Roseatte Spoonbill

Spoonbill

What a fascinating bird, while watching this bird it would move it's head side to side skimming the water for food.  As you can see they have beautiful pink and white plumage and what about that red eye!  I photographed this Spoonbill at the Blackpoint Wildlife Drive on Merritt Island in Florida.

Flower Power Friday!

Beautiful, bright, happy Sunflowers are this weeks flower!

Sunflowers are a wonderful flower to have in any garden.  You sow them once and they will return for years, though not as abundant as the first year.

They attract birds and bees from all around.

I make sure I have sunflowers in my garden every year.  Next year I will plant a new crop of sunflowers and try some new varieties.

I generally let the sunflowers die off in the garden as they will provide a constant food source for the birds.

This weekend I will be heading to Connecticut for the The Mystic Outdoor Art Festival.  This is my first year doing this festival.  I am also going to The Buttonwood Sunflower Farm to photograph some sunflowers.  They also sell ice cream which I am looking forward to trying.  I love ice cream any time of year!  So photographing fields of sunflowers and eating ice cream what could be better!

Until next time

Have a great weekend!
Coming Soon.  My adventures to Gillette's Castle.

Tuesdays for the Birds!











Here are the photos the Evening Grosbeak, Rose breasted Grosbeak and the Cowbirds I had talked about in my last Tuesday post, who I haven't seen since my last post.  The Cowbirds on the other hand have been here everyday.  I do want to mention that the photo below are the male Cowbirds, the females are a dark taupe color. 
There have been no signs of the Eastern Bluebird or the Eastern Phoebe, although I do hear the Eastern Phoebe close by, but I don't think she will be nesting with us this year.








 

The past week when we did get some sunshine (which lately have been few and far between) I saw that the Tree Swallows were back and taking a serious look at the birdhouses.  At first I wasn't quite sure if they were ready to buy, but after a day or two they finally made that huge decision to buy the house.  Closing was a few days ago and they have been moving in the furniture (nesting materials) in preparation of the new family.  I really hope they like the new neighborhood.  They will make a great addition! 
I wonder if the Sparrow fledglings and the Tree Swallow fledglings will play in the garden?  Kidding.....  I am thrilled that they moved in, I honestly didn't expect any new tenants until next year.  At this point I am slowly moving about my garden so they can start getting used to me being around.  I am looking forward to some great photo opportunities with the Tree Swallow.

I have had some new visitors to the feeder this week.....one of them is a Ruby Throated Hummingbird which I am trying to photograph.  Hopefully I will have photos next Tuesday. 





Stay tuned for more photos,new visitors and Tree Swallow updates.......

All about the Birds!









Last week it had been a bit rainy and there wasn't much activity around the birdhouses.  On the days that were nice I did notice the Tree Swallows where again house hunting.  I did notice also that there maybe some furniture moving (nesting materials), but I'm still not sure we have a sale pending.  I did see a Eastern Bluebird at our open house.  Only saw the Eastern Bluebird the one day, hasn't been back since.
I haven't seen any activity from our Eastern Phoebe.









 

I've  had several male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks at the feeder.  Which lead me to realize that I have had 2 female Rose-breasted Grosbeaks that have been feeding at the feeder for the past week or so.  They looked alittle like Sparrows, but are larger.  When I looked up the male Grosbeak that is when I concluded that I had the females.  I have had several visits from the female and male Evening Grosbeaks.  Very exciting and I am trying to get some good photos to post.  I am learning quickly to be patience and wait for them to hop off the feeder to the porch long enough to click off a few shots.  I'm hoping on my next post I will have some photos for  you.




Last week I had mentioned about how the Cowbird and the Sparrow and who will benefit from the other.  Well the Cowbird will benefit from the Sparrow.  See the Cowbird lays her eggs in the Sparrows nest and the Sparrows raise the Cowbirds young as if it were their own.  The Cowbird does nothing.  The Cowbird does this to many other species of birds.  Kinda not fair uh.  This is the first year I have seen this.  I see the Cowbird pair hanging out with the Sparrows near their nest.  I know from previous years that the Sparrows have several nesting during the year.  So it will be interesting to see if the Cowbirds will do the same and keep those nice Sparrows very busy.  The Cowbirds have been difficult to photograph.  I hope next weeks post I will have some.

It's March!!!!!

The sun is out, I hear the constant dripping of melting snow coming off the roof and the temperatures may get into the lower 40's.  Yeah Spring is on the way and my day is getting better and better all the time!  A couple of photos that remind me of Spring and what I can look forward to.



Fledgling Sparrow

I have a pair of Sparrows who have been nesting in my barberry shrubs for the past several years and this photo is one of their fledglings.  There has been a group of Sparrows hanging around the bird feeder all winter and I wonder if it's the whole family.

Siberian Iris

These are some Siberian Irises that I grow in my garden I also have them in purple.  Looking forward to seeing them in the spring.

I almost feel like singing , but I don't want to spoil the mood.

The past few days I have been going through my photos and inventory getting ready for shows which will be here before I know it!  I have an aweful bad habit of waiting until the last minute.  But I always get the job done and ready to go!

This weekend if I get my paper in time I am going to be having me a hand coloring party.  I like the textured black and white hand colored, but I think I am going to hand color them without the textures to see how I like it.

Well the Cookie business will be kicking off as soon as May 1st.  Yicks!  Still waiting to hear from the Brewer Farmers Market.  Hopefully soon.

I am getting so anxious and excited about getting this season under way!