SHOW AND TELL TUESDAY

Time for something a little different.


Most of you know I LOVE birds. I am what they call a backyard birder. What that means is I am a bird watcher but I identify birds only in my own backyard. This backyard is at my weekend getaway in Pennsylvania. In the time I have been there I have sited and identified 249 different species of birds.

I have some particular favorites - such as the exciting, fun and energetic hummingbird, that can just hover in mid air, and buzzes me in the spring to tell me it's time to put out their nectar feeder.

the beautiful and majestic BlueJay, the very brightly colored American Goldfinch,

and the white breasted nut hatch, with the quirky honking sound that it makes and the way it crawls head-first down the side of a tree.

This picture is not upside down. This is very often how you will spot it.

And the awesomeness of the rather rare sighting of a Pileated Woodpecker. Part of the awe in sighting this bird is it's very large size.



I love birds so much I even have a few as pets in my own home - their names are Giacomo, the tiny little parrottlet, my 2 finches Poncho and Bianca, and my new addition, a baby Moustache parrot, DaVinci.


So I thought I would show and tell about the state birds from the states where some of the PetsJubilee team members live.
In alphabetical order by state:

Alabama's state bird - is the Northern Flicker, also known as a yellow hammer. It is a type of wookpecker, and it makes a distinctive sound of a ki-ki-ki-ki.

California's state bird is the California Quail. What a strikingly pretty bird, that I know absolutely nothing about.:

Connecticut's state bird is the American robin. I can always count on this bird to be one of the first birds to bathe in my bird bath when I get it ready every spring. They seem to like to nest under my awning every year.

New York's state bird is the Eastern Bluebird. Here is a really pretty male/ female pair. The male is the brighter one on the bottom, as they are in many, but not all, bird species:




Ohio's state bird is the absolutely beautiful Cardinal. Here is the male. The female is also red, but not nearly as bright red.:



Pennsylvania's state bird is the Ruffed Grouse. And of all of the 249 species I have seen in my backyard, including lots of Turkeys, this is not one of them:



Texas' state bird is the Mockingbird, and so is Tenessee's. I love all the different sounds that the Mockingbird makes. It also loves to mimic other sounds it hears. I can always identify this bird quickly by the way it flicks its tail when it sits on a branch:
Washington's state bird is one of my favorites, the American Goldfinch.
This bird is a frequent visitor at bird feeders, and this is the color of the male during breeding season. The female is similar, but more of a greenish/gold hue and not nearly as bright.:


I know at least one of our PetsJubilee peeps is from British Columbia.
This bird, the Steller's Jay, was voted the most popular there:

I hope you enjoyed this Tuesday's blog of SHOW AND TELL.

COME BACK NEXT WEEK - FOR GAME STOP TUESDAYS.