A FEW BIRDS, A FEW FLOWERS, A SQUIRREL

These are birds taken from the deck at the back of the house.  All are daily visitors.  The Cardinal was the first to show itself.  

I have seen more American Robins up in the trees than ever before.  I only ever used to see them hopping around on the ground in the springtime, but the last couple of years they have stayed longer and pick a branch to sit on.  I'll often look up to see one staring down at me.

The Blue Jay call to their families, and a few minutes later they arrive.

This one looks young.  I saw another trying to get its parent to feed it earlier, but was being encouraged to feed itself.  The lessons of life had begun. 

A crow always visits during the day, to see what seed we have to offer.

On this particular day there were no others. Some of these photos were taken through glass and screen.  They give an interesting effect.

The female Cardinal turned up soon after the male.

She really is a pretty one, a lot of beauty in her  more muted colors.

Another American Robin on my neighbor's fence post.

My last bird is a Mourning Dove.  Their soft cooing first thing in the morning is my favorite alarm clock.

Lastly, a squirrel was once again chattering and urging us to go inside. The weather was perfect, warm but without humidity, and we had been sitting outside on the deck longer than usual. After we left three others joined him at the birdfeeder.

There has been a bear sighting not too far away. There were photos of it hanging over someone’s fence, stretching to reach their bird feeder.  We are in a heavily populated area, so this is unusual. I saw the photos on our neighborhood app. I think it may be time to stop filling the feeders for a while.  I suppose with staying at home longer than usual, I have been delaying it.  When the warmer weather arrives, I know they have enough food in nature, so our friendly neighborhood bear 🐻 is a good reminder. 

My neighbor's peonies always look stunning.   There are lots of our roses in bloom also. This was one of the better photos I was able to get below.

May you all have an enjoyable day, and thanks for visiting.

  

HERE’S A SMILE AND A FEW QUESTIONS

I haven’t looked at the news yet but thought it would be nice to start the day off with a smile.   My thanks to Hilary B. Price for her humorous cartoon.

I have been tidying up around here, and came across an old quiz book I bought years ago.  I thought I would share some of the questions today, and give you the answers in tomorrow's post?  

1.  What is the highest mountain in the world?

2. What is the highest point in North America?

3.  What is the highest point in the 48-contiguous United States?

4.  What is the lowest point on land in North America?

5.  What is the lowest point on land in the world?

Have a good one my friends. 

WHAT IT IS

White-breasted Nuthatch 

with sunflower seed

What It Is 

by

Erich Fried

It is madness

says reason 

It is what it is

says love

It is unhappiness

says calculation 

It is nothing but pain

says fear

It has no future 

says insight

It is what it is 

says love  

It is ridiculous

says pride

It is foolish 

says caution

It is impossible

says experience

It is what it is

says love

Translated by

Stuart Hood 

A EUROPEAN ROBIN, A WOOD PIGEON AND A BLACKBIRD

Revisiting a trip I took to England in June 2015.

Where we stayed there was a small garden, and one day I was delighted to see a European Robin.  

They were and still are very popular illustrations to put on Christmas Cards as you probably know, and I remember them from those cards that popped through the letter box each December.  I don't remember seeing them when I was growing up, but then I wasn't as interested in observing birds as I am now.  I was always happy to see the seagulls swoop into our garden from the age of 15 onwards, when we moved nearer the seaside, and always when we visited the beach.  But I was beyond happy to get my first real sighting of this dear little Robin.

The next day I saw a Common Wood Pigeon...

and also a male Blackbird.  

 We kept ourselves busy sight-seeing on our English holiday, but it was nice to come back and sit in the garden.  Our Robin kept us company quite a lot.  We think she may have had a nest in the bushes.

Today I am joining Anni and Eileen in their memes, I'd Rather B Birdin' and Viewing Nature with Eileen.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day.

FOR THE BIRDS

Found while driving some back country roads in Virginia.

I wish I could remember where it was.  I would love one of those bird houses now.

Enjoy your day and 

thanks for stopping by.

TOTNES IN SOUTH DEVON - PART 2

We stopped and ate lunch in one of the pubs, The King William IV.  This is where we discovered how much we liked cider.

The four of us thought our meals were excellent.  Our niece ordered a chicken dish...

Our nephew and Gregg ordered a Thai Chicken Curry

I had the Steak and Mushroom Pie cooked with Merlot...

and we shared the Cajun-seasoned onion rings (obviously as these meals were on the menu in 2015, they could have changed several times since).

I am always on the look-out for inspirational signs, and this was on one of the walls in the restaurant.

After lunch we looked inside a few shops.  One was W.H. Smith and hubby grew to love their stationery selections from his two years spent in England.  He purchased a couple of fountain pens this day.  

I had forgotten how hilly it was so we certainly got our exercise that day, with lots of steps up and down between streets.  It was nice to see the familiar and smaller family-style shops instead of the large supermarkets that we are used to.  

We also passed by pretty courtyards on our way back to the car.

We walked over the River Dart bridge.

There were older school children rowing down the river.

It was fun watching them for a while; a school physical exercise class perhaps?  I would have enjoyed that PE class.  A teacher was in the last boat and there was at least one young adult in the others.  A rope tied each boat to the one in front.

I have always thought this river was very pretty.

The bird is a Jackdaw.  I found the following information at this link.  There are a lot of pop-ups on its site, so decided to share the following information about this interesting bird if you don’t want to deal with those. 

"The Jackdaw, also called Daw, (species Corvus monedula), crowlike black bird with gray nape and pearly eyes, of the family Corvidae (q.v. order Passeriformes).  Jackdaws which are 13 inches (33 cm) long, breed in colonies in tree holes, cliffs and tall buildings.  Their flocks fly in formation around the site.  They lay four to six light, greenish blue eggs that are spotted and blotched.  The bird's cry sounds like its name, "chak".  The species ranges from the British Isles to central Asia.  Eastward it is replaced by the white-breasted, white-collared Daurian jackdaw (C. dauuricus).“

Before going back to the cottage we drove to Torquay (one of those funny spellings again as it is pronounced "Torkee").  My niece had heard about the aquarium and we all enjoy those so we were looking forward to it.  However, by this time the clouds had darkened and it was very wet and windy, with huge white caps on the sea.  After almost being blown over trying to walk down to the aquarium, with heavy rain stinging our eyes, we decided it would be better to go another day, when it wasn't raining.  The walk was invigorating but you can only take so much invigorating, eye-stinging rain-walking.

One last stop at the three village shops, which are all joined together.  There was a newsagent, a hair salon and a general store for essentials.  They have been there for as long as I can remember.  My mother and sister visited the hair salon on occasion, and my father bought all the newspapers from the newsagent, and we would  pop into the general store if we needed anything just before a main shopping trip.

  

The man behind the counter of the general store was amused as we all walked into the shop in single file, and asked us to join the conga line.  We also looked sopping wet, though we were sure to dry our feet and tried not to overly drip everywhere.  It was a small shop and not a lot of room, sort of like walking into your front room.  Loved it and the friendly people inside, and it took me right back to when I lived in the village.  

There were waist-high freezer containers in the middle, quite a lot of variety.  Our purchases were cider, two six-pack packs of eggs and bars of chocolate.  The lady thought our purchases were amusing, and asked if that was all we were going to get.  With a smile I told her that I thought we had covered all the necessary food groups (not telling her we had done our main shopping the day before) and she laughed.  These shops are just up the hill from where we were staying, and Gregg enjoyed a walk each morning to get the newspaper, and also any necessary items we might need before we started our day.  We were all in a good mood after our lovely day out, but were exceedingly tired and slept well that night.

Thanks for following along with this old post, and I hope your day is a great one.

WISE WORDS

I think you are beautiful Sweetie, just the way you are. 


I am also including one of those stories that encompasses kindness and compassion, with a link across time that is incredible.  You may have heard of this already, but I am going to include it just in case you haven't.  It is an amazing story and one I want to remember as I look back and read this again. It is a story about a connection between the Choctaw Nation here in the US, and the people of Ireland. 

You can read about it here. 


Enjoy the rest of your weekend and thanks for visiting. 

OLD DECK CAMERA PHOTOS OF THE BIRDS

I will be setting up the deck camera soon but in the meantime here are three from last year.

Today we have a Mourning Dove, a Cardinal, maybe a juvenile, and a Red-headed Woodpecker with a Blue Jay at the back.

I hope you are having a good start to the week.  Thanks for stopping by.

SWEET BIRD SONG

These were taken on the last day of April.
While reading in my comfy chair, I heard the most beautiful bird song.  It took me a while to find the source.  Once I did I saw a pretty Carolina Wren singing sweet, loud and clear. You can listen to their song here.

 If you want to find out more information, you can go to this link.

 "Unlike other wren species" read here, "only the male Carolina Wren sings the loud song. In other species, such as the Stripe-breasted Wren of Central America, both members of a pair sing together.  The male and female sing different parts, and usually interweave their songs such that they sound like a single bird singing."  

Also,

"One captive male Carolina Wren sang nearly 3,000 times in a single day." probably saying "Let me out of here!" poor thing!

"The oldest recorded Carolina Wren was at least 7 years, 8 months old when it was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Florida in 2004.  It had been banded in the same state in 1997."

I read that and more interesting facts about the Wren here.

The day before I saw one on the rail of the deck out back.

 According to the website, both males an females have the same coloring.

Here's me wishing your weekend is off to a good start, and whatever you are doing, I hope it is a happy one.

Today I am linking to
Anni's I'd Rather Be Birdin'   
and 
Eileen's Camera Critters.  

Thank you for hosting Ladies!