Big Black and Gray Birds

Yea!  You can finally tell that I'm working on a hummingbird! I think this guy is an eastern hummingbird - a Ruby-throated is my guess.

Padma wanted to take a closer look.

Over the weekend the interesting birds were big and black or big and gray.

It rained most of the weekend - over an inch. The Turkey Vultures don't like either the cold or the rain.

This one roosted quite close to the house allowing me to take my best ever photos of this graceful flier and clean-up expert.

Starlings are early nesters, and I think this weekend all the babies fledged.  I have far too many Starlings and are they ever noisy right now. The babies are following their parents around begging for food, while the parents ignore them for the most part.  Baby is on the left of this photo.

I also had a pair of Ravens come by. 

They were rather noisy too.

"My" flock of Band-tailed Pigeons has grown to over 50 birds.  They are more annoying than anything.  I have my feeders set up so they cannot eat from them, though they try constantly and continually.  The main 'problem', to put it politely, is cleaning up after them several times a day as they foul the water in the bird baths and defecate on the tops of my feeders.

  

On Sunday this bird hung out with all the Band-tailed Pigeons.  He is a Rock Pigeon (a city pigeon).  He is every bit as big as they are and what I think is interesting is that both legs have bands on them.  I wonder who is attempting to track this bird.