When my husband and I retired we began feeding the birds. It was so much fun to see all the birds come to the yard and eat at the feeders.

After feeding them for awhile I decided to take photos of them.

We had never seen a brown thrasher before. I was thrilled to get this photo.

It made me happy to see them after awhile not fear me and the camera.

I was as excited as a child on Christmas morning to see this rose-breasted grosbeak. I had to do some research to find out what kind of bird this beauty was.

Then when I saw the first one of the these I had to go do some more research. The beautiful northern flicker.

We were finding retirement brings joy in many ways. We kept seeing many species of birds and enjoying them so much.

I had heard of red-headed woodpeckers but this one was the first for me to ever see. To get photos of this beautiful bird made me giddy. It doesn’t take much in nature to bring me joy.

We started just putting basic food out. The few species of birds that we saw in our yard before we began feeding them came to the feeders. Mostly finches, robins, cardinals, bluejays and mocking birds.

Then we added different kinds of feeders and a variety of food. That is when we began seeing the birds in the above photos.

We learned some birds preferred mixed seeds. Many of them ate black oil sunflower seeds, some preferred peanuts and others ate seeds, nuts, and fruit mixed.

Thanks to the birds that brought me joy and posing for photos.

If you love birds, feed them and they will come.