A few more afternoons poking my 300mm lens out my window has uncovered some of the avian drama unfolding in my own back yard. Ok...it's birds fighting over a bird feeder. Not so exotic, but what can one expect from a site in the middle of a city in Central Illinois.

Here we see a couple of shots of a cardinal and sparrow vying for position:

Sitting idly by contentedly munching on safflower seeds from a tray feeder is a female cardinal:

I've also got suet cakes put out to try and attract Woodpeckers and Blue Jays, but so far all they've brought in are the ugliest, clumsiest bird species I've ever seen - the European Starling:

I hate these birds. They're an invasive, non-native species that are like avian locusts. Every one of the 200 million starlings that are in North America are descended from a flock of about 60 released in New York's Central Park in 1860. They were introduced by a guy who thought it would be a good idea to release every bird species mentioned in the works of Shakespeare into North America. Dumb ass...

It's because of these winged rats that I don't have any jays or wood peckers visiting my yard. The suet cakes don't last long enough.