Squirrel sez “I see you, and you don’t have permission to grab my photo!”
This grackel throws a mean stink eye when he sees you, camera in hand
Happy expressions they are not
birds
Blue jay enjoying a suet cake
We saw several blue jays in our backyard this morning. This one certainly was enjoying the store bought suet cake. Hope you enjoy the beautiful coloration of this striking bird.
Backyard squirrel antics and some birdwatching and listening
What a great day to enjoy the outside. It was windy, but wow what a wonderful sunny day with temps in the upper 70’s. Our son has been working the past couple of days straightening up the backyard, getting ready for some gardening and taking care of some weeding.
Female Cardinal, left and Male Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Squirrel walking past bird bath, note rocks in bowl for birds to perch
Squirrel turned around, jumped on bird bath, cartwheeled off when he hit water. See him on right ready to land, note water flowing from bowl.
Today we sat out back on our swing and did some wildlife watching. We filled both bird feeders, mounted a suet cage, and even put a couple of ears of field corn on trees. All the critters should be happy. Our son also filled one of the bird baths and put a couple of rocks in it for some for the birds to stand on while drinking. See photos above when a squirrel was surprised.
Warm sunny day with flowers and whirligigs
We finally had a wonderful day, suitable for enjoying the outdoors in our backyard. Even though it was rather breezy, the sunshine and temperatures near 80 made for a most comfortable session on our canopy covered swing.
Our son surprised us with another colorful and striking cut flower arrangement. This time we were treated with some multi-colored daffodils in addition to the beautiful yellow blooms. It was a treat to look upon them while we enjoyed some bird watching and squirrel watching too.
While looking at birds on the feeder, I felt something hit my arm. Looking down I saw a cluster of “whirligigs” or “helicopters”, in other words maple tree seeds. Our maple tree literally covers our yard each spring with these fun adaptions to Nature’s procreations. We’ve already noticed many new maple seedlings sprouting from last years crop of fliers.
Turkey vulture in flight over an old dairy barn
There is just something a tad bit creepy about the turkey vulture soaring above the abandoned old barn. Kind of expect to see Hitchcock in one of the windows…
Turkey vultures enjoying high winds
As that large storm front moved across the country, we had about 36 hours of sustained winds of 45 MPH with gusts breaking near 70. We observed vultures thoroughly enjoying the chance to soar at high speeds. Did you know that a group of vultures flying is called a “kettle”? The term “committee” refers to a group of vultures resting on the ground or in trees and a group of vultures that are feeding is a “wake”.
A cute little woodpecker
We heard and spotted this woodpecker in our backyard this morning. What species is this one?
A big song from a tiny bird
Outside our window came a very pretty and loud song. If someone cares to offer their opinion as to what species this is, please feel free to chime in!
Sandhill cranes on the move
First you hear them…
Then after you peer up into the sky hopefully you’ll be able to spot them, usually way up there, almost out of sight. This large “V” formation did not take long to spot. During migration Sandhill cranes usually fly around 5000 feet. They have been known to reach 13,000 feet when migrating over mountains.
Some more birds and squirrels
The squirrels and birds are liking the warmer conditions to do some foraging.
Roadtirement 