January Bird Watching

We have had the usual songbirds and woodpeckers visiting our backyard feeders lately, but we have had some new birds recently.  Last Friday afternoon, while Julia and I were eating lunch, we saw a lot of splashing in the brush around the creek.  Julia thought it was ducks (there were ducks in the creek, but not in the area of all the splashing).  I was quite certain it was a predatory bird, catching its lunch.  Turns out I was right.  After catching and eating its prey, the large bird flew up into one of the trees.  I was waiting and ready with my camera, and the only picture I got was the one below.  After looking it up in the bird book, Julia and I came to the conclusion that we had seen a Northern Goshawk, which is a 21-inch bird that prefers to eat medium-sized birds and mammals.  It's anyone's guess what this goshawk caught and ate, but it sure made for an entertaining afternoon for us humans.

This afternoon I was able to take a good picture of a brown creeper.  We saw these quite a bit toward the end of last summer.  But it's hard for me to get a good picture of one because they are constantly on the move (and they are incredibly timid).  For some reason, this one was sitting still as a statue on the tree bark, giving me the perfect opportunity to snap a picture.