Winter hiking

I went on a date this afternoon with a man who loves being out in nature as much as I do! His degree is in something nature-related, and he works in the local parks system. As I waited for him to arrive at the park, I was treated to three deer walking by the parking lot:

The sky was so blue today, it almost looked like it could be summer.  If only there were leaves on the trees and no snow on the lookout guardrail!  (Oh, summer, please get here soon!  I am already sick of the cold!)

At least the snow is beautiful:

So gorgeous:

And even more so as the sun began to set:

It was so fun to go out hiking again!  It had been a few months since I'd been out, and I've really missed it.  I have made it a goal for 2013 to spend more time on the trails.  Mr. Nature and I have tentative plans to go out hiking again.

We did see two red-tailed hawks circling and then swooping near us, which was fun.  He's more into plants than birds, but I told him that birds are much more interesting to watch!

It was so refreshing to have delightful conversation, and to be with someone who pleasantly greeted other hikers we encountered.  My new beginning reinforces all that I'd been missing out on this past decade!

Nature weekend

Thanks again for all of your support -- it means a lot.  We are still missing Brian immensely.  I buried him on Friday after work.  I scratched his head -- something he never let me do when he was alive -- and thought about the good times we had together.  My tears fell on him, and I was thinking how wonderful it would be if they had some sort of magical power that could restore him to life.  Of course, nothing happened, but I pulled out some of his lovely blue feathers and have them safe in a drawer.  He's now resting in the back yard, along with the rest of the budgies who've left us over the years.  Lenny, Ethel, Jeff Saturday, and Daphne.

Until this point in the day, I had not cried and was able to look back at pictures and videos of him fondly.  I think about him almost constantly, but it makes me happy to remember how wonderful he was and how lucky we were to have as much time with him as we did.  I know I shouldn't but I keep thinking of different "what ifs" -- it's amazing to think how decisions made nearly a decade earlier were ultimately instrumental in what happened.  For example, if I'd taken a different job in 2002, I probably wouldn't have been home until much later, sparing his life.  Or, if thugs hadn't broken into our house in 2005, we wouldn't have moved, which means we wouldn't have had room for Rocky (though we would have had room for Brian), and he'd still be alive.  It's just interesting how seemingly unrelated events can conspire against me.

We decided to try to spend much of the weekend in nature, as that always helps to raise our spirits.  We went to one of Thomas's favorite places, where there are lots of natural springs.  It was peaceful:

Some of the springs:

And we even saw a few cedar waxwings, Thomas's favorite wild bird:

We both felt much better.  Thomas is adamant that we can't add any more birds to our house.  Maybe when we move and the set up is different.  We have no plans to move.  I'm not sure if he'll still feel this way once he can process more of his grief.  In any way, it's way too early for us to think about adding anyone else.  Of course, I had three different people ask me if we'd take their special-needs birds since Brian died.  I had to turn them all down.

I had figured that our bird-bath activity would mostly be done for the year (it certainly will be soon once we turn off the outside water and close down the bird bath for the year) so it was a pleasant surprise to see a dark-eyed junco bathing this morning:

We'll definitely get out hiking some more this holiday weekend.  Nature really helps heal us.

Stella and outside birds

Stella flew to the island so she could perch on the container where we keep the cookies.  I suspect she was hoping I'd cave and give her some, but that didn't happen.

As a bonus, though she turned to look at me here, she was watching the outside birds at the birdbath (you can see a grackle in the background) and she'd occasionally shriek and scare them all away.  I think it was a game to her.

I don't think I'll ever match the record set earlier this month, but here are 8 birds on at the same time.  As far as I can tell, mostly sparrows (I think American Tree Sparrows) and one lonely American Goldfinch.

Weekend hiking pictures

We went hiking/birding over the long weekend; mostly hiking as we were a bit out of practice with the binoculars.  This black-capped chickadee was posing in the most adorable ways; however, by the time I thought to get my camera out, he'd taken flight.

We stumbled upon a little ground squirrel, whose tail fit perfectly against her back as she was eating:

So beautiful and green!  Thomas is a little orange blur in the middle of the picture:

In the spring, we'd sat here and watched a hummingbird build a nest.  This time, we didn't see any birds, but it was still peaceful and nice:

A dragonfly resting on a post:

From this distance, Thomas noticed something so he grabbed his binoculars.

Two deer, resting in the field!

We turned around so not to disturb them.  So, not a productive birding day -- I think we only saw something like 15 species -- but it was great to be out in the cooler weather and hiking again.  Looking forward to doing this more often in the upcoming fall weeks.

New birdbath record!

When I came home from work Friday afternoon, I heard tons of birds singing in my trees.  I was going to call Thomas to tell him to come outside, but before I left work he told me he had to call a patient, so I figured he was busy.  Good thing I got inside quickly so I could see all of the birdbath action!

After taking my pictures, I mentioned the bird extravaganza to Thomas, and he was excited because he thought he'd taken the new birdbath record, with 5:

And then he saw, on the screen, what I had been able to capture.

First, 7:

Then, 9:

Then, 11:

And, finally, 13!!!!!:

I'm pretty sure it will never be possible to break that record, unless we get a bigger birdbath!

There was a mix of grackles and sparrows, and it was so fun to watch!  Here, a sparrow lands, as the grackles are fixated on something above:

The grackles are in the midst of molting, so it was interesting to look at them through the binoculars and see the various stages they were in.  Looking forward to birding during the upcoming fall migration!

New birdbath record

5 at a time!

Fledglings

Baby robins have been abundant in my yard!  This guy was about to fly up to the bird bath:

And this tiny fledgling, still full of down, was being fed by his parents (I was watching that through the binoculars instead of taking pictures!):

I think this is probably a baby house finch, though I'm not positive.

This continuing hot weather means our bird bath is well-occupied!

More bird bath and a backyard visitor

If you're sick of seeing pictures of my backyard birds, skip this post!  It continues to be ridiculously hot, so tons of birds are visiting the bird bath for a drink and to cool down.

I think these are two juvenile house finches:

I loved this angle, with their shadows:

Later, a mourning dove arrived:

Then things got a bit more crowded:

By chance, I caught this robin on the ground, thinking about coming up:

He did, displacing the mourning dove:

The record for birds we've seen on the bath at once is four (tied many times -- maybe someday we'll hit five!):

The robins aren't always the best sharers (hmmm... sounds like my greys):

But the house finch was undaunted and flew around to the other side of the bath, away from that particular robin:

The goldfinch are notoriously hard for me to photograph as they spook when they see movement in the house, but this appears to be a juvenile, so perhaps he isn't as careful as the adults.

Later in the evening, the greys were in the kitchen when they simultaneously let out their alarm call and flew as quickly as they could into the living room.  I looked outside, but couldn't see anything, so I reassured them all was safe and brought them back to the kitchen.  They then alarm-called again and flew off.  I could finally see why: my neighbor's dog had gotten into our fenced backyard!

They must have caught a glimpse of him and he was behind the shed when I looked for whatever had scared them.

I talked with my neighbor and she said he is a notorious escape artist.  Apparently he had been in our backyard last week sometime -- they can't figure out how he's getting in as the fence appears to be secure.  He's a rescue and they think he honed his escape skills as a puppy when he was allowed to roam free.

Luckily, no harm done, and he made it back home.  I just have to hope he didn't leave any deposits in our yard when Thomas mows the lawn next.

Baby robin update

It looks like two baby robins hatched out of the second clutch (three hatched from the first clutch.)  They look like they might be getting ready to fledge soon:

Unfortunately, it also looks like some staining happened on our house, so we'll have to see if we can take care of that once the babies are gone.

So cute!

Bird bath soap opera

It's been ridiculously hot, which means the outside birds have appreciated our bird bath.

I'm pretty sure this was a baby mourning dove:

A few minutes later, there was a robin:

And then a grackle, bathing:

Two robins; one bathing, the other waiting her turn:

I think this is a grackle, coming in for a landing?  Or maybe taking off?:

One robin on the bird bath; another waiting her turn on the ground:

This little guy had the skinniest legs ever!  I'm thinking maybe a juvenile?

This baby was hanging out on the patio, trying to decide whether or not to bathe:

It was worth the effort to fly up! As you'll see, she stuck around for a long time:

Adult robin and baby robin.  I imagine they are trying to scare the other one off so they can have the bird bath to themselves!  The baby appears to be the aggressor here:

And the adult responds:

Perhaps a peaceful understanding has been reached:

But then, a female house finch appears!

She needs a drink, as the robins continue to hang out in the water:

Three robins and a house finch!

Someone coming in for a landing -- based on the next picture, I think it's another robin:

Because now there's three robins again, and the house finch is back!  (I double checked the order of these photos and it's correct):

Back to two wet robins:

I really need to get one of those motion-activated cameras.  So interesting to watch!

Later, we noticed a mourning dove near our patio:

She kept holding her wing up, like this:

I was going to call the wildlife center if she was still doing this, but 30 minutes later, she'd gone.  Maybe just stretching?  Her wing did not always stay like this, as you can see from the first picture.  I read that they will sometimes do this to distract predators from their nest and/or young, but I didn't see any evidence of that at all.  Interesting.