• Saturday-What'sUP March 24 - 08:54 am

A feathered treat today, from Phil Odum, who captured these beautiful birds with the lens of his camera. It sure is nice to see some color besides white here in the Keweenaw this time of year, so we always appreciate when these little creatures visit our feeders.

Phil's first shot is of a Pine Grosbeak, who sure is pretty with the red feathers amongst the gray and white ones. This bird generally spends its time further north in Canada, but does make visits to our neck of the woods during the winter months. It's actually a finch and considered to be the "largest and rarest of the winter finches."

Number two on today's list, is the Common Redpoll, which is much smaller than the Grosbeak, but is a winter visitor, also. They actually come from the arctic tundra and boreal forests, when they migrate to this area during the winter time.

And last, but not least, is the Gray Jay. This is the biggest of today's selection of birds and is considered to be quite adventurous and fearless in the bird world. They live here in the Keweenaw year round and eat a wide variety for their diet, from berries to small animals and have even been known to land in your hand for a treat.

Thus concludes our Pasty Cam study in Ornithology for today. Special thanks to Phil for providing the visual aids for this lesson.

Great bird show.

Nice detail and clarity!

Love these pictures!! Birds are such a joy to watch and to photograph! Thanks for sharing!

Nice pictures of some beautiful colored birds! Love the name Gray Jay!

Thank God for the beauty of birds!

Wonderful photos today! I'll second that thought about birds, Shirley. :-)

Thanks to Phil for the beautiful photos and to Mary for the
informative commentary.

Great birdie photos - They are really feasting on my feeders in the last week! Thanks for the beautiful photos

WOW! I haven't seen a gray jay yet....and the redpolls have their "breeding" plumage going. I was talking w/someone that mentioned some birds w/red chests, then I saw one, and looked in "The Book" and it's a breeding Redpoll!

Big thanks to Charlie and Mary...for posting my pics. And to Skye Haas of Marquette, Jeremy Halka, too. I have been in the U.P. once a week of the winter, birding...seeing many great birds. My Soo winter birding trip in Jan., Feb., brought many birds, including a Great Gray Owl. I'm sorry I missed this yesterday. It was an early start for me, usually a 4 a.m. start. Went to Dow Gardens in Midland to get some butterfly pictures.
Thanks everyone, for your comments.