Goldfinch Butts

:D

Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey Day is finally here! I hope you have a wonderful time eating and relaxing and eating some more. Take a page out of this House Finch's book and eat like the calories don't count.

New Year's Resolutions don't start for weeks, so have some fun and go back for that second piece of pie!

Fall Treasures

I found this adorable decorative box at a vintage store. (The birds are from Raley's supermarket.)

I thought it would be the perfect place to store all the feathers my backyard friends leave behind for me.

The leaves are changing colors on the trees outside and I'm excited to start cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Last year, we went to the SNWR on Thanksgiving Day and it was packed! There were so many people there that the auto tour was just one giant traffic jam. I don't know about you, but when I take a trip to the refuge, I enjoy having the place mostly to myself and look forward to the peaceful atmosphere.

This year, we will stay home and fill up on pumpkin pie and probably have a movie marathon. Maybe we'll watch The Big Year in preparation for our own big year!

Steadfast Sentinel

This beautiful Anna's Hummingbird stood guard over the backyard all day!

He wasn't about to let anyone or anything come between him and his favorite feeder!

Thanks for spending the day with me, you amazing little ball of fire...

Cloudy Skies

Puffy white clouds rise up into the mid-afternoon sky and over the top of my fence. I can just see the tops of them and they keep billowing upwards, providing much-needed shade and give me something interesting to look at besides stark gray-blue sky.

I like a cloudy day. The sky is constantly changing and the birds seem to know that rain is on its way...

New Feeder Update

Thanks to the new bird feeder, we've taken in an entire flock of goldfinches! There are at least 30 of them and they swoop in every day and drain as much seed as they can.

Before, when we only had the smaller gazebo feeder, we had a few finches here and there.

But now that we've hung out the big daddy feeder, I think we've created a monster. (A very good, fascinating and entertaining monster!)

There are so many birds that it looks like the ground is moving!

In conclusion, the new feeder is a complete success. Too bad I don't have room for another one...

Sweet Dreams

As I watch the hummingbirds make their last mad-dash to the feeders before sundown, I can't help but wonder, where do they sleep? We don't have many trees in my neighborhood. Do they share the same one, all elbowing each other for space?

I know they go into a hibernation-like state called Torpor, but it's still difficult to imagine something so active during the day catching shuteye at night.

Wherever they sleep, I hope they have sweet, nectar-filled dreams where the feeders are always full and the flowers are always blooming.

The New Hotspot

We bought a new bird feeder yesterday. It was the biggest one on the shelf and I thought to myself, "Wow, the birds will love that." It holds up to 17 pounds of seed and I can't wait to see how long it will stay full. (Hopefully a while!)

Bird feeders are somewhat of a catch 22. The longer they stay full the better, so you don't have to fill them up so often. But on the other hand, when they empty quickly it means you've had that many more birds eating from them.

The birds couldn't even wait for us to hang it up!!!

So, now that the new feeder is in its new home in the backyard, it didn't take long for every bird in the neighborhood to flock to it. The seed is already flying and the goldfinches are chasing off the house finches--never seen that before!

We'll see just how fast they can drain all those sunflower seeds...

Bath Time

I just love the sound of a mourning dove. I've mentioned them in my books before (a dove played a pivotal role in Wild Ice) and there's just something so hauntingly beautiful about their call.

I have a pair of doves who hang around in my yard every day and I could watch them for hours. This one posed for me quite majestically and I'm happy to add his photo to my scrapbook.

And when bath time rolls around, I'm there to snap some photos and watch the water fly...