Surprise Visit

I guess the holidays aren't over yet in our house; Jeff and I were making another holiday treat before sitting down to binge watch House or Orange is the New Black--depends on what Jeff picked (either is fine by me).  We still have tonight and tomorrow before we head back to work after Christmas break.  We were toasting Pepperidge Farm thin white bread in the broiler to prepare them for a ham and cream cheese concoction that we make every year with left over ham.  I'd set the time, and was on my way to take out the bread when I spotted a deer just outside the kitchen window (the motion detecting light was on).  After getting Jeff's attention, he spotted another, and then a third, as I got my camera ready--too bad I didn't have the game came set up tonight!  Anyway, after taking some shots, Jeff announced that we'd burned the bread--we both laughed (easier to do since we hadn't spread it with the ham spread yet.   We started the process all over again, and I decided to post this before sitting down to enjoy the show.

Here is one of our surprise visitors:

Now off to enjoy my snack.

Flurry of Activity

This morning, the activity at the feeder caught my eye and I took some time to watch (which I should do more often). A blue jay performed a fairly graceful leap and a twisting turn, a branch swayed back and forth, something had spooked the birds. Approaching the window, I saw a squirrel scampering through the snow toward the feeder. The activity resumed.

I grabbed my camera and tried to get some shots of the squirrel. I brave little wren (which I haven't seen since I posted the earlier picture) perched on the branch below the feeding squirrel. Cardinals, jays, a wren, and two squirrels all feeding together. Suddenly, another bird flew toward the feeder--everyone scattered. As I tried to figure out what kind of new bird was visiting my feeder, it took off to perch on a tree on the edge of the property.

At some point as it was flying off and I noticed everything else had disappeared, I realized it was a hawk. Seeing it perched in the distance confirmed it. It was difficult to get a clear shot, but I'll post what I did get before it flew off, empty handed, about 5 minutes later. Not that I wanted to see it take a bird or squirrel, but it has to eat too.



Before the event.



...and after the missed attack. Perhaps there were too many choices, but, for what ever the reason, the hawk landed empty handed:

Other Visitors to the Yard