Here I am Mom!

Here is the new fledgling! Mom called and he came
to the feeder. By the way, his siblings are still in
the house this morning, so he's one brave guy.

Moving day

Yesterday, I just had a feeling... I was noticing little heads poking out to see the big world, and mom Bluebird was gently coaxing her babies to fledge. She would come to the entrance hole with a juicy offering, and then jump up on top of the house as if to say, "You want it? Come and get it."

Later, dad Bluebird was doing the same, in a less subtle manner. You can just imagine the conversation... "OK, junior, it's time you came out of there. Mom and I are tired and you are big enough to fly now."

I waited and waited patiently, and alas, they started to fly... but it was already almost 8PM, and the lighting was horrible. I did catch this little one on his maiden flight. I hope the rest of his four siblings were just as brave and are now high up in the pines with mom and dad.

How I spent my summer vacation

Sam awoke at 6AM yesterday excitedly asking when we'd leave to go
"spend my dollars" from Nana and Papa.
As I was finishing up my blogging, I noticed he'd gotten really quiet.
This is where I found him at 8:30AM...
On my bed fast asleep.
Hey, it was the first day of summer vacation after all... :c)

Patience pays off

I've waited and waited patiently...
Wow! Just check out my orioles on Chickadee!
Bet you've never seen anything like them!

Now we know

When we found this house, which I loved, it also happened to have a pool. I was unsure whether I wanted a pool, but I loved the house, so it was pretty much a package deal. Husband proudly said he'd "take care of it" and so we moved in, and had maybe 4-5 weeks to enjoy it before it got too cool. We opened it back up at the end of April and have had a learning curve to figure out how to properly care for it. The previous homeowner went over some very basic things with him, but still there was seemingly so much to learn. I finally suggested that we have one of the guys from a local pool and spa place to come out and give us Pool Care 101.

Well, Gary arrived on Friday morning, and boy, what we didn't know! We'd been playing around with the knobs and valves, but found out that we fully had no water going through the clorinator (gee, is that a problem?) and that when we back wash we were also supposed to be rinsing else it all just goes back into the pool. Umm... oh. Within three days the water is so much cleaner and clearer, it's amazing. Now, we feel like informed pool owners! Can't wait to get back out there today and soak in the beautiful day. Care to join us? Just follow the birds to Chickadee!

What about me?

"Hey... look at me! I'm a pretty red bird too.
And I visit your feeders regularly unlike some people.
And, I combed my hair today just for you. "

Yes Mr. Cardinal, you are a very pretty red bird as well. :c)

Desperate times...

From All About Birds... Food: "Insects, especially bees and wasps. Fruit outside of breeding season."

Well people, our rainfall is now almost 13" below normal for this time of year, and so desperate times call for desperate measures I suppose. The pickings are slim for insects and also fruit (due to a late freeze), and so I am blessed to have this beautiful visitor coming to eat sunflower chips until he can find more abundant food.

Rofous beauty

I used to see Rofous-sided Towhees all the time years ago,
but this lovely visitor last night was the first one I've
seen in ages, and my first yard Towhee here on Chickadee.

This from a web site about them:

There is small wonder that one of the many names of the towhee is ground robin. A casual glance immediately picks up the cinnamon red apron usually associated with a robin, but here the resemblance stops. A hangman's hood of black covers the bird's head and extends far down over the shoulders and back. Also clearly visible when the bird flies are the white flashings on the winds and tail feathers.

When the bird scratches on the ground for food, it does so in the manner of a domesticated hen, first scratching with one foot and then sending leaves flying with the other. When several towhees are feeding in the same area, the sound and appearance of their scratching resembles that of a flock of wild turkeys.

The bird is an excellent ventriloquist; many observers have had to search for it several minutes before finally locating it in open view just a few feet away.

The towhee builds its nest on the ground, usually in a thicket of bushes of high grass. Although the nest is always well hidden, the colorful bird is a frequent victim of the parasitic cowbird that has no compunction about laying from one to four eggs in the chosen nest. Sad to say, in most cases the towhee raises the cowbird's young together with its own.

Small and mighty

The Hummingbird

by Harry Kemp

The sunlight speaks. And it's voice is a bird:
It glitters half-guessed half seen half-heard
Above the flower bed. Over the lawn ...
A flashing dip and it is gone.
And all it lends to the eye is this --
A sunbeam giving the air a kiss.

I'm thinking...

Sweet, sweet Pam over at Nature Woman has tagged me as a "Thinking Blogger." Over the past weeks, I've seen other blogs I read receive this honor by others and have smiled and shook my head in agreement as I know that they are fully deserving of such an award. But, I've never thought of my own blog in that same vein. Today, I feel sort of like the five year old on a T-ball team where everyone gets a trophy! :c)

Let me explain. When I started this blog in January 2006, it was going to be more about my life, faith, and journey to grow as a more full, complete human being. It had smatterings of my life rearing a child with autism and how that has affected my journey. It also included my love for the birds. But, in many ways, I remained guarded about just how much I would share of myself and my opinions. I fully shied away from anything political or controversial social issues. I didn't want it to be a place for people to argue or tell me their points of view and/or why mine were right or wrong. I didn't feel the need to offer up deep food for thought. I just wanted it to be a peaceful, creative outlet for me and I knew that I'd have maybe 4 or 5 regular readers in friends who already know me IRL or on-line.

Then, one thing led to another, and I found myself reading more and more blogs about birding and nature. Those people became friends, and I started sharing some photos I'd taken of my backyard birds. I found photography to be yet another new creative outlet, and enjoyed trying to get better at the craft. When my husband saw what joy it brought me, he added fuel to the fire with the gift of new lenses to try, and before I knew it, I was taking more and more photos. I believe that the universal law of "whatever you focus on gets bigger" applies here. It's as if I've been given a gift of beautiful birds around me to photograph and share. There is simply no price I can put on the joy it brings me to share it with you.

Every now and again, I suppose I share things that make people think, and if that's so, I am humbled. All I do know is that this blog and the network of blogging friends I've made have made this entire endeavor so much more worthwhile. So, thanks to each and every one of you for your visits and your encouragement.

Now, since I am such a rule follower... Here are five blogs (in no particular order) that make me think (I know many of them have already been nominated, but they are the ones I read on a daily basis):

Joyful Woman: Ginger is a woman of deep faith and thought. Her life experiences have woven a beautiful tapestry in the woman she is and she shares knowledge of so many things.

Julie Zickefoose: This was one of the first nature blogs I started reading, and I have learned so very much from Julie. She writes so beautifully, and visiting her blog only makes me want to know more about all things living.

Real Live Preacher: Another of a handful of blogs I began reading years ago. Gordon Atkinson is so real, and has probably ministered to, and started the faith journeys of, more people than all those fancy guys with mega member churches. God is made real to people as Gordon lives his faith for all to read.

Time's Fool: My friend Mata, whom I first came to know on Beliefnet, is a woman of such deep and divine wisdom about life and faith. She's busier these days over on BlogHer as Contributing Editor on their Religion and Spirituality board (Go Mata!) and I am sure is making folks think there as well.

Visual-Voice: I found Susan through RLP's blog, and from the first time I visited was blown away by the images I saw there. But it goes much deeper than that, for Susan is a student of the world, and sees the bigger picture. Her images fully illustrate her deep spiritual nature, and she's recently started a Lovingkindness Experiment on her blog. It will transform the way you think about and consider the world. Boy, does she make me think.


1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold does not fit your blog).

Singing life

Last night at choir practice, we worked on a scary, yet beautiful and ambitious plan to sing a hymn (Dear Lord and Father of mankind) which has the same words, but different music on facing pages in our hymnal. Not only are we going to sing both versions (alternating verses), but it has five verses, and the first verse will be in parts together, the second verse will be sung by just the men, the third verse will be sung a capella in parts together, the fourth verse will be sung by just the women, and the last verse all together in parts. Whew. Did I mention we are doing this for the Bishop's visitation June 17th?

We were asked to really read the words and sing with feeling and intonation, so when it came time to do verse 4 (only the women), I could not help but just put myself out on my deck watching the sun rise...

"Drop thy still dews of quietness, til
all our strivings cease; take from our souls the
strain and stress, and let our ordered lives confess the
beauty of thy peace, the beauty of thy peace."

Blue squawker

Yesterday, I looked out, and there were four Blue Jays
on the ground around the feeders.
It's been a banner year for Jays. They've been
nesting nearby. They all squawk loudly as they
announce their arrival to the scene.
Thankfully, they've been sharing nicely.

"Not a cardinal" surprise!

Well, now... my non-birding hubby has become quite the spotter for me recently! First the Indigo Bunting while I was away, and then yesterday morning he called for me to come check out "this red bird that's not a cardinal" at the feeder. Imagine my glee when I saw this beautiful Summer Tanager! Another lifer for me on Chickadee! Even though it's blurry, I loved this shot of him flying away.

Red-bellied babies somewhere

The finishing touch

Whooohooo! The great room is now (sort of, kind of) coming together finally. They called on Tuesday to say that our entertainment unit was in and ready to be delivered. In place of this, we used to have the TV on a sofa table and a component rack to the left of it. By getting this unit, it consolidated everything in the cabinets beneath and added much needed height to the 18' wall.

I'll have to tweak the shelves and maybe add a few things here and there, especially to the top shelf above the TV and the very top of the unit. Here in the photo to the left is how it looks on the manufacturer's web site. I like the look of the two prints on top of the unit, and so will try to find something that compliments the art we already have in the room. Slowly, but surely, this house is taking shape in the vision we had for it and it feels more and more like the dream home we were only imagining a year ago.

Beauty in the trees

As I was returning home yesterday, I noticed these beautiful Red-tailed Hawks up in a tree by the pond at the entrance of our subdivision. I dashed home, grabbed the camera and went back to find that they were thankfully still there. (Click to see them larger.) I snapped these from the car, and just as I was getting ready to change the ISO setting to allow for more light on an overcast day (I adjusted the levels in Photoshop as these were fairly dark), the one on the lower branch stretched his wings and took off. I was thrilled to see the image I caught just before he flew! Check out that red tail!

Where'd you go?

At one point, I had these two males and five females
coming to the feeders almost every day.
Now, none.
It was glorious while it lasted!
(I love the goldfinch peeking around the sock feeder.)

Stretching and growing

(A sweet visitor to the peanut feeder.)

Last night at choir practice, I quickly realized I was going to be the only soprano there. Gulp. I rely heavily on my partner to my right to guide me along when I don't know the music initially. We sing well together and I can usually catch on to the melody quickly with her beside me. But she was not there last night. Nope. Just little ol' me, with three altos, a bass, and a tenor. But, you know what? I held my own. With much encouragement and support from my singmates, I did it. Seeing as how I don't consider myself "a singer," it was a moment or two of stretching my wings to see how far I'd come. I faltered a time or two, but for the most part, I did it! I left with a smile on my face and less fear in my heart.

Speaking of stretching and growing, I have decided to make an effort to step outside of my back yard. I read so many wonderful blog posts of birding outings people take and all the different species they see, and it dawned on me that I only see what comes to me, as I've never really ventured out. So, I googled and found that the local chapter of the Ornithological Society meets on the second Thursday of each month at a local church, and that they go on regular outings to birding hot spots around here. I think I shall just email them and see what they've got going on. Who knows what I might see and learn as I walk through the woods humming my soprano parts in my head and carrying my camera... lol.

Brightly beautiful

Sometimes, they are so bright it hurts your eyes to look.
Won't be long that the majority will be heading north
to look for abundant thistle.

A day for all "Mothers"...

Because I have many friends who are not "biologically" mothers,
and yet are still mothers in every sense of the word...

Happy Women-Who-Nurture-and-Support-Others Day!!

Ack... I've been in SPAM hell!

Something reaaaaally odd has been going on with our computer for the past few days. I normally receive, oh, maybe 40-50 SPAM mails per day, and they are all automatically sent to my "Junk" folder for the most part. Still, I always scroll through them before deleting to make sure nothing inadvertently got sent there that should not have. Well, when I came home day before yesterday, there were over 500 SPAM mails, with probably 30 more making it into my "In" box.

Now, I am not stupid enough to think that Blogger is fully and totally free, and so I expect to find the usual customers, but there were eons of emails about insurance, loans, weight loss products, hot mamas in their 60's, are you smarter than a fifth grader, and don't you want your free blah-blah. I called our ISP last night to see if there was anything to be done. I mean, nothing has changed in terms of any new sites I've visited or any new registrations any place etc. so I was not sure how on earth I got on a mega SPAMer's "I'll wreak havoc with you list." Many of these were sent over and over and over again only minutes apart. He basically told me that they do use filters there, but that they can't stop everything from getting through, and there was really nothing to be done. We'll see about that when I call and speak to the IS manager on Monday.

The final insult was when I went to my blog yesterday morning to post and Google would not let me do anything other than submit the post because "it appeared that I was a virus or a spy bot" and they wanted to protect their customers." HUH?? What the.... ? So I got to read no blogs or visit mine. We immediately ran a complete VirusBarrier X4 scan which found nothing. Last night, husband searched and found us a great SPAM filter program called Spamfire 2-Protection and Revenge. Love the catchy title. We got it installed and it's already working wonders to at least filter it all before it ever gets to my email program. It says to check it for the first few days to make sure it's being accurate, which I'll do, but it's certainly nice not to see hundreds of SPAM emails showing up in my email. There has to be a special place in hell for those folks who create this crap and pilfer email addresses to bombard. Deliver me...

Indigo Teen

Just think... next year you'll really be impressing the ladies!
I think I see a gleam in his eye. ;c)

Finally!

We had one last window treatment to come in, and Michelle arrived Tuesday evening with the installer to put up the dining room window treatment. Again, I marvel at how scary it feels to go out on a limb and pick out fabric using only a small square swatch and then try to imagine how it will look. Somehow it always seems to be just exactly what the window needed. (Click to see a larger view.) I really love this fabric. It's hard to tell in the photo, but it's more of a damask type fabric and has a pretty sheen.

Because this window has a short wall on the left side, she suggested doing it shorter on the left with a pulled back panel to the floor on the right. It turned out so very elegant looking and I am really pleased with the result. Whew... all done with windows for now!

All in the family...

For those who have been wondering...
Dad does now seem to be feeding his little girl.
And that, makes me smile.

Splash of color

The previous homeowners made some interesting choices in places to plant things. Out by the pool, there is a small bed by the fence which has this Rhododendron. Last year, in the heat of the summer, its leaves were all turning yellow, and I wondered if it would survive. Lo and behold, it survived and is now bursting into full bloom. The leaves are still not a healthy green so I need to find out how to care for and support it nutritionally, but it is a beautiful splash of color by the pool.

Speaking of splashes of color! A cool visitor came by to see us on Sunday!

My magic seed

Since Liza asked... In this four tray feeder, I typically put 3D's Krunchy Nut Blend (available at Wal-Mart) or sunflower chips. I think it has more to do with the way this feeder is made which attracts so many more birds. They find it easy to use I suppose and don't have to teeter on a tube feeder's thin perch.

Blue Sunday

Oh my... at one point, there were four males and two females.

New music to love

I have been in the habit of listening to the XM Watercolors channel here at home, and love the sound of the light jazz. For the past weeks, they have played a song that I really loved. Finally, I remembered to hit the "info" button on the remote to see who was making that lovely sound. The song is called "Bloom" and it was by a gal named Mindi Abair. I'd never heard of her, but immediately went to iTunes and looked her up. Boy, am I glad I did! Now, this girl can play a sax! Give her a listen and see if you don't start tapping your toes. Nice to meet you Mindi!

Sweet nesting

When we moved here, the first thing I noticed was that due to all the tall pines, there seemed to be a good number of Brown-headed nuthatches. They were so brave, and would come to the feeders regardless of how close we were. They are just the cutest, coolest birds.

When we got our deck re-built, I blogged about how our contractor made me a birdhouse of leftover Trex pieces. He initially made the opening too small, and with my explanation of the importance of hole size, kindly expanded it to around 1 1/4 inches. Still, it stayed there on the tree with no takers for quite a long time it seemed. Then, one day I noticed the Brown-headed nuthatch going in and out. He was going to nest there! After I read that this sweet bird is on the Audubon Watchlist I was even more thrilled to know that they would have a brood in this house. Because our contractor is a novice bird house builder, he did not hinge the lid or anything, but told me I'd have to just remove the bottom screws to clean it out. Consequently, I never saw how many eggs there were. I just watched closely as they incubated, hatched, and then fed their brood. Finally, I noticed they were no longer coming to the house and knew it was time to clean it out.

I got my Phillips head screwdriver and went to the tree. The screws came out, and as I held the bottom in my hand to ease the nest out, I was all smiles. Just look at the intricacy of this little nest! It is light as a feather, and made of bark and pine pieces on the bottom, and the top is almost flat with the softest down imaginable. I don't know how many babies enjoyed this bed, but I know they must have been happy beyond measure. Apparently, the Brown-headed nuthatch usually only has one brood per season, so I don't expect them back, but hope that someone else might enjoy it before the summer is gone. Oh, chickadee????

Birding with the neighbors

Last night, while husband was mowing the lawn and I had come out to pull some weeds, I noticed my new neighbors were out on their driveway. I had made an effort to welcome them to the neighborhood and introduce myself when they moved in the first weekend in April. I walked over to say hello and see how they were getting settled in.

As we were chatting, I noticed a bird fly in toward their front steps and turned my head. "Oh, there is a nest in that shrub, and those babies are chirping up a storm, " said my sweet neighbor with the cute baby on her hip. "We're not sure what they are... maybe swallows?" (Not likely... in a juniper? Educational moment!) When I peeked into the shrub, I saw a very petite nest with three very tiny heads peering up at me (click to see them larger). The third one in the front buried his head when he saw me.




Just then I heard mom before I saw her fly back into a nearby shrub! She was none too happy that I was so close to her nest. Chip-chip-chip-chip-chip.... Oh, joy! A sweet Chipping Sparrow nest! I'd seen them at my feeders, but have never seen a nest or babies.

I ran back to my house with excitement to get my camera. I am sure they were wondering just what sort of kook they'd moved in next to. My new neighbors simply smiled politely as I took my step stool towards the potted juniper on their porch while grinning and cooing over these little jewels!

Who? Me?

I'm the reason she got a baffle?
Aw, come on now...
I didn't eat that much food.

I did?

Can I still be part of the clean up committee?

So glad I can see it...

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.
- Franz Kafka

Welcome ladies!

Finally the women showed up at the feeders! A nice, warm welcome to Mrs. Indigo Bunting above and her friend Mrs. Rose-breasted Grosbeak below!