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.

  

BIRDS ON THE BACK DECK BUT FIRST...

This is an illustration I found at Pixabay.  You may remember me mentioning the site before.  Sandra at Madsnapper told us about it in one of her blog posts quite a while ago.  I go to it frequently as I enjoy not only browsing through their wonderful photos, but several of my signature graphics come from there. I put them together in a program I have called Paint Shop Pro, adding my name and a few other details if needed, tweaking the design if I need to tailor it to see if it will look better to my eye, generally playing on the program until I have something satisfactory.  I get so focused an hour or two have gone by without me realizing. The picture above appealed to my love of wildlife, and I thought I would share it today.

I have been enjoying my own wildlife this week.   The Robin stayed up in the tree for a long while and I took photos.

I was able to get a bag of bird seed.  Not too long after I had replenished their supply, the second bird to show up was the Goldfinch.  He seems to be getting the beginnings of his bright yellow summer plumage.  Added note: Anni from Hootin' Anni's Day Trippin' said she thought my Goldfinch might be a female with more muted colors.  Thanks Anni! 

A male and female House Finch was sitting up in the tree waiting.

Quite a look you have there Mr. Finch!

A White-throated Sparrow paid a quick visit...

as did the male Red-headed Woodpecker.  You can just about make out his claws hanging onto the edge of the deck rail.  Another collage with a few other poses...

and another male House Finch flew down for his lunch.

The next photo is the last one of the birds, this time a male Cardinal and a female House Finch.  They seem to be quite comfortable in each other's presence.

I noticed something out of the corner of my eye, and a squirrel was busy gathering leaf material.

Their home is in a tree in our front yard.  She is on the branch of a tree in the back garden in this photo, which gives her easy access to the roof of our house.  She scurries over the roof which leads to another overhanging branch on the other side, belonging to the tree in front, which she uses to scurry up to her nest.  We're going to have to get the trees trimmed this year, at least so that these little darlings don't have access to the roof anymore, and can't dig a hole into our attic to take up residence next winter! 

Added note: 4-18-20

I had an invite to join Anni's link at I'd Rather B Birding'.  If you have any bird experiences and would like to join in, you can add yours at this link here.

BIRDS AT HUNTLEY MEADOWS

~Female Cardinal~

 ~Canada Geese~

~Green-winged Teal~

 ~Male Red-winged Blackbird~

 ~Great Blue Heron~

~Mallards~

                   

SNOW BIRDS

There are a lot of birds in this post.  There are Cardinals, White-breasted Nuthatch, Dark-eyed Juncos, Blue Jays, Goldfinches, House Finches and Carolina Wren.  

We didn't have a heavy snow and a lot of it melted today.  

Thanks for looking and have a great day.

THE BIRDS AT WILLIAMSBURG BOTANICAL GARDENS....

Continuing on our walk around the garden, I saw two kinds of birds, a Cardinal that was in the process of molting/growing his feathers back,  and two or three Tufted Titmouse's, all near the birdfeeders. 

These are the same kind of birds I get regularly at home but I still love to see their cousins down south.

"It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important."

~Sir Arthur Conan Doyle~

 This is definitely bird therapy.  

 I could sit and watch them for a long time, totally mesmerized.

 "You can observe a lot by watching."

~Yogi Berra~

I felt another set of eyes on me and realized I wasn't the only one observing. Who's looking at whom here?

 I wonder how long it will take for him to grow his feathers back?

Have a great day and thanks for looking.