Male cardinals are highly territorial, they will even fight their own reflection, making a mess of windows and car mirrors. I like to listen to their loud, "Cheer, cheer, cheer" calls in the spring. Contrary to popular belief, birds do not call to greet the sunrise or because they are happy, they are saying, "You other guys stay away, this is my territory!" Or sometimes, "Are any of you pretty ladies interested in a date?" Listen to the birds on a spring morning and see how many different kinds you hear. How many can you identify?

A female Cardinal awaits her time at the feeder. She has fluffed out her feathers to keep warm on a very cold winter day (it was in the low 20's when this photo was taken). Birds' feathers trap a layer of air keeping them warm; birds, like mammals, are warm-blooded (this is why penguins are able to survive the brutal conditions of Antarctica).

Bluebirds in bath

September 22, 2008 These young bluebirds were splashing in the birdbath in our yard. I had just filled it a few hours earlier, after a few vigorous baths, it was nearly empty!

A House Sparrow pair caught in the act of building a nest in our bluebird house at school! Look who is doing all the work, the female with the grass in her mouth!

This close-up shot of a Blue Jay shows the beautiful pattern of their wings. I took this shot through a classroom window at school while I was waiting (in vain) for the white member of its flock to return. According to sources I've read, blue-colored birds do not have blue feathers! The blue color comes from the refractive structures in the feathers, only the blue wavelength of the white light (from the sun) is reflected back to our eyes. A good discussion of feather color can be found on this link: Feather color.

White-breasted Nuthatch; Sitta carolinensis

I love to watch Nuthatches, they are such lively little birds! They are quite hyperactive, so they are hard to photograph. This little guy would fly to the feeder, fly back to the tree, jam the seed into the tree bark, shell and eat the seed, then fly back to the feeder. They are one of the few birds that can walk down the tree bark! (see next photo)

Note how this female Cardinal has the same facial markings as the male, she is much more cryptically colored though. A brightly colored female would be easier for predators to see and attack. I like to tell my students that in nature, it's the males that put on the "make-up" of bright colors to attract a mate! ;)

I photographed these Cardinal eggs in a vine in the garden at my school. It will be fun to watch the chicks as they hatch and grow.

Eastern Bluebirds; Sialia sialis

) were photographed at the Hiwassee Wildlife Management Area on Feb. 10, 2007. The Sandhill Cranes that we had gone there to see were gone, so we enjoyed seeing the other birds, such as snow geese, various ducks, a red-tailed hawk and even a bald eagle. The male bluebird was the most brilliant blue I have ever seen! His duller colored mate is to his left. I have a hard time getting photographs of birds facing me, I usually seem to get them from the wrong side! Bluebirds stay in our area during the winter.

Indigo Bunting; Passerina cyanea

) was flitting around a roadside pullout in the Smokies early one morning in late April. He was singing loudly trying to let a nearby rival that this was his territory. He was stunningly beautiful! I really wished I had better telephoto capabilities when I downloaded this blurry photo! Yes, I was using a tripod! :)

Blue Jay; Cyanocitta cristata

) has been appearing at a feeder in the garden at the elementary school where I work (2006). I spotted it from my room and I raced around the corner to go to another room to get a closer picture. When some kids in the hall saw me they scolded, "Mrs. Light, you're not supposed to run in the hall!" This Blue Jay is not an albino because it does have some black markings, it is considered "leucistic" (leuco means "white").

Nuthatches often walk upside-down on the tree branches. This one is eating suet from our feeder. I took this photo with a spotting scope attached to my camera.

Leucistic Female Cardinal

I was excited to see this leucistic (it is not an albino) female Cardinal on January 27, 2019 in my yard under the bird feeders. It is interesting how she kept the red coloration, but most of the brown did not develop.

I had to hold my camera above my head to get this photo of these Baby Robins because the nest was about 6 feet above the ground. I had to try to focus through the leaves while looking at a tiny LCD screen a foot above my head. I was excited to find this little baby with its nest mates. It was so young its eyes were not yet open. The bright-colored mouth and loud peeping calls let the parents know the chicks are ready to be fed!

"Splish splash, Bluebirds takin' a bath!" Mom is waiting her turn while dad freshens up for the evening. This was one of those times I really could have used a faster telephoto lens!

Indigo Bunting; Passerina cyanea

Knoxville, TN Ijams Nature Center May 31, 2010 What a thrill it was to see this beautiful male Indigo Bunting on a Queen Anne's Lace! I had been trying to get a good photo of one of these handsome guys for years, I finally succeeded.

In January 2008 we were delighted to see that the white ("leucistic") Blue Jay was still alive. I brought my camera to school in hopes of getting a better photo of it. I was surprised to see that it does have a bit of blue on its wings, as this photo shows. I'll try to get an even better photo, I had to take this one through double pane glass and in the shade at 8:15 in the morning. This bird has a very rigid schedule of when it shows up at the feeder at the school.

Look at the difference in the beaks of the Nuthatch and the Cardinal. Cardinals are seed eaters, thus they have short, thick beaks. Nuthatches have long, sharp beaks for poking around the cracks in tree bark as they hunt for insects.

Cardinal; Cardinalis cardinalis

)was photographed in April at Ijams Nature Center. He looked so striking with the redbud tree in the background. The males are more brightly colored. I am careful to avoid saying, "Male birds are brighter than females;" I said that once and the boys in my class loved it! Their smart-aleck answer was, "Well, yeah, we know that!" So now I say that male birds are more brightly colored than females!

This pretty little female Bluebird was photographed late in the afternoon in late February at the Civic Center Park in Oak Ridge.

This handsome male Bluebird was getting ready to take a bath in my yard. I stood very still on the carport to get this shot with my telephoto lens.

Blue Jay; Cyannocitta cristata

) with an acorn in its' mouth through my picture window in the living room. It took it to a tree to open it. This may solve the mystery of how the oak trees sprout in the garden at my school. It is completely enclosed by walls so no squirrels or other animas can bring them in and bury them. Birds, however, would have no trouble bringing in acorns! Blue Jays are colorful, loud, and boistrous birds. They make many different sounds with their calls. These birds will dive at and harass cats that they see as a threat. The scientific name Cyanocitta cristata comes from Greek, cyanos = "blue" kitta = "jay" and cristata = "crested".

January 16, 2008 The white ("leucistic") Blue Jay has few of the typical blue markings of its normal-colored kin(only the wingtips are pale blue) and the black markings are much lighter colored. A good discussion of feather color can be found on this link: Feather color.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher; Polioptila caerulea

These busy little birds dart about tree branches and trunks eating tiny insects.