I tried my hand at photography early Sunday afternoon, and these are the pictures I felt were worth keeping. I'm very pleased with them, despite the fact that they probably aren't anything special. I'll begin the sequence with a picture that might not be 'pretty', but it is among my favorites for the reasons outlined below:

House Finch, male w/ conjunctivitis

For being almost completely blind, this little bird gets around pretty well. He will flutter around  in a small area of the yard by the feeders for minutes straight without landing, and can even hover in place for a few seconds! I've never seen that behavior before, so I imagine it is a product of his handicap. I first noticed him several days ago, and he seems healthy in spite of what could be a debilitating illness. Birds have excellent vision; it is far-and-away their primary sense, with functions ranging from mate selection to feeding to (obviously) navigation. Somehow this finch has managed to compensate, and that's really neat.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

This Red-bellied was on that bath for several minutes, which provided ample opportunity to get a decent picture. This is my favorite of several taken.

American Goldfinch, Female

I took this through a window, and was about 2 feet removed from her. I know that the birds can see me through it since they'll fly away if I walk past too quickly. That kind of proximity was really handy when it came to taking this shot.

American Goldfinch, male prior to flight

He was gone when the shutter opened.

American Goldfinch, male + female

Another that I'm fond of, if only for the female's inclusion. They don't mind me taking pictures, but that doesn't mean they're going to stop keeping an eye on me!

American Goldfinch, male

By now it should be obvious that the goldfinches are the most photogenic, abundant, and all-around easiest-to-take-a-picture-of birds that I encountered.

Mourning Dove

Definitely the flightiest of the species that I observed. There was no way I was getting any closer.

Feeder bandit

This little guy and his friends have found that it's easier to jump on to bird feeders from the fence than it is from the roof. It's probably less painful when they miss, too.

European Starling

For an invasive species that steals nest sites, starlings are very striking birds.

Song Sparrow

One of the harder birds to get a picture of, that's for sure. This is the only decent one I could take.

Chipping Sparrows

I'm fairly certain this is a breeding pair, but I haven't yet mastered the art of telling sexes apart in the vast majority of species.

Spicebush Swallowtail

This picture probably took the most amount of luck out of the bunch — I only had time for the one before it was gone.

House Finch, male

And finally, a healthy representative of the first bird's species to wrap this post up.