Going On A Field Trip In Your Own Back Yard

It was 6am Sunday morning and I was enjoying a cup of coffee as I admired the view through my kitchen window. I was struggling to decide where I should go bird watching and then it occurred to me. Why not spend the day in my own back yard? I picked out a nice viewing area beneath a tree and set up my camera on a tripod. I thought it would be a good opportunity to try out the flower mode on my camera while I was waiting for the birds to show up. This flower is from a plat called Rose Of Sharon. Hummingbirds are attracted to these flowers.

I have lots of berries in my yard this summer which attract catbirds. I'm not sure if they're territorial or just curious but this one landed on my tripod and stared at me as I was looking though my binoculars. 

The petals on these Purple Coneflowers are almost gone but I leave them standing well into the fall because birds like to eat their seeds.

I spotted a Baltimore Oriole feeding on the cottony flowers in this Mimosa Tree.

I often see the palm-like branches in this tree shaking from the birds  like this Cedar Waxwing eager to get at their flowers. This tree isn't native to Connecticut so I wouldn't have planted one in my yard but since it came with the house I might as well enjoy it!

 It was a nice change for me to spend the day in the backyard  instead of driving all over wasting gas looking for birds. It was also convenient to use the tripod for the camera in the backyard and to have use of a table and chair. I didn't need to worry about getting home in time to do yard-work. I was able to work on the gardens and cut the grass in between what I was doing. The manual reel mower I use doesn't make much noise to scare the birds away. By observing birds from one set location, I was able to observe some interesting behaviors that I might have otherwise missed.
  

 Besides the birds that visited my yard I also had some interesting flyover birds including an Osprey and a Black Vulture. I don't plan on spending all my weekends birdwatching at home but it's nice to have that option to fall back on.