guns are for lol.
Here's a catbird mid-call. They sound kind of like a kitten meowing hence their name catbird. They also do a mockingbird multi-sound chattering of random noises sometimes.
Here's a bit of a rare sparrow compared to all the house sparrows I usually see. This is a chipping sparrow with a nice copper cap and a plumper body than most sparrows. They spend most their time on the ground chipping away at the dirt hence their common name.
I found these humming birds at one of the lookouts over the Mississippi river. Perhaps they are Rufous or Ruby throated hummingbirds minus their breeding colors.
Pelicans are a common sight flying over the Mississippi river. Every now and then when you cross over the bridges you can see hundreds of them in the water swimming together.
Orioles are pretty common in the Midwest as well. When they do show up though they prefer sitting high up in the middle of the trees hidden by leaves. You can only hear their loud calls and occasionally see some of their bright yellow before they fly off.
That's all for now, hopefully this next summer will be good for birding near the Mississippi. Thanks for looking :-)