The Stripes and Checks in my suburban backyard are a bit smaller and less-exotic than Tina’s zebras; but they are also less dangerous, and I can get closer to them to take their pictures.  And I sure don’t have to go most of the way around the world to see them!  They show up now almost every day.  I hope you-all readers don’t get tired of my posting more pictures of my avian visitors, because I just love watching them and taking their pictures whenever they show up.

Our Pine Siskins prefer our seed-feeder.  This week, one of them must have been really hungry, since he stayed at one station in the feeder for quite a long time.  I was able to get a good picture, since he stayed relatively still.  So you can see his wing-bars, and striped back easily.  That yellow stripe is a good way to identify him.  He is puffed-up too, and you can see his side stripes.

Over on the big suet feeder, our Bewick’s Wren shows off his white eye-stripe, again a good way to distinguish him from the other mostly-gray birds that frequent our yard (like the juncos and bushtits).

This picture almost begs for a caption!

Of course, our yellow-and-black striped Townsend’s Warbler deserves mention, and this week I was able to get him to pose so he shows off his stripes.

And you notice the checks, too, in the feeder itself!

Underneath the suet feeder, our Varied Thrush roots for worms on the ground-they are mostly carnivores, like their cousins the robins.  We have a pair who visit, and this is the male.  You can see his big chest-stripe.

And his wings are striped in two directions-check out the shoulder-stripes, and wing-bars.

Stripes, created by sand, and shadow.

Finally, in the Skagit Valley, the flower fields make beautiful colored stripes in Spring.

Link to Tina’s Post