A big part of our daily ritual is viewing our backyard birds. My husband takes the credit for luring about 15-20 different species year round...he keeps the feeders full. I feel brilliant identifying new ones with our bird books as they come. My kids laugh at me. Last summer was a good one for new arrivals...the cowbird, bushtits, and grosbeaks. All strange names for sure. With my photography, I can be seen dangling out the upstairs window to get those spy shots. This bird is one of my favorites, the male flicker.