Birds of a Different Feather

Birds of a Different Feather Entirely...

Just happened to walk outside and look!

Last week I posted about all the birdies on the back deck that are eating the seed put out to entertain Carlos.

I also posted last year about all the birds that pass through at the beginning of Spring. They flock around the bird feeder for a couple of weeks and then pass on. (I think it is significant that these birds all came through last May. Spring seems to be starting MUCH earlier this year. I'm ok with that.)

But these guys live around here year round. Lots of people feed them but they are definitely wild birds.

I only wish their camouflage wasn't so wonderful. It makes it hard to take a picture of them in dappled light.

Wild Turkeys

 Altogether there were about 13 or 14 outside.

I don't usually see them this time of year. 

Most of the time I see them in November.

(How appropriate!)

They are sort of prehistoric looking, aren't they? 

Happy Spring.

Don't be a turkey.

CBS: Carlos Broadcasting System

Doggy TV:CBS
The Carlos Broadcasting System


One of Carlos's favorite spots to hang out during the day is at the end of my bed, staring out the window.

(This is breaking one of my cardinal rules that I have always had about no dogs on the furniture. 
But rules are made to be broken and as my neighbor says "They aren't really rules, just suggestions." I'm trying to take that to heart more.)

Just waiting for some entertainment.

Occasionally a squirrel will dash past and he will leap at the window and bark.

Even more exciting are the deer. Then he will leap at the window, make a mess of it, bark AND whine to go out.   Although one time he chased the deer and instead of running, they turned on him and chased back.  I almost had one dog hightailing it into the front door with three bucks hot on his tail. Fortunately those bucks saw me and turned off at the last minute.

Anyway, it dawned on me that watching the window just waiting for something to happen might be pretty boring for Mr. Carlos. I have had such success with the bird feeder in the front yard that there are birds everywhere.  Maybe put some bird feed on the back deck? A spot where the birds would be up close and personal?

Good idea, mom.

Well, that idea was very well received by all concerned.

 Birds everywhere. 

I love the one on the right that is coming in for a landing.

I'm pretty sure both of these guys (gals?)are finches.

 There's a lot of singing going on outside the back door...

Occasionally they are joined by these plump little juncos.

 Yum.

 Love his little crest...

 LOVE that you can see the sunflower seed in his mouth.

 The little yellow one has a crest, also.

 These Steller's Jays are soooo flighty. 

 Most of my pics of the jays turned out like this...

One happy dog. 

So much more to look at.

If you'd like to see the winged visitors we had last spring, click here. 

Spring has a lot of birds flying through that we don't see the rest of the summer. 

I'm hoping all of these little visitors are harbingers of spring. It sure has seemed like it recently.

Cross your fingers. 

It's a Bird, It's a Plane...

It's a Bird, It's a Plane....Nope.  It's a Bird.

Birds! We have them all of the sudden.

This is our fifth Spring to own this house and the very first time we have had any birds besides the hummers.

Pretty much around here if you fill a hummingbird feeder, they will come.
But other birds?
Nope.

We have even commented on how it would seem this would be a lovely spot for birds- but there have NEVER been any besides a random crow or two.

One year I filled the bird feeder in June and in August ALL of the food was still there.

The next year I filled the bird feeder and ....

These aren't birds.

But they still ate all the birdseed. 

This year I decided to try again.  You know... Hope Springs Eternal and all.

And Voilá!  Birds.

First it was just the Robins and the Steller Jays with a Chickadee or two.

 Mr. Robin

 Mr. Chickadee

and a Steller Jay

But on Sunday I glanced outside and wow!  I thought somebody's parakeet had escaped. 

The brightest yellow bird was out there. And then it was joined by a black and red bird. 

And more yellow birds. And then a yellow bird with a red head. 

What was going on??

I'm not sure but we have Birds with a capital B.

 An Evening Grosbeak.

This is the guy that first caught my attention.

 Male and female Evening Grosbeak on the feeder and a female Black headed Grosbeak on the fence.

These guys travel in flocks which would explain why there were 6 or 8 at a time in the yard. 

Today they seemed to be everywhere. 

The male Black Headed Grosbeak.

Love must be in the air.

Couples everywhere.

This guy was a bit more elusive. 

It's a Spotted Towhee but I couldn't get him to pose for me.

And in the less flashy but still cute category we have these two:

 A Gray Headed Junco...

and a Chipping Sparrow.

But the one bird that I could not get a picture of was the Western Tanager. He flew by me twice but never settled.   You will have to settle for a picture from BirdwatchersDigest.com:

The Western Tanager.

A real show-stopper.

And of course the Hummingbirds are here.   They showed up a couple of weeks ago.

Turf wars have already begun. I'm going to need more feeders.   Last week when we had our (hopefully) last snow, I snapped this picture.  Poor guy.

 This was taken from inside. He had to come around to the window side to find a 

spot that wasn't snow covered.

This is probably the same bird, a male Broadtailed Hummingbird.

He has been guarding this feeder with a vengeance.

And this sweetie is a female Black-Chinned Hummingbird.

I can't wait to see what else will come. Even the neighbors who have lived in Colorado forever say they have never seen so many birds.  We are attributing all the visitors to the abundance of snow we have had compared to the past few years. Who knows!?

On a more entertaining note, while I have been typing the girlies went to McDonalds for a dinner of French Fries and McFlurries. (I know, I know. I am a fabulous mother that prepares healthy and tasty meals for her children.)  In the drive-through lane they had to wait a bit longer than usual.
I don't know if he was ordering a salad or just checking out the leaves surrounding the speaker.
But I can assure you we don't have this problem at home in Texas. At least not in the city. 

Deer in the drive-through.

Business as usual.

And on an even MORE entertaining note, Bunny looked out the window last week and asked me "Mom, does that lantern out there ever turn on?" 

Ummm.....Honey, that lantern is the bird feeder. 

I love how teenagers are so observant.  It's probably all of that health food I feed them.

Have a great week.

Flowers in the House,

Flowers in the House, Visitors Outside


It's another "Flowers in the House" day and I'm linking up again with Jane at Small but Charming.

Love having fresh flowers in the house and kudos to Safeway for offering daffodils at ridiculously low prices this past weekend. Daffs all over the house now. Yay!  Particularly wonderful as we are having visitors this week and nothing says "Welcome" like fresh flowers. (Well,  maybe some wine and cheese. And chocolates? Fresh baked goods?)


Anyway, flowers in the house:

 On the mantel

And on the table.

Aren't they lovely?

And outside, the garden is popping up.  This week should be in the 60s with lots of sun so I expect things to start happening outside now.

 Tulips (I think?!) in a zoo.  (prison)

I really need to learn to label things.

Tulips along with allium (or agapanthus - can't remember) in another zoo.
Again. Label. Label. Label.

Carlos has been enjoying the sun on the back deck.

But the squirrels terrorize and tease him. It is so not fair.

And since I STILL have not figured this out entirely,

click "HERE" to see it if there is no video evident.

and 

Again, click "HERE" if no video.

I finally had to call the poor dog in after about ten minutes because he was not giving up.

The deer stopped by to eat the pine branches that fell from the weight of Saturday's snow.

Who, me?

And the birds stopped by to see what I've put in the bird feeder.

It's interesting because one year I put food in the feeder and three months later, the food was still there. 

Last year, I put bird seed in it again and had only deer eating out of it.

This year, I tried again (Hope springs eternal!) and Voilá! birds.

 These Steller jays are enormous compared to our Texas bluejays.

I thought everything was bigger in Texas?

 Their blue is so iridescent.

 A little sparrow?

Need to get the bird book out.

Nope. A chickadee!

Chickadee butt

 A barn swallow? 

And a male American Robin.

If we have Robins, Spring must not be far behind. Right??

Happy Monday.