First sightings

What a glorious day it was today! Well, after the 30-40 mph winds went down, that is. But it got up to 62°, and by the time I went out to feed the cats a little while ago, it was perfectly calm out, and so QUIET! Then I heard a robin chirping, and sure enough I could see it, so of course I had to go in for the camera. Then I saw a second robin. They were both way up in the highest branches of the trees, so not the best photos ever, but they're my first for 2016!

In case you've been wondering what I've been up to, I've been busy working on this:

These supplies came in the mail last week, and they're for the pattern test I'm doing. That's a lot of stuff, right? It's gonna be so fun to get it all put together! Can't wait to show you more.....

Happy birds

Sunday was SUCH a lovely day... sunny, 62° and no wind! All that new snow has melted and a lot more of the old, dirty stuff, too - hurray! The birds are much happier now!

Listening, listening, listening......

I saw one pull something out of the ground on Sunday, but I'm not sure if it was a worm or not.

The blackbirds were singing from the treetops and doing their wingspread thing, too.

Earlier I'd shot these blackbirds from the bathroom window. This one is somewhat shaded by an evergreen tree, but his pretty blueish head still shows up. That beak is kind of mean-looking.

Out in the sunshine, they are so glossy!

This old oriole nest caught my eye, too. It seems to have survived all of last winter's strong winds very much intact.

Soon the birds will be nesting again. More photo opportunities. :)

Signs of spring

Spring. Really? Such crazy insane weather we've been having! On Monday, it actually got up to 70° for just a bit, then the temperature quickly started plummeting... all the way down to 17° that night, with a dusting of snow!!! A drop of 53° - unbelievable - but true!

This was the view from my sewing room window late Sunday afternoon:

Sure beats that snowbank that totally blocked my view for so long! Here's the other end of it, in front of the deck:

The snow has really been dirty, thanks to all that WIND we've had, blowing the soil off the fields along with the snow. Look what's left behind on the deck after its snowbank melted:

Yuck.

I discovered this little doorway(?) in some snow under an evergreen tree. I wonder what was living in there:

The good news is, the snow has been melting very fast, on those few warm days we have had. That bank in front of the deck is now 99% gone - hurray!

Look what I found in the garden:

The rhubarb is peeking out!

My tulips are making progress, too, despite some very cold nights. They haven't gotten much taller, but the leaves are opening up:

I've seen a few robins on the ground now, though not very many. The ground is still too cold for the worms to be accessible.

Blackbirds are hanging around now, too, although not a lot of them yet:

Soooo.... I think spring is here. Now why, oh why do we have to have another Winter Storm Watch for tomorrow, with a possible 5" or more of snow (with wind, of course)?????

AAAACCCKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just as a side note: I'm getting a new computer soon (tomorrow, weather permitting), so if I disappear for a while, it likely means I'm trying to get things figured out. Ugh... I dread it. But it'll be nice once I do get it the way I want it! And no hackers will get me via my old Windows XP! ;)

It's been SOOO hot lately

Okay... your turn: "How hot has it been?"

It's been sooo hot that this robin just sat in the birdbath with its mouth hanging open for about 5 minutes the other day.

Then it took a dive:

Ahhhh... that felt good!

More!!

Then it was joined by another hot bird:

Let's see who can splash the most!

Okay, let's see who can do the best dive!

I think we have our winner below:

They had great fun splashing and kept at it for a long time. The next day there were even three robins in at a time!

It's been sooo HOT and sooo HUMID, one would think we lived in southern Florida, Annie Dee! Sure glad I don't, though... certainly not my kind of weather, and hopefully it will end soon.

Robins update

Here are my final shots of the robin babies. I took these on Monday. The next time I looked in the nest (Wed., I think), they were gone. Two weeks. Kids sure grow up fast nowadays, don't they?

The green growing things were all gone, but it looks like mama robin added some grass clippings to the edge of the nest.

There were still three of them, although you can only see two beaks. The color is also off, but I didn't hang around long enough to do camera adjustments. I didn't want to scare them out of the nest prematurely.

Their mama's been working hard taking care of her young'uns. Here she's looking a bit frazzled and grumpy, certainly in need of a spa treatment, and deserving one, too, no doubt!

Not looking any better here. Maybe a towel would help?

I think she hears her hungry babies calling... again. Guess it's time to get back to work, whether she feels refreshed or not.

Okay... I really have no idea if this is the mama of those babies or not, but it made for a good story. ;)

Baby robins update

Remember the tiny baby robins I showed you here? I checked on them yesterday to see how they were doing. As I walked out there, I met Mama kitty walking away from the trees. I thought "Uh oh!", because she's a great hunter, and I've known her to get into bird nests before.

Next I saw this tom cat in the grass right next to the tree with the nest. "Uh oh!" some more. This was not looking good.

Well, Mama and the tom must've been up to something else, because the robin babies were just fine! The third egg had hatched out also, and the babies were making good progress. Look how much they've grown in just 6 days... notice the wing feathers coming out:

I wonder where the mama robin got her nest-building mud from. It was apparently from a weedy spot, and with all the wet weather we've had, the weeds have sprouted from the nest! Funny!

I didn't disturb the babies to try and get an open-beak shot.  I didn't want to give the cats any clues that they were there!

Yesterday's sightings

I took my camera outside yesterday when I went to meet Courtney at the bus. Below is what I saw. The lilacs are just beginning to bloom. And smell wonderful!

Last week on the way to meeting Courtney at the bus, I discovered this robin's nest, but I didn't have the camera along, and I never got around to going back out there with it. It had 3 eggs in it.

Yesterday I peeked in again, and two of the eggs had just hatched. These little birdies were still pretty weak, but one had its head up with mouth open wide right after Mama hopped off the nest. Unfortunately, by the time I got the camera focused, it wouldn't do it again. So new and fragile.

Then Courtney arrived and immediately decided to pick Grandma a bouquet of dandelions. Notice that she's still using the backpack I made her a couple of years ago. She usually has it loaded with a LOT of stuff, and it has really held up well! The only place showing any wear at all is the corners of the blue outside pocket, and it's minimal. Tough fabric! And it was well worth my time making it.

She found one of very few (so far) dandelion puffs and tried blowing the seeds off as she made a wish. Everything is so soggy from all the wet weather we've had, though, that they didn't blow very well. I'm afraid she's not going to get her wish for a "Kit" American Girl doll (not sure if she wants her own Kit, or mine!).

As we got back to the house, we discovered all these mushrooms (toadstools?) at the base of our hackberry tree.

Quite a crop here. I don't think I'll be harvesting any, though. ;)

That's all the pics I took yesterday. We did visit the kittens, who are just getting cuter every day, but we didn't take time for a photo shoot. Maybe next time!

Yesterday

'Nuff said. :-Þ

Poor birds

The birds have been having a hard time in this nasty weather we've had. I spied this robin hiding out in an evergreen tree Wednesday morning as the freezing rain was coming down. He/she is certainly puffed up in an effort to keep warm... and doesn't look too happy.

Late that afternoon I noticed that the robins were huddling pretty close to the south side of the house on whatever bare ground they could find.

When Courtney and I were out, we noticed these tracks on the cement right in front of the garage doors.

No doubt they belonged to a robin, too, because later I saw this poor thing scratching in the crevice between the cement and the garage.

It spread a lot of leaves out from that crevice. I wonder if it actually found anything to eat.

Yesterday morning, I noticed this mourning dove sitting in a tree, after all that snow had fallen.

Bet it was having second thoughts about the nest it had been building earlier.

Mourning. Indeed.

Late yesterday afternoon, Courtney's daddy came over with the payloader to push the snow off our driveway, etc. After he left there were a couple small areas that had the ground exposed. These spaces were filled with juncos!

Poor little birds. I hope the snow melts quickly so they can have an easier time finding food.

The good news is that even though we had flurries off and on all day long yesterday, it got up to 40°F, and considerable melting occurred. And even better news is that we didn't lose our power. But I know many others are still without electricity, including Courtney and Mommy and Daddy. I hope everything gets repaired soon! And that this is the last of 'winter', although the coming week's forecast doesn't show much warmup, and there are still chances of that dreaded 's' word. *sigh*