Day One Hundred Thirty Four 2013

My daughter Holly gave me this beautiful Hummingbird feeder for Mother’s Day, plus some Hummingbird food mix. I filled it up today and placed it where I can keep an eye on it. I’m told I should plant some red flowers, as Hummingbirds are attracted to that particular color. I plan to do that soon. We’ve had one Hummingbird come to our yard the past two years, so maybe he/she will visit my new feeder. And maybe invite his/her friends to lunch.

Day One Hundred Thirteen 2013

Pointed my camera at the bird feeder this afternoon, waiting for this dove to fly away so I could snap a bird-in-flight picture. But she sat there. And sat there. Until my arms got tired of holding the camera. Is it just me, or are doves the dumbest winged creatures? Or am I the dumbest armed creature, waiting for this dumb bird to fly away so I can take a picture? She sat there for so long that I thought, She’s got nowhere to be. Which made me think of a line from one of my favorite John Denver songs, appropriately titled Fly Away.
In this whole world there's nobody as lonely as she   There's nowhere to go and there's nowhere that she'd rather be
Stupid dove. [stupid human]

Day Seventy Five 2013

I couldn’t have ordered a more perfect spring day than today. And it isn’t even spring yet.

Day Sixty Four 2013

Fed the birds. They should enjoy the seeds and peanut butter tomorrow when the weather is back to winter again.

Fed the humans. Homemade chili (although there was nothing chilly about it) was tasty comfort food on a cold, windy, wet winter’s night.

Day Forty Eight 2013

Sunday afternoon snack. Peanut butter tastes just as good upside down as right side up.

Day Fourteen 2013

Angry Bird. This momma cardinal was not happy about sharing the sunflower seeds at the feeder this morning. She scolded the little bird next to her, and he/she took off. (Been a while since I took any bird shots~~forgot to change the camera to sports setting~~the birds are a blur.)
God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into its nest. ~J.G. Holland

Day Forty Six 2012

A random shades of gray kind of day

Day Thirteen 2012

SNOW DAY!  Grandpeeps Shelby and Elijah enjoyed playing in the inch or so of snow that fell in our town last night and this morning. They stayed outside for nearly an hour, even though it was 25 degrees. They finally came inside and thawed out by the fire, sipped some hot chocolate and colored a picture or two before lunch time rolled around. Neil made sure the birds had plenty of food. They were all over those feeders all day long, especially the peanut butter. I ventured outside as the sun was setting to clean the ice and snow off the car. Enjoyed the day with my peeps! No bad luck today. Happy TGIF-the Thirteenth!

Day Three Hundred Thirteen 2011

"There is music in the meadows, in the air --
Autumn is here;
Skies are gray, but hearts are mellow,
Leaves are crimson, brown, and yellow;
Pines are soughing, birches stir,
And the Gipsy trail is fresh beneath the fir.
There is rhythm in the woods, and in the fields,
Nature yields:
And the harvest voices crying,
Blend with Autumn zephyrs sighing;
Tone and color, frost and fire,
Wings the nocturne Nature plays upon her lyre."
- William Stanley Braithwaite, Lyric of Autumn

Day Three Hundred Forty Nine 2010

Is That You, Rocky?

This is a first for me--seeing a raccoon climb up a fence and eat from a bird feeder. I took these pictures last night when our two resident raccoons emerged from under the back porch and started looking for a meal. This is the smaller of the two. It easily climbed the fence post and pulled the bird feeder over so he could munch on the sunflower seeds. Weird, wild stuff.

This one is the bigger one. It tried to climb the post and got about halfway up. It must have changed its mind because it suddenly slowly eased itself back down to the ground. I keep saying "It" because I have no idea if it is male or female. It just roots around on the ground below the bird feeder and eats the sunflower seeds already there. Sometimes they stop and stare at me while I stare at them, then they go about their feeding business. They're fun critters to watch, and I suppose they're here to stay as long as there's cat food and bird seed to feast on.

Day Three Hundred Nineteen 2010

"The stripped and shapely

Maple grieves

The ghosts of her

Departed leaves.
The ground is hard,

As hard as stone.

The year is old,

The birds are flown.
And yet the world,

In its distress,

Displays a certain

Loveliness"

~~John Updike, A Child's Calendar

Day Thirty Eight

Afternoon Snack

This Mockingbird is loving him some peanut butter snacking this afternoon. Life is good.

Day Twenty

Winging It

I have to snap a lot of pictures just to--hopefully--end up with one that's pretty cool. Birds are amazing little creatures and difficult to capture in flight because one second they're there and the next they're gone. They move quicker than my rapid fire snapshots. Thought I'd share this one with you from a day or two ago, as I didn't even pick up my camera today. Sometimes you just have to wing it.

Day Eighteen

A Little Levity ...

This picture cracks me up. The bird is poised in midair, as though he's not even flapping his wings. Like Houdini. It's magic!

Day Three Hundred Sixty Three

Picture Postcards From The Bird Feeder

It seems I wasn't the only one bird watching this afternoon.