birds

My little red friends…


No, not little communists in my garden!

Mr. House Finch, above, has the most interesting mottled feathers. He and his friends love to hang out in the woods outside our breakfast room window and give us a show.

He’s frequently joined by Mrs. Cardinal, her husband and their best friends, the Cardinals #2.

I’m always so interested in watching the birds all interact. Last week, there were 5 cardinals flitting about in there, seemingly unconcerned with territorial issues. Maybe they cut each other some slack in this drought — sharing the food and water in our garden.

We also have White Wing Doves, Scrub Jays, Titmice, Sparrows, Swallows, Grackles, Inca Doves, Purple Martins, Chickadees, Carolina Wrens, Hummingbirds, and a rare Painted Bunting.

Thanks to my DH and his new Nikon D90 camera for these great photos.

Do you have some of these friends in your garden?

By |2017-11-29T23:27:40-06:00August 25th, 2009|birds, Blog, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

A few little pretties

Today, my husband and I cleaned out the garage. No gardening and no interesting photos there, although it’s nice to have to done and all clean with room for more plants and pots and gardening tools!

I took these pictures yesterday. This lovely, delicate white flower is from my Anacacho Orchid Tree (Bauhinia congesta ), which I planted in the front bed when we had to remove all of the shrubs because of the Oleander disease. It replaces a Redbud that struggled most of the year. In the Spring, however, it always seemed happy and bloomed beautifully for me. I am so glad that this new tree also has lovely Spring blooms that everyone can enjoy. For a great photo for a full sized tree, you can check out Pam’s tree at Digging and see how much prettier the blooms get as the tree grows. (I have a little tree-envy, can you tell?!)

I had to capture a photo of this Verbena – the color is just so striking and it just thrives in this cooler Spring weather. It will melt when the heat of Summer arrives, but for now, it’s in its full glory and makes me smile every time I walk by it.

I saw Mr. Cardinal drinking from the top of my fountain and grabbed my camera, but by the time I got back, he was gone. But he invited some friends for a cocktail. Shortly thereafter, two mourning doves replaced him at the bar to wet their whistles!

Easter Dinner

Our wildlife friends enjoyed a nice Easter Dinner today as well, thanks to my husband and daughter who filled all the feeders for them yesterday.  

My husband captured some great shots today, here you see Mr. Cardinal – our dear friend and long-time neighbor – having a feast of sunflower seeds.
Mr. Squirrel, though technically uninvited, continues to come for dinner anyway!  Neither dogs barking at the window nor feral/neighbor cats nor my husband cranking open the window and hissing at him seem to have much effect.  In spite of his having broken my outrageously expensive Christmas gift cottage house feeder, I’ve given in…after all, squirrels have to eat, too.
Look closely, this is our first beautiful goldfinch of the season, right in the middle of the branch.  They are so bright and colorful.

Not captured on film today (well, not really film, either!), were a scrub jay (similar to a blue, but without the white markings on its wings.  We also had titmice, sparrows, house finches,  and wrens.  I think that the cliff swallows have come to reclaim their nest on the front porch because spots of bird poop appeared today just under the nest.  I’ll have to keep an eye out for them – last year someone had two sets of babies up there and it was a joy to watch them grow up and learn to fly on their own.
Happy Easter to all~
By |2016-04-14T02:47:51-05:00March 23rd, 2008|birds, Blog, Easter, Sharing Nature's Garden|8 Comments
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