Five Favorite Little Bird Species Photographed During the Winter of 2022- 2023
Left click on each photo for a better view in a gallery format. You can also scroll through them with the directional arrows. To return to the main page hit escape or click the X in the upper right hand corner of the picture.
This first Facebook January 26, 2023 Post was one with many positive comments, Likes, Loves, and Wow's from the readers. You will see why viewing the pictures below.
Everybody loves seeing Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis), especially the males in the sunshine that showcases their bright royal blue colors on the back and head.
If you compare all these photos it is easy to see how different angles of the sun and shadows from trees give such different coloring of the blue.
The first one is a zoomed in close up of the second photo. I had to slowly move to get the full sunlight on this male to really capture this shade or tint of blue color to stand out.
The females are also pretty with the gray-blue back and head and like the males with the red-brown chest. The next four are all the same female but the color shades change due to the lighting angle and shadows. These pictures show the personality of this little lady who changed her perch several times as I was shooting pictures.
I photographed this male Eastern Bluebird earlier on my January 24 morning walk on the connector trail to Lincoln Road which is just inside the Alcoa City limits about 200 yards from Browns Creek. These 2 pictures were not on the Facebook posts as I usually only add 3-5 pictures when I post there. I am also adding more to my narrative of the photography bird sessions in this
Closer to Nature....Digital Nature Journal
My January 12, 2023 Facebook post bird of day was these White-throated Sparrows (Zonotrichia albicollis). These photos were taken in late November and through December, 2022 in the Maryville, Tennessee Area.
The first three photos were taken on November 28, 2022 at Sandy Springs Park next to Pistol Creek on the Greenway Trail.
They are a smaller bird that likes spending their time lower to the ground and in brushy habitats. Feeds on seeds, berries, and insects but will visit bird feeders. They breed in Canada and Northern New England states but migrate south into much of the US into Northern Mexico.
The first photo below was taken on December 19, 2022 just below the Greenbelt Lake Dam along the Greenway trail. The second one was from December 22, near the Maryville College new Track at the edge of the College Woods.
I also had another great day with photographs of White-throated Sparrows on January 23, 2023. These birds were in brush habitat and feeding on the ground. I decided to add another Facebook post featuring this species on January 25, 2023.
I started looking up more information about some of the birds I was posting on facebook and adding the bird's behavior and habitat "trivia" to the posts. More about the White-throated Sparrows after these photos with a link to the National Audubon Society website.
The photos are also from my January 23, 2023, cold windy morning walk near the Greenbelt lake beside the Maryville Tennessee Greenway trail. I posted two iNaturalist observations of White-throated Sparrows (Zonotrichia albicollis) at different locations.
I estimated I saw about 8 or 9 of this species total on the ground mainly under brushy plant growth. These photographs were near the Blount County Library on a bank above the Lake.
For most song birds I photograph, I attempt to capture them in their natural habitats and I do not over crop or zoom in too close. Often it is a challenge to get identification pictures of them back in the limbs, leaves, and brush were I usually see them.
These next pictures were about one-forth mile past the Lake on the Trail. This White-throated Sparrow was under a bush on the ground scratching in the leaves just above Pistol Creek.
I recorded my first sighting of a White-throated Sparrow this past year on November 1, 2022 at Springbrook Park, Alcoa TN. This small bird species breeds and spends the summers in forests across Canada, the northeastern USA, and the northern Midwest. They winter migrate to Pennsylvania across into Illinois and down to Texas as well as all of the Southeastern USA states.
More information from The National Audubon Society: “A common winter bird of eastern woodlots, shuffling about on the ground in loose flocks, often coming to bird feeders that are placed close enough to the shelter of thickets. Winters in areas with dense low cover, including forest undergrowth and edges, well-vegetated suburbs and parks.”
“Their Feeding Behavior is foraging mostly on ground under or close to dense thickets. Often scratches briefly in leaf-litter with both feet.” My photos today confirm this behavior.
White-throated Sparrow Audubon Society
My bird of the day for January 4, 2023, was this Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus).
I photographed this little one December 28, 2022 on the Alcoa, Tennessee Greenbelt trail as twilight was beginning at 5:00 pm. Still some snow on the ground and this little bird came out of the creekside brush and wanted to pose for pictures.
Cuteness best describes this little beauty who always seems to have its tail feathers pointed upward. These two pictures has it peeking at me from behind a Honeysuckle vine.
I also saw 2 more of this species about 25 feet down the trail. They usually stay on the ground or on low limbs. Sometimes hard to get photographs, as always jumping around and going into brush piles and ground cover growth.
My January 31, 2023 Bird of the day was the Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis).
These first two photographs were from a Facebook post on January 16 where a Downy Woodpecker "bullied" a Chickadee from a good feeding spot among some Shelf Fungus growing on a limb.
These little bandit looking birds with black masks or maybe a dirty snowman with a black hat were a hit for my Facebook birds of the day.
The next two pictures of a Carolina Chickadee were by the Maryville, Tennessee Greenbelt lake on January 14, 2023.
The next four Carolina Chickadees were seen along the Alcoa Greenway near I-140 (Pellissippi Parkway) on January 15-16, 2023.
These little cute birds move a lot which makes getting good focused photos difficult. The black masks also hide their eyes in pictures but on these 5 little birds I was able to capture the glint of the black eyes.
“The Carolina Chickadee is an energetic little black, white, and gray bird and is familiar to most Tennesseans because it readily visits bird feeders and it frequently calls its name while foraging, chick-a-dee-dee.”
“Carolina Chickadees are found year round throughout the state anywhere there is forest and are absent only from the high elevations in the Appalachian Mountains where Black-capped Chickadees are often present. The breeding range extends from New Jersey westward to southeastern Kansas and central Texas, southward to the Gulf Coast and northern Florida.”
“Chickadees have a fabulous memory. They hide thousands of food items in different locations and are able to return later and remember where nearly all of them are.”
My bird of the day for January 29, 2023 photographs today are these Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia).
These four different individual small birds were photographed from my January 23, 2023, cold windy morning walk near the Greenbelt lake along the Maryville, Tennessee Greenway trail.
This species is not as flashy and colorful as the White-throated Sparrow but there is something about their eyes looking and peering at me in most of the photographs I take of them through the brush.
Song Sparrows are one of my favorite small birds to photograph and the challenge is they like to perch back in the brush. I like to see if I can I get their head and eyes in focus to show their personality. I posted 23 observations to iNaturalist during January, 2023 of Song Sparrows.
The following Song Sparrows pictures were not posted on Facebook from a December 30, 2023 Photo walk on the Maryville, Tennessee Greenway at Pearson Springs. This bird gave me some of the best poses and was only about six feet away from me beside the trail.
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