Hens and Chicks
Echinacea
Daylily
These were taken with my Canon Rebel using a Zoom Lens EF-S 10-22mm
Category: nature
Saturday Morning
Saturday morning at the dam. Charlie and Orso checked out all of the new smells.
Somebody was definitely here before us.
Charlie hot on the trail of a strange scent.
Orso suddenly remembered that he doesn’t particularly like swimming.
Both dogs enjoyed the morning outing.
Baby Robins
Dinner time and the family is ravenous
Mom with the grub (literally)
Hatchlings
We have hatchlings! Just about two weeks to the day that I discovered the Robin’s nest and the three eggs have now hatched. Now we have three tiny bodies that are all mouths chirping away mouths open waiting impatiently for their meals.
Everyday Mitch and I would peek out the kitchen window to check on mama to make sure she was still there and hadn’t abandoned the nest. Each time the nest was empty I worried that she wasn’t coming back. Weird huh, worrying about a bird and its nest? It’s not like Robins are close to extinction or that I’m an extremist ornithologist. Normally I don’t think twice about a bird’s nest and its contents. The only time I even notice one is when I see broken eggshells on the ground or the nest gets blown out of the tree.
I think the reason this time is different is because the nest is so low to the ground, I can see in the nest standing next to the Hibiscus bush. Being five foot two is low to the ground. No concerns for overhead height restrictions here. We have watched and worried about predators getting too close. There are a lot of cats and snakes here. I have worried about the weather, the rain and the cool temperatures. You would think it was my nest and my eggs.
Now though we hatchlings and new worries. Will the predators get to them, will they go out and party missing bird curfew? I want to get close and take pictures but knowing mom and dad will be close by, I’m not that stupid. I like my head without any holes from bird beaks or worse I don’t want the parents to abandon the nest leaving the babies.
But for now we hatchlings and I get to watch them grow.
Could it Be?
Dare I say the words? I don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t even think it. I’m not a superstitious person, not usually anyway, but sometimes it just seems that from my mouth to Mother Nature’s ear. Last year everyone called it the “Winter that didn’t Happen” and this year it’s been the “Winter that won’t go Away”. It’s now May 5th, Cinco de Mayo, and we’ve been beset with snow and cold miserable weather across a fair amount of the country since February.
I wanted to plant radishes and lettuce while the weather was still cool, that didn’t happen. No cool weather, but lots of cold wet icky weather. So no fresh radishes or lettuce this year. Last week my son had to cover his beds with a cold frame to protect the young plant shoots of his onions, potatoes, lettuce, etc. Next weekend is Mother’s Day, the official day to plant tomatoes and other warm weather plants. But I don’t know, the highs have been only in the forties and fifties, so the ground hasn’t had a chance to warm up much.
Today, though the sky is brighter, there is still cloud cover but the temperatures are warmer. The high today is supposed to get up in the sixties, woo hoo. The forecast for the week is looking optimistic, highs in the seventies, okay I can live with that. One of our fears is that we will go from winter to summer, boom with no transition. Just one day it will go from cold to blazing hot.
Back to my original question, dare I say the words? I guess I’ll take a chance, here goes, “Maybe it is finally Spring”. There I said it, cross your fingers.
Migrating Birds and Summer Residents
Every summer we have a couple of resident Blue Herons that stay until it gets too cold. I was able to get a shot of one of them in flight. He looks pretty cool in flight.
For the last three years we have had Crested Cormorants stop here on their annual Spring migration North, maybe heading to Minnesota. I was so surprised the first time I saw these water birds that look similar to ducks roost in trees. They are black with a crest on top of their heads with an orangish red shade on their lower bills. They swim very low in the water and have long necks.
These shots were taken with my Canon Rebel using a 55 – 250mm lens.
A woman's view of hunting...with men 