Crow, Pheasants, Flicker (20160709-15) Its nice to see the chicks around the house!

Well I gotta tell you with all of the young birds that I have been seeing, I have been wondering if we were going to get a yard family of pheasants this year. Last year it was well into august before we started seeing a family unit around the yard regularly. Well this year it would appear the we will have the pleasure of entertaining a family again this year. But first a shot of a crow that I have been wanting to get an image of for a while now. This sweetheart has one white tail feather and with the its roots showing on the wings as it is going through a moult.

Later in the day I spotted Mom and her little ones in the back yard. Here is one of the more adventuresome chicks.

Here are three that snuck out onto the grass before mom scolded them back to her safety.

And of course Mom with 5 of her seven that showed up on this first day, that we have seen them this year.

The next day of course the yard was watched pretty steadily, no pheasants spotted but this Mourning dove demanded some attention.

Then this lovely Northern Flicker sat in some beautiful light and I had to shoot it.

Then within another couple of days Dad showed up with Mom and six lovely chicks. Here he is with 5 of his charges, I was surprised to find him with no tail feathers remaining.

This is what you look like when you have a pile of kids to try and raise safely in a world today. Dad is a little disheveled.

I would have liked for them to show up when they were even smaller, but I will take them at this size, gratefully!

Of course Dad isn't doing this all on his own, so here is Mom.

So over the next few months you should be able to follow these "new" birds through their journey to adulthood. I am hoping that there will be a lot of photo opportunities!
Turbo