Take that, you nuthatches!!!

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my landscape endeavors this weekend. I look at some of the beautiful land and seascapes here on blip and it inspires me to learn more about this type of photography. For today, however, I'm back on relatively familiar ground with the birds.

Since the weather has gotten colder, the blue jays are all about the suet. Problem is that they aren't quite as nimble as the smaller nuthatches, chickadees and downy woodpeckers, so usually they find a branch to perch on the nibble suet from there. This jay, however, has apparently been watching the nuthatches and taking notes, and was quick to show off his moves. Silly bird! Not the best shot of the day from a technical standpoint, but definitely the shot that made me chuckle. If only I'd been able to capture the great flapping of wings when he lost his precarious perch on the suet feeder!

I also saw a flock (small, no murmuration here) flock of starlings and managed to get off a quick in-flight shot. It was one of those press-the-shutter-and-hope-the-auto-settings-figure-it-out shots. My two best shots from a technical standpoint were this house finch chowing down a sunflower seed and this adorable dark eyed junco posing on a branch. It is hard to photography juncos because they are usually scurrying around under the shrubs, but this one posed for an instant before she took flight.

So, Monday is almost officially over and - OMG - is it really 13 days until Christmas???