SATURDAY MORNING AT THE BIRD FEEDER - ANNOYING PARROT?

There was one bird who decided to stay home.

Yes, I will tell the story. I heard this straight from a birdy's mouth. Here goes!

There was a resident magician on the cruise ship who does the same act every night. The captain of the ship has a parrot who started attending the shows.

The parrot starts to work out the tricks and shouts out each trick's solution to the audience, "the rabbit is under the hat", "he's using a mirror". The audience loves the parrot but the magician is furious. The magician comes up with new and increasingly elaborate tricks, but eventually the parrot always works it out.

One night there was a terrible storm, the ship sinks and the magician and parrot end up sharing a lifeboat together. For days they sit in silence on the little lifeboat, until the parrot turns to the magician and says...

"Alright then, I give up. Where did you hide the ship?"

And there you go, the magician went very red in the face, the parrot had to unexpectedly vacate the lifeboat and flew north for a visit. Everyone else reached their destination safe and sound.

SATURDAY MORNING AT THE BIRD FEEDER - THE SQUIRRELS HAD A PARTY

It was wild!

Nope, we're not doing word of the day today.

The American Robins flew in to check out what all the commotion was about.

The Mockingbird turned up for a few seconds.

The Robins turned up with friends and had their own party. 

Everyone was all of a tweeter.

The inanimate object was by this time standing upright and wasn't talking, Kissing Bunnies were okay too. Big Bunny is still staying away, but this little guy turned up. Everyone was keeping a close eye on him. He told everyone he was innocent and that he didn't know anything.

I have noticed how you all tip toe and jump over those leaves. We keep sweeping them up and they keep falling. That's why they call it "Fall!" 

Tell them they have very good fluffy tails. They would be great for sweeping. All they have to do is waddle backwards! 

And that's how it goes at this week's Saturday Morning at the Bird Feeder.

Have a great weekend everyone 

and thanks for stopping by for another whimsical tale.

GLEN BURNIE GARDENS IN WINCHESTER, VIRGINIA CONTINUED - 9-17-24 - PART 2

It had rained before we got there, and the grass was wet. There were parts we had to tread carefully.  The benches were damp but weren't too bad. I was eager to see more of the glass exhibits we missed the last time we were here because of the heat. You can see that post at this link. I don't know whether we will be able to get back before the exhibit goes in October. We were also hoping that it wouldn't start raining again. Thankfully it didn't.

As we headed towards the garden after we parked the car, I noticed something fluttering in a bush next to the parking lot. It was a mockingbird. 

Gregg took all of the photos in today's post. I was very grateful to him for getting them. It has been several months since we have taken any shots of birds, and even longer of a Mockingbird. An interesting fact I found here, is that there are 16 species around the world that go by the name mockingbird. The Northern Mockingbird here is the only native of the United States. 

The bush we found our mockingbird is called the Honey Locust. It has a lot of names and one of them is Three-Thorned Acacia. Its botanical name is Gleditsia triacanthos.

We left him to his preening and crossed the road to the garden. I am once again starting too late to do a long post, but here's a preview of three glass exhibits. I will go into more detail next time.

There were lots of berries to keep the birds happy.

And on that note I will finish for now. More photos to follow.

Thanks for visiting and enjoy your day.

HAPPY EASTER!

 

This pretty card was sent to me from our dear friend Ann from Ann's Snap Edit Scrap. The little yellow Easter Egg came with it too, a sweet bonus to find when opening the card itself.

A perfect way to start this post.  

I love it, thank you Ann, and such a sweet sentiment!

I didn't realize when I got my post ready last week, and said I was going to let you know where we went to, that today would be Easter. I was going to share Ann's Easter card on its own, to give it pride of place. However, and not to go back on my word, here are a few photos taken. I will go into more detail next week.

We are at the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial in Lorton, Virgina, not too far from Occoquan.

The birds were being taken care of here. I saw more birdhouses nearby, and here is one of them.

Gregg took two lovely photos, of this Mockingbird...

and an American Robin. The robins are everywhere right now.

I will end my post for now and give you more on another day next week, with more information. This is just a little preview.

Happy Easter to you all, and thanks again Ann.

Have a wonderful day everyone!

MORE BIRDS AT THE NEW FEEDERS...

 Today I am showing you the birds that have been visiting lately.  I was a little concerned as after all the upheaval with putting in a new deck, they disappeared for the longest time.  Needn't have worried.

Carolina Wren, a little out of focus but I was happy to see it.  You can hear its call at this link.

The Mourning Doves weren't put off by a rainy day.  Reflection in the glass on the right is a bit distracting, but I didn't notice it until I looked on a larger screen.

The American Robin was a regular visitor for a while.

As well as invertebrates, they like to eat nuts and berries.  Because of their sweet tooth they can also get intoxicated on fermented berries.  I don't think I have ever noticed a tipsy robin before.

A first-time visitor was the Mockingbird.  I don't ever remember seeing one here in the 30 plus years we have lived in this house.  It was a red-letter day for me.  I have seen others elsewhere but not in a long time, and never at our feeders.

He stayed long enough for me to get lots of photos.  I am glad because I haven't seen him since.  Apparently, they are very territorial.  You can click on all my photos to get a better look.

Both males and female Mockingbirds sing a varied, repetitive song that can be heard all day, and sometimes at night, during the spring and summer.  A male may learn around 200 songs throughout its life.  They can also incorporate non-bird noises they hear into their songs.  You can listen to what it sounds like here.

The White-breasted nuthatch was next.  The longevity record for a White-breasted Nuthatch is 9 years and 10 months.  In a study it was found that they prefer unshelled sunflower seeds approximately 25 percent more often than seeds still in the shell.  It appears to be because it takes half the time to transport and cache an unshelled seed than it does a shelled one.  These interesting facts came from Wild Birds Unlimited which you can find at this link.

I was also happy to see the Blue Jay back.  They have an attitude which makes me smile, the rascals of the bird world.  You might know a few of your own bird rascals, so let me know if you would like to share.  I didn't know that Blue Jays are related to Crows, that was a surprise.  They are experts at mimicking and are very talkative.  No surprise there!

I was also happy to see the Downy Woodpecker making an appearance.  This is a female as she has no red patch on her head.  The male House Finch, lower left, didn't seem to be too perturbed but he didn't hang around for too long. Neither did the Downy for that matter.

And Cheeky Face is back but he makes me smile so he's welcome. Another little rascal to be sure.

Thanks for visiting and I hope your day is a great one.