Serendipity

May 4th...up before the hummingbirds arrived One of my favorite birds is the hummingbird. I have loved watching these tiny birds for as long as I can remember, and the one thing I always do is get a feeder put up before they are due back from their migration south. They are a tricky little bird to get photos of, and my frustration mounted through much of May, as it seems like every time I tried...and "almost" got a photo...they were gone again. I think that what eventually helped was my being on the back deck, where the feeder is located, so often that they became accustomed to my presence.  But only if I didn't make any sudden movements. Finally...on May 20th, I managed to get my first shots of one, it was a female who didn't seem to be intimidated by my presence at all. She came often, as you will see in the following photos... May 20th, 5:42 a.m...I was ready with my camera! She moved around the feeder to another 'flower' Sipping ...

crow getting a late breakfast in the field behind the house With warmer weather here, I am now opening windows earlier in the morning to let the fresh air in and to listen to the bird song. However, this morning, the normal birdsong was interrupted quite abruptly by the continuous  (and aggravating)  cawing of crows. Normally, that kind of ruckus in indicative of some "thing" upsetting the birds, but this morning, I found that they were not behaving upset at all, just out in abundance...gathering in the fields, pecking at ground. Yet...all the while, sounding-off as if to warn all that this was their dibs and to stay away. This crow seemed more content to stay by itself, yet it would caw loudly every couple of minutes The crow above, seemed to be a loner and chose to dine alone as well. I watched it for some time, but no other crows came to challenge it...or even bother the rest of the field around it. (I keep wanting to call it a 'him'...

Red cardinal I learn something new daily about the birds that come to the tree with the bird feeder just off our back deck. Each day, I see a new species of bird, or instead of seeing one or two of a specific species, they are now coming in pairs, sometime two pairs at a time. Each day, before going out the back sliding door to the deck, I check to see what might be at the feeder...and yesterday morning, I was very pleased to see that a red cardinal had come. I managed several photos through the window of the back door, so that they do appear somewhat grainy...for that I apologize! The cardinal stayed for some time, allowing me to get several different shots of him, and there were times I actually wondered if he knew I was in the window. Some of the birds are very skittish, but I have noticed that over the last week or so, they tolerate my presence on the deck more and more, and don't seem to mind any movements by me. At this point, I think the cardinal was scop...

the new bird feeder My mom always told me that patience was a virtue, but she never told me how rewarding patience could be! Last week, I decided to purchase my first (of many!) bird feeders (one was also a hummingbird feeder, which will eventually also become a seperate blog entry) for here where I live now, filled it with seed, dried berries and other 'treats' and placed it in a tree just off our back deck. It took me three tries to get it located where I could sit and watch the feeder clearly and be able to photograph the birds as they came to visit and eat. (I also threw some seed on the ground around the tree to entice them...then I waited...) I was rewarded about 2 days later as the birds began to discover the bird seed on the ground and then in feeder. At first, the only birds that happened-by, were chickadees, and sparrows. Day before yesterday, a mourning dove showed-up and although it didn't visit the feeder, it did eat the seeds on the ground. What was...