{A Sad Fall Day}

I'm always a little sad when the day comes to wash and put away the hummingbird feeders. 

Farewell little jewels until next year! Safe trip south!

Whoopsie!

I have spent countless hours watching the comings and goings of "my" backyard birds to the feeders in this tree. It's just outside my patio door.

 

This is what I woke up to this am. We had a big wind last night, the ground has been soaked for weeks, and the poor tree has been dead for 5 years. I never had the heart to take it down. The birds LOVE it!..now I have no choice. Yikes!

RIP

Poor Flicker...

Do any of you know what might be wrong with this poor Flicker? He's been on the tree puffed up with his head under his wing for hours!

Another new bird!

We had another new bird on the sunflower seed feeder today!

He's a Black-headed Grosbeak! Not a great picture, as I had to sneak up on him! He's got a seed in his mouth! Cute! Prior to seeing him, there was another bird on the feeder that I didn't recognize, but it flew away before I could get a photo. Come to find out, it was probably his mate because it was a female!

This is a photo from the internet, but that's her!! Sweet!


We also have a couple of sweet tiny Yellow Warblers hanging around, but they are too quick for me!! Here's what they look like...

Itty bitty things! I LOVE bird watching!!

Goldfinches..

The thistle socks hadn't been hung up but an hour when I spied this little guy. They're here!! Now I feel like it's spring!!!

Easter Sunday bird watching

MDH and I spent Easter Sunday like we do most holidays..nestled in the den watching movies all day. My spot on the sofa affords me a great view of of the 'bird yard' where I have numerous houses and feeders. All day long I can watch the feeding and comin's and goin's of all the resident birdies...house sparrows, scrub jays, flickers and woodpeckers. Imagine my surprise to look up and see a whole flock of something new!!! I managed to get this photo of a pair, male and female, on the black oil sunflower feeder. Beautiful!

Evening Grosbeaks!! I've only ever seen one or two at a time, and not every year. There must have bee 20 of them all over the feeders!! Made my day! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday as well!

Last weekend's flea market...

When we opened the doors at 9 am it was like Black Friday at Target. Everywhere I tried to go I was in someone's way. But, it was fun, I made some money and bought some awesome stuff from the other vendors.



Farmer Dwayne working on some more chicken coops...


The 'girls' love the little red house with the run...


But mostly they loved it when we let them out to go clean up under the bird feeder...

They are so sweet!! Bock bock bock!

A tag...

Saw this on Patty's blog and thought it would be fun.

Do this.....
Find the 6th folder in your photos folder and then the 6th photo in it.
Post it on your blog.
Tag 5 others, leave a comment to let them know they’ve been tagged.

Here's my 6 and 6:


It's a picture of goldfinches on their "sock" last summer. What you see in the air around them is water from the sprinkler. I thought it looked way cool!

I am on my way to tag you!

Quirky Cottage
Bye-Bye Pie!
Corgi Tails
Smiling Sally
Pam Kitty Morning

A sighting...

Saw this little guy in the backyard this afternoon. This is not my pic, as he was too 'flighty' to get a picture of. I'm was really excited to see him as my wild birds have been few and far between this year due to some really bossy blue jays that have taken up residence on our property. He didn't stay around long, and he probably won't be back :-(



Update: thought some of you might want to know what he is! He's a Rufous-sided Towhee!!

It's a miracle!!

Every year we have had lot's of baby birds born in the multitude of birdhouses on our property, but this year there are few due to the presence of a very mean Scrub Jay who runs everyone off. Most houses are empty this year, except for a couple far away from the house. The exception is a pair of starlings who set up house just outside of the family room sliding door, and a pair of Pygmy Nuthatches who, for the second year, have raised babies in a small hole in another tree off the family room. I could watch the coming and goings of the starlings as the house is in my line sight while watching TV.

I have always wanted to see babies fledge, but it always happens that one day they're there, the next day they are gone, having probably fledged in the wee hours of he morning, much to my disappointment. Imagine my shock and awe as I was watching TV last night at dusk, to see a baby starling launch itself out of the house directly onto the screen of the patio door where he hung for some seconds deciding what to do next!! I was beside myself, yelling "He fledged! He fledged!" to my husband, getting the dogs all in an uproar with my yelling. He tremulously flew off to another tree where the mean old Jay took notice of him and went after him, to what purpose I can only guess. I freaked out and ran out waving my arms to get the Jay off of the little guy, and the baby starling confidently flew off to join his mom who was calling him from another tree. I was so excited I could hardly contain myself! What an experience! So imagine my delight when some 20 minutes later, I saw another little head peek out of the house. I had thought there to be only one baby! I thought to my self, maybe he'll fledge too! Sure enough, there he went! Two fledgings in the space of 30 minutes and I saw them both!!! Life is good :-)

First day of summer...

was yesterday, and still no hummingbirds or goldfinches. Did observe one lonely little Pine Sisken at the thistle feeder on Thursday. Things are not looking good for my backyard bird watching since the killer jay moved to the 'hood.

Around the place..

I love this bush, unfortunately I don't know what it is. It's about 10 feet wide and about 8 feet tall. Gorgeous!!




The garden is tilled and ready for planting. Now to decide what to plant and find the time to do it! DH and I have decided that with our advancing ages (50's) this place is just getting to be too big for us and too much work. As much as I love gardening and flowers, I'm beginning to regret putting in so many beds. Too much weeding to keep up with. My dream has always been to have a little farm, but I'm not as spry as I used to be. With each year comes a new ailment.

One of my favorite hobbies is bird watching. We have always had tons of nesters and babies, but this year we have a mean ol' scrubjay who has managed to run everyone off. He even went so far as to tear out of a birdhouse all of the nesting materials that a pair of sparrows had worked on for a solid week! They had literally 'feathered' their nest with chicken feathers from the coop. I watched from inside as he deliberately picked out the feathers one by one and let them fall to the ground. The sparrows have not been back. Yet to arrive this year are the goldfinches and the hummers. It seems late, but maybe the jay has scared them off as well.

Our girls...and a guy...

"Am I not the mostest handsome guy? All de ladies, dey LOOOOVE me!"

Yippee!!!!!

Found a Bufo americanus on the steps going into my daylight basement office this am!!!! I am VERY excited because I've always wanted one for my garden, but none would come visit. Even have a house for him already...actually, it's a big ol' vintage tin funnel that I cut a 'door' into.
Not a very good photo (we have really cheap digital cameras here at school), but here he sits in a little flip-top tote full of weeds and barks chips, waiting to go home with me after lunch. I'll keep you posted about this newest member of my family :-)

A sad day..

On my way home from work today, as I pulled up to the driveway, I found our resident squirrel dead in the road. As much as she vexed me, eating the bird food, driving the dogs crazy, I wouldn't have wanted this to happen to her. I think she may have had a nest, because looking at her picture I can clearly see her 'faucets', so she may have been nursing. This is her memorial.

Took a short break...

Last weekend the weather was incredible!! HOT HOT HOT!!!! Tried to get some work done outside, but didn't make much headway as it was almost impossible to breath. I don't do well when it's really hot, nor do I do well when it's really cold. Gimme 70-75 degrees with no humidity and I'll be a happy camper. Although, I DO like what the heat and sun does for my laundry when I hang it out. There's just something about line-dried sheets that makes me all fuzzy inside. They smell so great, and even look cleaner than when they go through the machine. AND, if there's a nice breeze, NO WRINKLES, which is a plus as I only have white, 100% cotton sheets on my bed. No poly-cotton percale will ever touch this body again! What a difference!!

Got a little done during the week, but , again, not much. My job drains me a little, so all I want to do when I get home is take a nap! Did manage to get the Hummer feeders up, and hang a couple of squirrel feeders way out in the pasture to try to get the little dickens to stay out of the bird seed!!!! Also filled the thistle feeders in anticipation of the Gold Finches return. Can't wait!!

Slowly getting the Yard 'junk' out of storage. Too much work!! There's nothing that's worth much, so who cares if it stays out all winter?? If it rots and falls apart I'll just go thrifting and buy more. Beside, the yard looks too bare when everything is packed up for the winter and out of sight.

This weekend is Memorial weekend and I hope it's cooler!!! Got a list of projects a mile long and three days to do it in. I will be sure to take before and after pictures!!

A New Bird...

There's a new bird in our yard this spring. The White-Crowned Sparrow. They have never been here before and there's a whole flock of them outside the patio door! They are so cute! Their little head feathers stick up a bit looking somewhat like a little crest!