Spring keeps getting better

Love birds are flying everywhere. They are fighting over the boxes, but I am sure soon they will have all that straightened out between them.My small purple wisteria. And my white wisteria on the arbor in the backyard. Someday it will be as large as the one we had in Halls, but it still has a way to go.

Babies in the trees

Not sure what the baby birds are. We have a row of 14 Leyland Cypress that we planted in October of 2004 when we purchased the property.

This year they have been full of nest. A few weeks ago Jimmy took Mason to see the baby birds. So a week ago when they were at the house Mason wanted to go see the baby birds. Papa (Jimmy) had to explain the baby birds were already gone.

But then Saturday afternoon we found yet another nest with more babies. They will probably be gone before Mason comes back this coming weekend.

Eastern Bluebird in my yard

Even though I don't get much computer time, I do still take the camera outside.

And I do still have birds in the yard, although these photographs were taken a couple of months ago (May, 2010). They are also greatly cropped.

Eastern Bluebirds are the first birds I ever really noticed.
They were my earliest bird watching.

Someday I will actually retire and watch the birds more often, probably while I sit on the back porch and knit.

Jimmy must be planning on me doing that some in Rockwood, he just finished a deck there. Think that is a hint for me to retire and be there with him full time?

A Couple of Brown Headed Nuthatch

These photographs of a pair of Brown Headed Nuthatch were taken one year ago this Sunday at our house in Rockwood. Brown Headed Nuthatch do not go as far north as Knoxville and until Jimmy's job moved to Spring City I had never seen one. I was wandering around the Veteran's Park in Spring City with camera in hand when I saw my first one. (Don't we all remember those lifer days of a particular bird?)
Clearly on the map they just barely get that far north in Tennessee. Rockwood is 10 miles north of Spring City and I was really excited the first time I saw them in our own yard. If the pair stayed there all summer I was not aware of them.

But they brought a smile to my face that day as I sat in our yard in my photographer's blind.

Birds bring such joy to our lives if we just give them a chance.

Maybe this year they will nest there and have their babies. Sorry, Betsy, I think they would be out of range if they are seen on the plateau.

Lynne from Hasty Brook purchased my Chickadee purse from the post below. I have had some inquiries about future bird needle felted purses, so I guess I better get busy knitting and designing. Thanks Lynne for the purchase, it will be shipped today.

More Hummingbirds from visit with Alice

More Ruby Throated Hummingbirds from my visit with Alice in Deer Lodge, Tennessee. Alice has counted 10 at one time at the feeder. And I believe it. They were buzzing all around us, sometimes chases straight through the porch. Glad I didn't decide to stand up right at that moment.
She just has one feeder too. So it doesn't take more to get more Hummingbirds. If she has more than one they just go to the 2nd one when the first one is empty, they prefer this feeder. So she just uses the one feeder, and fills it every morning. She uses 5 lbs of sugar every week. Wonder if she put them on a diet when the bags changed to 4 lbs.

She said last year her count was way down, but back up this year. I have never seen a small number at her house, I think she has more than 10, that is just the number she has been able to count as they hover around this one feeder.

And we all prefer the ones without the feeders in the photograph, but they are harder to photograph that way too.

Then one out of my archives, from my feeders in 2007. This one was taken with my Fuji point and shoot, but it is still one of my all time favorites.

Hope you have enjoyed the Hummingbirds, it will probably be my only post this year of the Hummingbirds since I don't have feeders up. If you didn't see it, please look at the post below, it explains why I don't have feeders.

Hummingbird Clearwing

This female Ruby Throated Hummingbird also appears to have clear wings, but this is the bird, not a moth. I took this at my friend Alice's house in Deer Lodge, Tennessee. I went to spend the day with her Tuesday because I had not seen her in 5 years. Her husband asked me how many Hummingbirds I killed....he said I had been shooting them all day. I hate to admit it, but I did take a lot of photographs, and this is the only one this good straight out of the camera, no cropping to this photograph.

I started going to Alice's house 25 years ago, so I am not sure when, but I photographed my first hummingbirds sitting in almost the same exact spot as I was when I took this one. First Hummingbird I ever saw was right there too.

Tree Swallows in birdhouse on deck - Part 2

We arrived home from vacation just in time to witness the

Tree Swallows as they were learning to fly.

Or not.

Two still in the birdhouse, that seem to not want to leave the comfort of home.

The one in the background is one of the babies that has come out.

The juvenile is gray brown instead of the glossy greenish blue of the adult.

In the last photo you can see the baby is not too happy about not being fed,

but they are trying to get the 2 still in the birdhouse to fly.

Vacation was not much of a photography vacation.

We had a great time with the family, didn't think much about photography.

Click here to see the first post about these Tree Swallows on my deck.

Notice the split in the birdhouse, you can see why we never thought the birds would use it.

Tree Swallows in birdhouse on deck

The Tree Swallows are using the birdhouse on the deck.

Jimmy found the birdhouse out in his shop and just placed it on the deck, next thing we knew the Bluebirds and Tree Swallows were checking it out. One day while we were watching a Tree Swallow went in the house and a Bluebird was hanging on the outside. I tried to capture a photo of the 2 looking at each other, but was not able to. The Bluebird flew off, then out came the Tree Swallow.

This sheppard's hook is real close to the deck,

and one of them stays on it most of the time,

the other one in the birdhouse.

This photo the Tree Swallow is perched right in front of the birdhouse.

They have gotten very used to us walking right past the birdhouse.

I talk to them as I walk all the way around the birdhouse. On Sunday afternoon I went out there with a fly swatter in my hand and shooed a wasp away from the birdhouse. The Tree Swallow just watched my every move, but never flew, or retreated back inside.

The neighbor's peacock came to visit

The neighbor down the road has Peacocks. When we first bought our property I did not know what that 'thing' was that kept on screaming. About 6 months later (2 years before we built the house) we did finally find out it was a Peacock. Now the sound does not bother me at all. Saturday morning we woke to find one on our deck. Jen, you think songbirds are messing on your deck, you should have one of these there. It looked like they had been out there for a month. Jimmy had to wash the deck.

Later that day while mowing Jimmy stopped and told me to grab the camera.

That is a sure sign of something interesting.

The Peacocks were back....all four of them.
I learned they are real camera shy.

Never did capture all four at one time.

But I did succeed in chasing them back to their own field.

Hopefully for good.

Don't want them on my deck anymore.

We have babies

Not the grandson....he seems to be perfectly happy where he is,

and does not want to come out and see us yet.

March 30, 2009 I opened the bluebird house, and this is what I found.

The second photo is worth clicking to enlarge just to see the feathers.

Today when I went outside to see if I could capture an open bloom for the "What is it?" post, this is what I saw as I stepped off the back deck. (Please scan down to the next post for "What is it?")

As I approached Daddy Bluebird flew, but the baby stayed there, but not for long. Even after this one flew Daddy was diving at me, so there might have been another one in the grass. I wanted to keep my head so I decided it was best to move to the front yard and leave the bluebirds to their flying lessons.

They went from the first 2 photos to flying in 5 short days.