FOR THE BIRDS

So in the previous post my future husband asked if I was for the birds... and I would have to say yes. Feeding these birds and watching them in the morning has become a favorite thing for me to do. It still amazes me that some of these birds feed and stay on the sill to eat. I've gotten into birds so much with window feeding and bird feeders, that I signed up for one of the summer birder watching tours up at the beautiful Peace Valley Lake, to see if there are birds I don't have here, even though its only less then five minutes up the road.  In between bird watching I had my first two sessions for sitting for my friend Doug for his art still life.  Good weekend for it since we had mostly rain. He sent me home with some Irises, my favorite flower. The birds were certainly crazy from the rain.

Neither one looked to happy to be soaked.

Happy little song sparrow.

The cardinal and a starling. I mentioned last time  I saw the male cardinal feeding the female,  and I didn't know why. I have since learned the male feeds the females seeds so they can judge the males on what kind of  attentive mate and parent they will be. The female chooses her mate based on that. Who knew?

My Golden Finches have returned and have molted.

Big Black birds have shown up and have tempted to land on the sill but are still leery.

The Red-Bellied woodpecker was quite the ham this weekend. And spent much quality time pecking at the gutters and drain pipes .

Meanwhile on the ground the finch inundated the ground feeder.

The Red Winged Black Bird returned recently. They tend to stick to the feeders by the creek or pond.

Oliver and Olivia still have four babies, luckily and have gotten bigger already

And one on my favorite birds, the Gray Catbird has returned. They have already been on the sill feeding....thanks to fresh blueberries as a lure....but boy are they quick. Gray Catbirds do indeed make a 'meow' that sounds impressively like an unhappy cat, but they can also mimic other birds and animals in their impressive song repertoire, much like their Mockingbird and Thrasher relatives.  Usually on the shy side, they often sing while hiding in shrubbery. But they are also very curious and will mingle pretty closely. In the autumn they usually migrate to the Gulf Coast, Central America, and in the Caribbean. Wouldn't that be nice? But I love to hear them sing. This was , alas, the only one I captured.

My lovely Irises.