Retirement?

I think I have everything wrong. I am the one who should be retiring and enjoying my old age, instead I am working multiply jobs to allow those on welfare to leisurely enjoy life!

Here is a prime example of what our welfare society is doing while we work to provide for them!

Back to Work! No bird watching today.

Today is a quiet day, but I will expand upon yesterday and the shots I missed.

Besides the colorful birds we had visit us, we had a groundhog that was eying the flower bed when our dog decided to exit the back door via the dogie door and that ended any possibility for a picture.

Then a short time later a humming bird buzzed the area not stopping long enough to get a good view let alone a picture. It is days like yesterday that make the old backyard a good place to sit and enjoy nature.

My wife found out all about nature as she visited out behind the fence and discovered that yes, poison ivy does exist and yes it does itch. I think squirrel are resistant to poison ivy, too bad I would transplant some directly under the nut feeder.

If you haven't been to my photography site use the link to view an added 440+ pictures of Jessica and Peter's wedding.

Found in the group of wedding pictures of 116 is a picture taken just before Paul the Best Man signs and plays his guitar. In the picture you see him smiling as he looks toward our granddaughter. As Paul Harvey would say, "Now the rest of the story".

During the wedding Dani was singing the song "The wheels on the bus go round and round, and swish swish swish." As Paul got ready to sing and play his guitar he asked Dani if she wanted to join him sing. Those of us up front got to hear both her singing and his question and fortunately someone took the picture at the right time to capture the moment, probably not even knowing what was transpiring.

Sunday afternnoon has been very active in the ole backyard

Multiple colors of birds visited this afternoon. This time camera was ready.


Starting with the black and white Downey Woodpecker






Next two of the three Black-Capped Chickadees at the nuts.





The Northern Cardinals added red to the colors.





The male House Finch adds a different red to our colors




Then we have a female Cardinal, more House Finches, a Starling trying to get food from the top of the feeder, Grackel up in the tree and thin a Cow Bird in flight.






Adding a beautiful blue, and no Blue Jays, rather an Indigo Bunting





Gold Finches add the bright yellow with a touch of white and black.






Now for the up close and personal Squirrel pictures. He/she is staring in the window at me as it creeps closer to the nut holder until it wraps itself around the nut holder.









Now this squirrel had to leap up and grab the corn on the bungee cord and hold on for dear life as he grabbed kernels of corn.

Pesky at Best

This morning I went out to my computer chair to next to the window hoping to find a rare bird or two nibbling at the bird feeders. Instead, the pesky squirrels were out in abundance! This one little furrier creature decided that whatever it took he/she would find a way into the new nut feeder which rests just a few feet outside my window near my chair. First I tapped on the window and got a glance that said "You want something Bud?" So I decided to tap a little harder which must have scared the squirrel a little be cause it jumped off the feeder and ran a couple of feet to the base of the Sumac Tree which holds the feeder. Looking up and my window the squirrel decided that no harm was done so it was safe to return to the nut feeder.

My next step was to tap the window again, this brought only a few glares and and an attitude that said "you don't scare me". I tried calling the dog, but she was busy taking a nap and certainly didn't want to be disturbed. My next option was to open the wind a crack and this did intimidate the pest as off it ran to the fence. The abstanance was short lived and soon the pesk returned.

I have to say that several of my feeders are well protected from the squirrels so that alleviates some of the aggravation. One of my co-workers has erected a bird feeder and the squirrels have really been annoying him. This morning bright and early he ventured out with his garden hose to spray the pests. For some reason the squirrels didn't like the water, but he did have to spray them about four times in an attempt to keep them away from the bird feeder.

Last night rather than watch reruns on TV I headed out to Lake Evergreen, it certainly was windy. The water was very choppy and the wildlife was sparse. While I saw about twenty deer they were all a good distance from the road. The Canadian Geese were out with their young. We saw a couple small flocks and one large flock of about twenty ducklings. I think this was the largest group I have ever seen.

After studying the pictures and listening to the bird calls I am certain that our Chickadee visitors were Carolina Chickadees. Now that I have switched to mullet and safflower seeds the Starlings and Grackles are not visiting as frequently.

No pictures today, the ones from last night were not much to look at so I decided not to post them.

Monday June 4, 2007

Today I finally had a butterfly lite long enough to snap a few pictures. It was partially hidden but I didn't want to disturb as thus far this Spring they seem to be hyper motivated.







This is probably another House Finch



These are either Carolina Chickadees or Black-Capped Chickadees





Caught this one in flight.

New Lens for Camera - Trying it out

House Finch



Ducks on the pond



Heron on a perch


Duck near the pond


Calm creek maybe fishing would be good


Bird? Yes Kind ???


Robin high in the tree


Northern Cardinal



I said hike the ball! Didn't you hear me!


Another bird


Starling can be pretty as you see their multiply colors


Ruffed up bird. Maybe a hard day at work