Just the back yard!? Nah, I want the front and side yards landscaped in natives too.



Showing posts with label grackle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grackle. Show all posts

Friday, March 10, 2017

Snow Day 2017

Having an unexpected day off is nice.



After about two weeks of way above average temperatures in February, I was ready for an early spring--and even hopeful that we'd have no more winter weather.  Last week changed that with overnight temperatures in the single digits.  Although, I knew they were predicting some snow late last night into today, I was hoping to just have a two-hour delay.  That is what I got, but, once I was dressed for work (and not quite ready to go), our school closed.

Being off from work, I decided to finally start sorting through the tons of photos that I've taken.  Since I had been taking pictures, but never getting around to sorting them let alone posting them, I finally pretty much stopped taking pictures (except with my smartphone!).  However, instead of sorting photos, I began taking them again.  With the snow providing a beautiful backdrop, I began snapping picture after picture of the birds that come to the seed I put out for them.

After taking countless pictures, I switched the display from the traditional viewfinder to the digital display screen--that was when I was finally alerted to the fact that there was no memory card in the camera.  I had left it in the computer when transferring my last batch! :(

I will never know if those shots that I thought were so awesome really were.  So, I started again.  I was even able to recapture one shot of a few mourning doves still perched in the same spot in the distant trees.  The rest that I took still have the same mood as those lost forever.

Here are a few of the better ones:



 




Despite the snow, spring was in the air.  The trilling calls of the red-winged blackbirds filled the morning air.  Later in the day, I spotted a robin eating the berries from the sumac.  Later, perched outside one of our kitchen windows, the robin, too began singing.


Thursday, March 21, 2013

First Full Day of Spring

Today is the first full day of spring--even though, with temperatures in the 20's overnight and only a high around 33, it sure doesn't feel like it.  A few weeks ago, I was convinced that March meant spring weather for us...it did last year.

Two weeks ago, we had a few days in the mid-50's.  Had I not messed up my access to my blog, I'd have posted what happened back then.  Here it is now:

March 10, 2013

I was thrilled to see a male bluebird checking out the nestbox.  It is the same one they use every year, so I tend to think it is the same pair coming back year after year (or, there descendants).  The photo could be better, but it was taken at quite a distance and cropped.  I'm just happy to have visual proof of our visitor.

After seeing him, I went out and finally cleaned out the nestboxes--something I should've done earlier this year.  The one still had the abandoned nest of the tree swallows.  I removed it and went about cleaning them all.  After wiping them down with bleach and water and rinsing them, I let them dry before closing them up.  Hopefully, it won't be too long before they are in use again!




I ended up moving his one since its post was about to break.

Hopefully this irresistibly inviting hole will be being filled with a grass nest before long.

Now, the bluebird definitely had me thinking spring, but it wasn't until a week or so later that I saw first a grackle and then the long-awaited red-winged blackbird!


March 12, 2013

Finally, my pond is getting some bird action--
there was a morning dove at it earlier this month as well.

Shortly after seeing the one, I soon saw a flock of them!  So, despite the weather, I'm still thinking spring.
March 19, 2013
March 20, 2013

The blackbirds return signals spring to me more than the robins--although, I did spot three robins the other day.  My high school biology teacher always said that spring was 2 weeks after you spot the first red-winged blackbird.  So, I guess we are more than halfway there.


Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Spring Visitor

For the past week or so, I've had my eye out for the first red-winged blackbird...a sure sign of spring. Although they are not red-winged blackbirds, this morning I was happy to see two grackles visiting the yard for some seed. They've returned, so that is a great start. Spring is on its way...but I still can't wait for the red-wings to arrive.


It didn't hurt that today was 60 degrees...so it felt like spring too.