What a weekend!

I have lots of photos, so if you are still one of those poor dopes with dial-up, go get a massage or a few beers and wait.


Da da dum dum, da da dum..............
Ready?

THURSDAY:
Isabelle graduated from Kindergarten. I cried. A lot.

(photo by Swami)

FRIDAY:
Caught some teeny hummingbird tongue action.







Powder thought my nice Longaberger bread basket would do for a bed.

Makes her look like she forgot her body somewhere.


SATURDAY:
I took the bird-sicles that Kathi gave me, to RAPTOR. I thawed out a starling and gave it to Lucy.


I left her alone, and by the time I came back to put her back she had de-headed it.

I did some glove training with No-No:

I could look at him all day. What a mixture of textures...pure white, copper, chevrons of dark grays...and let's not forget those big liquid eyes....Ooooooo.

Our first yard bird babies of 2008 showed up to learn how to use the feeders.
House finches:

Why is it that the last of the baby feathers are ALWAYS on top of their heads, like bad haircuts?

"Dad? Dad? Dad? Daaaaaaaaad? Daaaaaaaaaaad?"


This one hovered awkwardly for about 10 seconds trying to get back up to the feeders.

SUNDAY:
Picnic at Germantown Metropark.
My first kingfisher nest, on a cliff above the dam backwater:

Carrying a fish back to the babies!

This sign is by the fence above the backwater, just for those dummies who would think that a swim in an active backwater would be a great idea. I asked the girls to stand in front of it with frowns on their faces, and Lorelei, without any prompting, struck this pose:

Yep, that's my kid.


We took a nature walk and found a red-backed salamander:

Look, Nina! A Sally-mander!

I started turning over buckeye leaves and found a little blue caterpillar:

What kind of caterpillar uses buckeye for a host plant? Anyone know?

And a life dragonfly:

A Carolina Saddlebags. A goofy name for a spectacular dragonfly.

I didn't even include all the gardening I did in the past few days. I am typing with most of my fingers wrapped in Band-Aids. I will have to save all that excitement for the next post.

If you don't talk to your cats about catnip, who will?

This morning, I was in the right place at the right time. While at my favorite spot at Lake Isabella, I was listening to a Northern Parula and not seeing it...for like 30 minutes. I was listening so hard, my ears started to hurt, and I actually got mad at the little bugger.
While I was scanning the rapidly leafed-out trees, I noticed a few blue-gray gnatcatchers.



I also noticed that they kept landing in the same tree, on the same branch.


Nest building! I guess that qualifies as a confirmed breeding pair, huh?

I got the cats a few "cat tents"; basically vinyl cubes with windows. To sweeten the deal, I sprinkled a little cat nip inside...and let the games begin.

"Oh, wow. This is some goooooood sh*t."



"Mom? (in a panicky voice) Mom? Am I the only one seeing the giant bugs on the ceiling?"


"Hooper. Hooper, dude. Help me, man. You're upside down. IT'S FREAKING ME OUT!"




Oh, Hooper. Did you get into the cat nip, too?
"S'okay, Ma. I can quit whenever I want."

In other news, the FOS hummingbird showed up yesterday:


Thank goodness. Now where the Hell have YOU been?

I have been watching this particular house finch for about 2 weeks. (I would call this guy a "marker bird", since he is the only male house finch who looks like a prize fighter.)

He's eating well, he can fly...let's hope that he can get a girlfriend and pass on that immunity.

This is for Rachel, my soon-to-be sister-in-law (Geoff's brother Kevin FINALLY popped the question).
Rachel gave Isabelle sea monkeys for her birthday, and while I was leery (remember how short-lived sea monkeys used to be? They would live for like 24 hours and then go belly-up), we gave it a shot. I guess the sea monkey scientists have improved the formula.
They have grown really fast, and they are at that tender age when they feel that urge....you know that urge.....to knock some boots!

Sea monkey porn. In all its watery glory.
If you look at the two "stuck together", you will see a dark spot between them. That's an egg sack.
I gotta say, though....it must suck to be a female sea monkey. These gals have been carrying these slacker males around for days.

Don't mess with Victor.

Oh, is it ever gonna freakin' rain?
I can only look out on panting, sorry birds for so long. Time to get out the hose.

First was the weeping cherry tree in the front yard.
One of the young cardinals soaked it up big time.

"Do you mind? I'm showering here."

Then it was dragging the hose through the house to the back yard. Since hummingbirds are libel to be knocked out by a large rain drop, they LOVE mist.

And we have a rather assertive hummingbird this year. I have named him Victor.
Victor E. Get it?



He's like on uppers or something.



Nothing like having a cold beverage while taking a shower.
But no one else was getting near that feeder but Victor.
(Look closely at the pics...you can see blurs of other hummers trying to cut in)


"No! Mine!"



"I'll bite you in the tail feathers, punk!"

I added a stick to the top of the feeder, for a staging area. But Vic claimed that, too.



"No! MY stick! Mine!"



"You have a death wish, don't ya, loser?"



"It's mine....alllllll mine!"



Tell the Creationists they can bite me. Ever get a really good look at feathers? When birds evolved from reptiles, they retained the pattern of scales. Birds...living dinosaurs.

By the way, the fight over the feeder lasted for a solid hour, before Victor finally perched, panting, on the top of his stick.



"It's hard work to be so macho."



Grasshopper on the feeder (imagine a really dopey voice): "What happened?"

A video of Victor, as he "rested"...the goofy thing never sat still:

*The bird call you hear in the background is my kitchen clock*