Best Dressed Birds Contest

Vogue has their best-dressed lists --  and GQ, People magazine... I've even seen a list of the "best dressed national hockey league players".  Personally, I'm not very interested in "people fashion".  I do love my birds though.  So I thought it would be fun to have a best-dressed bird list.  

It would be really hard to choose from all the birds, so I narrowed my choices down to birds that come to our feeders.  Today, I'm going to post a selection of my favorites and then in my next post I'll reveal who is my number one favorite.  Meanwhile, feel free to vote for your favorite in the comments.

Here are the contestants, in no particular order:

The tufted titmouse is such a jaunty little bird, that even though I don't have a truly flattering photo, I had to include him.  You can just barely see his mostly-hidden rusty brown accent under his wing.  I love his  grey crest with the black accent in the front.

The white-throated sparrow has the "wow!" factor with its yellow supralorals, if you are into details.  Also, I love those crown stripes and white at the throat.  All in all, an interesting combination with his understated brown, black, and white wings.

I'm a lot about color when it comes to beauty.  If red with a burnishing of gold makes you happy, you might choose the northern cardinal.  Plus, there is his red crest set off with black around his bill.  In a snow storm setting, he is spectacular!

For the cuteness factor, you could hardly beat the tiny black-capped Chickadees!  Aren't they adorable?

Color again... and yellow happens to be one of my favorites.  Strikingly set off with a perky black pill-box cap on the fronts of their heads, and black and white wings.  However, in winter they are olive-drab.  A slight minus to their fashion standing?

Ruby-throated hummingbird.... perfection in a tiny package.  If you are into glamor, they might be your favorites, since they are shimmery and jeweled, especially when the spotlight hits the males' red throat feathers.

Just beautiful - the male and female Baltimore Oriole.  If you happen to be a fan of the orange and black Philadelphia Flyers, this might be your favorite fashion bird, too.

Mourning doves may not be a fashion models favorite 'body shape' but I think they are winsome birds.  Their colors are not bright, but seen in the right light you'll notice they have some pink iridescence - and if you're into footwear - how about those sweet pink shoes?

Downy woodpeckers are another bird I love for their personality.  But this isn't a personality contest.  They were chosen for their sharp black and white suits, and this male in particular for the red heart on his head!

This white-breasted nuthatch is on his way to the feeder to grab-and-go with a sunflower seed.  He stopped for a moment on his favorite perch for a photo opp.  Nuthatches are always tidy-looking and I love their clean cut appearance.

There's a lot of detailing in the fashion choices of the red-bellied woodpeckers.  Yes, red-bellied!  Although they have a gorgeous red head, they are named for the patch of red on their bellies.  They also have red eyes and striking markings on the wings, back and tail feathers.

Last in our runway line-up are the male rose-breasted grosbeaks.  Yes, they have rather large beaks, but the rest of their outfits definitely makes them contenders.  Each spring when they come back from their winter vacation, I'm always a little shocked at their bright rose ties and black-and-white tuxedos!

Which is your favorite?  Or perhaps it's one of the birds I left out... there are so many beautiful birds, it was hard to pick just a dozen!

Update:  Here's a link to see the winner!