Yard Birds

I have ventured out in a number of different directions from Billings looking for birds and other wildlife over the last few weekends with the results being that I have found a lot of interesting places to explore, but very little in the way of wildlife to observe and photograph. The highlights have been a few Rough-legged Hawks hanging around here and there and what appeared to be a large migration of Horned Larks moving through last weekend. They were in flocks ranging from about 10 birds to well over 100 birds flying low and fast directly north. I observed a number of these flocks passing through the landscape north and east of Billings, often right over or through the resident Horned Larks that were displaying, singing, and fighting on their territories.

So this weekend I decided to stay home and try to photograph the diversity of birds in my backyard. There was one of the early resident American Robins.

There were a few lingering Common Redpolls too.

But the best birds were the Red Crossbills that have been frequenting the back yard. At times I have had around 70 individuals coming to the feeders and water. Most often it is smaller flocks of 20 or 30.