Birds and Blooms

What a glorious time of the year! Like everyone else, my flowers are in full bloom.




























Sunny "faces"










The wisteria my sister gave me is especially beautiful..and soooooooo fragrant!































I took a minute to run down to my neighbor's who puts out meal worms for the Western Bluebirds. I was able to get very close.

Tilling the Garden

Bill had a ton of things to do Saturday morning, so he showed me how to use the tractor again and I tilled the garden. I enjoyed myself, and I was so happy to get it done! I had a little "friend" who followed me around the whole time. A European Starling kept stuffing its beak with grubs that I tilled up, flew off to its nest, and then promptly returned for more. It stayed so close to the tiller that it seemed like I was running right over it!

Wisdom Teeth

Well, Paul finally got his wisdom teeth out. This is immediately after coming home, with ice packs and pain meds. Can you tell he's really out of it?!

Woodpile

Bill and I spent a couple of weekends cutting wood together.  The location is very close to home which is nice.  We can be there in a few minutes and get a couple of loads in a little over an hour.  It feels good to already be preparing for next winter.  We have one more pile to cut which will produce even more than this!

Mother's Day Visit

Bill and I had a nice visit with Mom the day before Mother's Day. We decided to put flowers on graves because we wouldn't be able to get together on Memorial Day.  We stopped at the fairgrounds first to look at the Big Cheese and the bricks purchased by different individuals.  There is a brick in memory of Dad, and Terry's brick is right next to his.

There was a heavy mist so Bill loaned Mom his Gortex hat.  She looks pretty stylin'.

After visiting cemeteries, we returned to Mom's for a delicious clam fritter dinner!  Mom dug the clams with Chris the day before.  I'll bet you can almost taste these clams!

Birds!

O.K., so I like to take pictures of birds...it's my mom's fault. She did this to all of us (my siblings and I, which we are doing to our children and grandchildren). For those of you who are as obsessed as I am, I hope you will enjoy my little menagerie. Some pictures were taken here at our home, and others were taken at my Mom's when we recently visited her for Mother's Day.

You may wonder why I would include a picture of a pidgeon since they are the bain of bird-watchers, but hey, they're part of the bird scene.

I chose a female Black-headed Grosbeak to display first since males get most of the attention due to their more vivid colors. She is very beautiful...just in a more subtle way :). This was at Mom's.

These next few pictures were taken out of Mom's dining room window. A male Black-headed Grosbeak is on the right, but can anyone tell me what the little yellow bird is? More than likely it is a baby "something"...probably a Gold Finch. It looks like someone took one of their baby chicks and stuck it up in the tree!

This is probably my favorite picture. I like the perch as well as the bird!
This male had a pretty splotch of yellow.
This male is ready to change feeder levels (some of Dennis Stauffer's handywork!).
This looks like an awful lot of work!

This is a male at my house who thinks he likes finch food.

Mom gets a lot of Brown-headed Cowbirds. This is a male and a female in the background.

This was my mother's day present from Bill. The Gold Finches come like little maggots! They almost wiped out the seed in one day! I love watching them, though (and photographing them :).
This was a little beauty with lighter colors.
Look at this contortionist...it's called touching your toes and beyond!
I spied this male Western Tanager in our Madrona tree. In the past they have come to the bird bath and the feeders. This one (and the female nearby) just wasn't that brave.
Mourning Dove

Gold-crowned Sparrow (it depleted the water in the little bird bath when it bathed over and over).
I know...the Scrub Jays are obnoxious, but they're also part of the crowd.

It's amazing what they will go through to get what they want.
Female Evening Grosbeak

Male Evening Grosbeak
This one has some gorgeous colors.
There are a variety of shades among the Purple Finches.

Wouldn't you like to have this kind of balance?

This is one of my favorite little birds...a White-breasted Nuthatch. They are difficult to photograph because they are so quick and flighty. I love to watch them walk on every surface...even upside down...

Let me know if you enjoyed my little collection :).