There seemed to be a lot of bird activity visible from my office window this past month. The most common ones – juncos, sparrows (white-throated and house), finches (gold and house) - do not feature as much in my photos but they were always around.
Mourning Doves are too heavy for the feeder, but they are frequent visitors under the feeder on the deck and out in the yard. They also perch in the maple. They look largest when it is cold, and their feathers are fluffed.
The Northern Cardinals come to the feeders and flit all over the yard and trees. They seemed to be more activity in January than usual because there were more of them around. We have a resident pair that are around all year but in January there were at least 2 other pairs that were occasionally coming for food…and the interactions of both the males and females were high drama to watch.
The other resident pair that we usually see all during the year are a male and female (pictured) Red-bellied Woodpecker. Hopefully they’ll have young again this year. The birds dig through the seeds at the feeder…always leave with a peanut or sunflower seed.
There was a hawk that was around occasionally. Once it was at the edge of the forest diving into the leaves…came up empty. Another time I heard a tussle on the deck and glanced out to find the hawk on the deck railing – also without prey that it had probably been stalking. I was particularly relieved that it didn’t kill one of the birds coming to the feeder!
I’ve noticed Northern Flickers more in our yard. They blend into the leaves so well they are hard to spot…don’t come to the feeders.
The White-breasted Nuthatch comes to the feeder and is very assertive – drives away all except the Red-bellied Woodpecker.
There was a mixed flock of Red-winged Blackbirds and Brown-headed Cowbirds (pictured) that flew into the treetops of at the edge of the forest. I was glad they didn’t come down to our feeders! There were occasionally some cowbirds that came in the subsequent days; hope they don’t stick around for nesting season.
The downy woodpecker doesn’t come to our feeders frequently; they must be very hungry when the do because they eat quite a few seeds!
Not as many zoomed images to choose from in January – I did more photography with my phone than my bridge camera. I was in extra-rest mode for part of the month after my surgery and it was very cold outside. Still the usual January photo subjects have a showing this month: snow, birds, deer in our neighborhood and flowers indoors. Enjoy the January 2022 slide show!
I selected 19 images to represent this month. Here are some stats:
The normal locations for photography: home(2) and neighborhood (1)…and then day trips to Patuxent Research Refuge (5) and Longwood Gardens (11).
6 indoors (including the conservatory at Longwood Gardens and a high key image of a day lily from my office)…the rest outdoors
17 plants (2 fiddleheads and 6 waterlilies), a bird and squirrels
Enjoy the slideshow for the October zoomed images!
I’m saving most of the fall foliage pictures for next month!
There is a male red bellied woodpecker frequenting our bird feeder. He assertive and noisy…and very picky about the kind of seed he wants. The mix in the feeder right now does not have as many peanuts as our previous mix – which, in the past, has been the favorite of these larger woodpeckers. The bird seems to do its most effective probing with its head upside down (the bird is heavy enough that it partially shuts the seed openings of squirrel proof feeder).
The bright red swipe on the top of the bird’s head makes ID easy. The most zoomed images show how the texture changes closer to the bill (maybe shorter red feathers there?). These birds use the back part of their body to help hold their weight while they hug the feeder like a tree!
Our birdfeeder cam has broken so these images are all taken with a camera and shot through the window of my upstairs office. I have the camera set to take multiple images if I continue to hold down the shutter button.
My husband has started setting up his camera and tripod out on the deck pointed focused on the birdfeeder at times we anticipate high in bird activity. The most interesting interaction he has captured so far is between a House Sparrow and our resident female Red-bellied Woodpecker. The sparrow was there first; when the woodpecker arrives, it threatens the sparrow. The sparrow moves to the other side of the feeder. The woodpecker moves and threatens again…driving off the sparrow completely. Enjoy the slideshow action! (Use the arrows to move between frames to see the encounter.)
The woodpecker is the top bird at the feeder as far as I can tell. It even drives starlings away! The smaller birds like finches and chickadees scatter when the woodpecker swoopes toward the feeder. The White-breasted Nuthatch often trades off with the woodpecker and may be the next up in the order although it is sometimes willing to share the feeder with a smaller bird. Fortunately, the woodpecker has other sources of food so the rest of the birds get a turn.
I seemed to be busy with other things during January…so I was a little surprised that there were enough pictures to make a ‘through my office window’ post this month. This time of year, the heated bird bath is popular with many birds. I managed to get pictures of blue jays, Carolina chickadees, and a mourning dove there.
Both the male and female northern cardinals are coming to the deck and feeder. The male prefers the seed under the feeder, but the female takes her time there…stays on the feeder perch of minutes rather than seconds.
The gold finches come to the feeder in small flocks. There are often 2 or 3 of them at a time.
The white breasted nuthatch comes to the feeder but has started checking around the shingles of the covered part of the deck. I wonder if the bird stores seed there or there is something else the bird is looking for there.
I photographed the red-bellied woodpecker at the feeder but also in the maple tree. There is one in this series where the bird is getting ready to take off from the maple to make a run at the feeder. We only have a female around right now. I hope a male shows up by the spring.
Deer come through our yard frequently. Their route is always on the south side of our house – either heading to or coming from the forest. Sometimes they seem to be looking right at the camera. I saw two males butting heads at dusk, but the light was too poor to get a picture.
There is a small flock of house finches in our area. They enjoyed nibbling the red maple buds on a warm afternoon, but they are often at the feeder this time of year as well.
My favorite pictures this month were of a group of crows finding tasty things in the back yard. They were digging down into the leaf mulch and grass; note that one of them has dirt on his beak! Also – one has white feather.
Our neighbor’s house is missing a triangular cover on part of their eaves…and it appeared that some starlings moved into the protected space on the last day of 2020.
Fortunately, the birds are almost to heavy to get seed from our feeder so I see them more on the gutter and roof of our covered deck.
I saw one that came to the top of the feeder while the female red-bellied woodpecker was there and the woodpecker became very territorial…moving toward the starling and making threatening sounds/moving its open beak like a pair of open scissors toward the starling. The starling made a hasty retreat!
There are times that I appreciate the look of the starlings. Their feathers do have a green or purple sheen ….and the black tipped beak is interesting too.
I am appreciating the view from my office window more this year than ever before…it is a great view of the natural world. We’ve seen wild turkeys twice (no pictures!) and one evening 9 deer came through (usually we see 2-4 at a time). There are the usual critters that I almost always manage to photograph: the finches, crows, white-breasted nuthatch, a pair of cardinals,
The squirrels,
The mourning doves,
The red-bellied woodpecker, and
The Carolina wrens.
The birds that we only have around during the winter are the dark-eyed juncos,
The red-bellied nuthatch,
The white-throated sparrow,
And the red-winged blackbirds. We have the red-winged blackbirds near the neighborhood pond in the other seasons, but they don’t venture to our forest and feeder except in the winter or during migration. They are almost too heavy for the feeder, so they don’t get enamored with what it provides.
The view from the window – the forest, the bird feeder and bath, the winter yard…the best in the house.
It turns out the birdfeeder had some busy times on Thanksgiving — according to our birdfeeder cam. The day started about 1:30 AM when two racoons visited they feeder. They gave up very quickly. So far – none of the racoon visitors have gotten any seed.
There were the usual visitors off and on throughout the morning. Then there was a flurry of activity about 12 hours after the racoon visit…starting just after 1:30 PM. A White-breasted Nuthatch came to the feeder…was routed temporarily by a Tufted Titmouse…after the titmouse left, pair nuthatches returned….they came and went several times. Then a female Northern Cardinal was on the feeder with the male cardinal keeping watch below. The nuthatch and cardinal pairs are rarely on the feeder at the same time…the second bird waits on the deck railing or floor. The nuthatches take turns on the feeder; the male cardinal seems to be more in sentinel mode rather than waiting for a turn at the feeder. The nuthatches pick out the sunflower seeds. The female cardinal seems to like everything.
Toward the end of the day, the Red-bellied woodpecker was the last bird to get a snack at the feeder. The bird made a lot of noise….before it flew in and then when it was at the feeder. It does like to have the feeder to itself although sometimes it will share it with a small bird like a Carolina Wren.
So much to see from my office window….
The resident Blue Jays come through several times a day. During the summer months I can only photograph them on the deck or at the bird bath. Now that the leaves are off the trees it is easier to spot them in other places in our back yard.
The Northern Cardinal pair are regular visitors as well. I see the female more often than the male.
The Carolina Wrens are around all during the year. They are easiest to photograph at the feeder since they are preoccupied with getting seed – stay for more than a few seconds.
The Chipping Sparrows and Tufted Titmouse are at the feeder almost every day. The titmouse often takes its seed to the gutter above the feeder to open the hull to get the good part.
The White-Breasted Nuthatch, House Finch, and Carolina Chickadee are all regular visitors.
American Goldfinch and Downy Woodpeckers are in our area all the time but they come to our deck and feeder infrequently.
There are birds we see primarily during migration times. Red-winged Blackbirds are at the neighborhood pond all through the year but only come to our feeder and forest in flocks during the fall and spring.
Sometimes we have Brown-headed Cowbirds around in the spring (laying eggs in other birds’ nests) but in the fall we just see them as they move through in small flocks when they stop to raid the birdfeeder.
Our resident Red-bellied Woodpecker comes to the feeder often. Right now - the female is all we see. Earlier this year there was a male and I hope there will be a pair next spring…another chance to see young birds.
The squirrels come to the deck for water and the seed under the feeder that the birds have scattered. Sometimes they try to dump the feeder but are generally not successful.
Now that the leaves are off the trees it is easier to see the Mourning Doves in the trees. Just before I wrote this post, I counted 7 doves preening in trees behind our house!
The sunsets are visible from my office window as well. The challenge is to look for it at the right time.
My favorite picture ‘through the window’ this month is the last big leaves on the sycamore. It was taken on the 23rd. One of the leaves fell shortly after I took the picture but one is still hanging on.
Another month…a selection of zoomed pictures. The only picture of the group taken a little further afield than we’ve been since the beginning of the pandemic is the rather stern looking Great Blue Heron which was from our field trip to Conowingo Dam. There will be a few more such field trips in November as we build up our confidence to make the treks safely. Enjoy the show!
It’s so easy to capture the backyard happenings through the windows of my office or breakfast area.
The sunset was colorful through my office window on the 1st day of the month….a fabulous beginning.
There were the usual birds around the deck – Mourning Doves
And Carolina Wrens.
There is a female Red-bellied Woodpecker that comes to the feeder frequently…picks out the sunflower seeds and scatters the other kinds for the birds below.
The White-breasted Nuthatches often seem to follow the woodpecker. There are at least two of them and they have plenty of assertive poses…always fun to watch.
When multiple birds are at the feeder – it is easy to compare relative sizes: Finches, Carolina Chickadee, Chipping Sparrow.
After I mowed the leaves – I noticed that the lawn mower left a pattern in the yard. The grass was a bit wet so the mower left an impression. The picture was taken about 24 hours after I mowed.
When I empty the seed from then feeder before refilling it, the chipmunk often shows up before the squirrel! It’s fun to watch. The day was cloudy when it visited the deck recently and I got a lot of blurs because of the reduced light…but these images were clear enough to post.
Overall – a good month of photographing the scene through the windows in the back of our house.
Lots to see on one wet morning….
A gang of Blue Jays intimidated the squirrel from under the feeder… then called to their friends.
Some of them appear to be more in command than others.
But they still are deferential to the Red-bellied Woodpecker at the feeder.
Eventually there were 6 Blue Jays enjoying the seed at our deck (with a female Cardinal at the feeder itself and the squirrel they had run off out in the yard).
After the Cardinal left, one of the jays contorted to get a few seeds from the feeder.
Then the Red-bellied Woodpecker returned, and all the Blue Jays flew away.
Looking out the front windows – there were 4 deer on our driveway and in the yard among the oak leaves feeding on acorns. There were two adults and two young that looked like they were getting their winter coats (the young ones appeared to like my neighbor’s Crepe Myrtle as well as the acorns).
Watching Drawdown 2020 video. I’d heard about Project Drawdown in the Mid-Atlantic Climate Change Education Conference back in July; the project is all about how existing technology can address climate change….if we just apply it now. The video (recorded 9/21) is a little over 2 hours…and very well done. I watched it spread out over the day rather than in one sitting. The sound bite take-away for me: “Act like your home is on fire….because it is.” Earth is ours to save from ruin…and save ourselves as well. There are lots of ways we can do it!
Digiscoping. I practiced using our spotting scope with my phone to get magnified images (practicing before we are away from home). It involves a specialized case and connectors specific to the phone and the spotting scope models (available from Phone Skope). My husband ordered the gear for both of our phones (we don’t have the same type phone) and we can share the piece that is unique to our spotting scope. The assembly of the three pieces is easy enough and then the phone with the Phone Scope gear is put on the spotting scope. The friction fit is secure….so the spotting scope can be moved just as if it was being used without the phone attached.
I quickly discovered that I would need to take the cover off the spotting scope because I need easier access to the focusing knob!
My first practice session was zoomed images of the forest behind our house….with the leaves beginning to turn. I used the optics of the scope as much as I could then zoomed the phone just enough to take away the vignetting….and celebrated the sunny day (after several wet and gray days).
The bird feeder camera has not been as interesting recently, but I noticed two sequences where there were 2 or more species of birds there at one time. The first one is a Downy Woodpecker joined first by a female Northern Cardinal, and then a White-breasted Nuthatch.
The next sequence has a female finch (maybe) on the side of the feeder away from the camera and a Tufted Titmouse. The titmouse moves around a bit and is then joined by a Carolina Chickadee. The titmouse flies away and a White-breasted Nuthatch comes. The finch stays on the same perch for the duration.
The pictures I take with my camera through my office window are sharper. The Red-Bellied Woodpecker (female) is coming to the feeder periodically. There must be plenty of food in the forest since she does not come frequently.
The House Finches sometime come in groups. They are probably the most frequent species at the feeder.
The Carolina Chickadees are high energy visitors to the deck…and not just to the feeder.
The Chipping Sparrows sometimes come a lot and other times appear to be gone somewhere else temporarily.
A male Downy Woodpecker comes periodically.
Mourning Doves survey the yard from the deck railing. They also like the bird bath…and clean up any seed that falls from the feeder.
The strangest photograph this month was of a Carolina Wren….that appears to be missing a tail! I didn’t notice the oddity until I looked at my images on a bigger monitor. The bird behaved normally so maybe it will survive (and grow new tail feathers).
Mourning Ruth Bader Ginsburg….an increase in concern for the future of our country. So many things are adding together to make 2020 a traumatic (and tragic) year. Maybe times like this are the ultimate test of our character as individuals and as a society.
I swept acorns from the driveway and picked up sticks that had fallen off the oak; the wheelbarrow was not very full when I started toward the front flower beds to do some bush trimming. I looked down as I started and saw a medium sized monarch caterpillar on the edge of the wheelbarrow closest to the handles. It was a shock since I had not been anywhere near any milkweed plants. I took the picture after I moved the caterpillar to a milkweed plant.
The caterpillar moved from the leaf I’d encouraged it to crawl to (used to transport it) onto the milkweed leaf right away and then rested – made it easy to get some pictures.
I checked some of the other milkweed plants that I had left in the front flower bed and found 3 other caterpillars!
By the time I finished doing some bush trimming and filling the wheelbarrow, the caterpillar that I’d found on the wheelbarrow was busy eating on the milkweed plant where I’d moved it.
The following morning, I went out early when the temperature was only about 60 degrees and saw 2 of the caterpillars actively eating. Hopefully, the others were still around too…just not actively feeding where I could see them.
Two woodpeckers on the birdfeeder. I was reviewing the videos from the camera we have on the bird feeder and found an interesting one from first thing in the morning back on the 6th….2 woodpeckers (red-bellied and downy) on the feeder at the same time! Both were females. The downy flew off without getting any seed but the red-bellied got something before she flew away.
The birds are finding most of their food in the natural environment this summer – not coming to the feeder as often. Still – some are coming often enough for me to take pictures through my office window.
The House Finches and House Sparrows are the most frequent visitors. They often have clashes over the limited roosts on the feeder and chitter their angst.
The Red-Bellied Woodpeckers come occasionally. I see the female more often than the male.
The White-breasted Nuthatch comes almost every day in a short burst. I can recognize this bird without my glasses because of the way it moves at the feeder (upside down…head arched outward once it chooses a seed).
There are at least 2 Northern Cardinal pairs that come to the feeder – not at the same time but their territory must overlap a little. The bald female is the one I see most frequently. I keep expecting the feathers to grow back but she’s been bald for a long time; maybe she is an elderly bird…or a bird with a health condition. Often the male (with beautiful feathers and crest) is below keeping lookout for her.
And then there are the quick visitors that are hard to photograph like the Tufted Titmouse (below) or the Carolina Chickadee or the Carolina Wren.
Overall – July has not been an outstanding month for bird feeder activity. And now we are in for a series of days with temperatures above 90 and ‘heat advisories;’ the birds tend to say in the forest more when it is so hot. I am focusing on keeping the bird bath full for the birds and the squirrels.
Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….
One of the big changes early on for us was internalizing the food needed for 2 weeks – keeping that much on hand at all time. It was harder to do because we couldn’t find everything we normally purchased…and didn’t have alternatives. During phase 1 we learned to manage….and developed some additional places in our house to store non-perishable foods.
We have prepared most of meals at home for quite some time but as the pandemic we got closer to 100%. We used a few more kitchen gadgets more frequently and prepared foods that was usually reserved for special times of the year – muffins and custards and spice cake and apple crisp. I reverted to things I’d done earlier in my life when we were economizing on food: cooking a pots of dried beans, buying meat in larger amounts/freezing it in amounts I would cook, using up leftovers completely, eating wild greens as they were available (mint, dandelion leaves) and tweaking the balance toward non-perishable forms when I could (i.e. keeping canned chicken, dried beans and protein powder in the pantry instead of relying on forms of protein that require refrigeration).
Now – at the beginning of phase 2, I am taking the next steps in the kitchen.
As I start doing my own grocery shopping again, I am not as concerned that there will be shortages in items because I have developed alternatives for almost everything and the Community Supported Agriculture farm will be start shares next week (probably). I will shop at the grocery store every other week and it’s OK if we don’t have 2 more weeks of supplies in the house just before I shop again.
It might we worthwhile to move some non-food items from the pantry to the laundry room and bring food items stored elsewhere back to the kitchen area. I should have already done it, but I was bombarded with too many changes at once and was not in good problem-solving mode. We’ll be in the mode we are starting this June for at least another 3 months…probably longer. We need to make it easy for ourselves to sustain.
We are still planning to prepare most of our meals at home. My husband has been getting a take out pizza occasionally and we might do more kinds of takeout. I can’t image feeling comfortable eating in a restaurant anytime soon.
Tomorrow I’ll share my thoughts about the new normal…for shopping.
Groceries shopping. I went to my local grocery store for the first time in over two months. It was a good experience. They had re-configured the store to have one entrance and one exit….there was sign saying masks were required at the entrance and a policeman just inside. I went a little before 7 AM and there were not many people; everyone was wearing a mask. The chain has a new SCAN app that allows people to use their phone to scan items as they shop and load things into their own bags. It was my first time to use it and I found it intuitive…had no challenge using it. In the produce department, items can be weighed and then the bar code on the screen is scanned. Checkout was via the self-service checkout…scanning the bar code on the screen to get the order up then putting my credit card in the chip reader. It probably took a minute or less. I shopped for two weeks which is a risk reduction strategy….I’ll probably continue in that mode but I’m reassured by my experience this morning. The transition from grocery delivery back to buying my own groceries was an easy!
Photo clips. I created a little project for myself – pick some from May and clip a portion of them to magnify. The resolution of the camera is quite an enabler.
One of the first things I looked at was the ruffles and curves of iris buds ready to burst open.
The Nine Bark bush in bloom and with new leaves was also interesting magnified.
And then there were the eyes of birds: cardinal, goldfinch, indigo bunting, nuthatch, and red-bellied woodpecker!
It’s tangler’s choice today. Instead of trying a new pattern – pick ones from the last week to make again – in a new combination or as a monotangle. Take your pick from: TRIPOLI, MAELSTROM, SeZ, HEXONU, HURRY, MSST, Angel fish, Indi-rella, FESCU, POKELEAF, and ZINGER. Or maybe decide to take a break and just admire a mosaic of your tiles made over the past 6 days. Here is a mosaic of my tiles for the past week.
Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts here.
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The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.
Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….
I always try to gather up the best pictures taken through my office window toward the end of the month. We had more birds at the feeder at the beginning of the month; it was cool and there weren’t as many insects for the omnivorous birds. There are 11 birds in all….and a tree… in the collection for May 2020.
The Red-bellied Woodpeckers are frequent visitors. The male even did some foraging on the ground under our neighbor’s pines.
The female has started getting a seed from the feeder then wedging it in a nearby crack in the deck railing to peck and crack open. There are times I think she knows I am watching.
The Cowbirds are still around. The males come in groups, but the female is the one I see at the feeder most often.
The Downy Woodpecker comes frequently as well although it comes in silent – unlike the red-bellies.
The finches (House and Gold) are around – but less frequently than they were in April. I’m not sure why other than they are busy with their nests and finding other food sources.
And then there were the Indigo Buntings. They were somewhere else by mid-month.
The Cardinal pair is around all through the year.
The only picture of a Titmouse I took this month was a very round bird. Maybe it was just the angle.
The Carolina Wrens are the big singers around our deck.
The Mourning Doves sometimes use the deck railing for a mating platform. I didn’t know what the bird I photographed was doing with its tail, but I suspected it was mating related. It was the only dove around…it eventually stood up and flew off.
Recently we’ve had an uptick in House Sparrows coming to the feeder. They seem to come in small groups of 2-4 birds. Maybe they are gearing up for a second brood of the season.
Finally, is the tulip poplar. The later-than-usual frosts we had this year didn’t seem to reduce the number of flowers. We’ll have plenty of gutter-clogging seeds flying next winter, and spring!
Gorging on JMW Turner (1775-1851) art. 344 paintings are packed in a slideshow available from Internet Archive here. Wow…what a range of works he produced. I selected 4 different works as examples. The slide show is well worth a look.
Being Outdoors. I’ve established a new goal – be outdoors for at least an hour every day. This time of year, that should not be hard since the weather is relatively pleasant. This is more about increasing consistency and logging what I do than dramatically increasing my outdoor time…although I tend let weather deter my getting out. I know I feel better physically and emotionally on days I am outdoors for at least an hour. As it gets hotter, I’ll shift to the morning – before the heat of the day becomes oppressive. It doesn’t have to be working in the yard, taking a walk, or hiking in the forest behind out house. It can be reading a book, doing something on my laptop or just enjoying some quality time with our cat on the enclosed/screened deck! In my first foray after establishing the goal, I selected pictures for this blog post, made two Zentangle tiles for the Zentangle prompt, cleaned the table on the deck, occasionally made eye contact with the cat, and cleaned out/filled the birdbaths…and it added up to more than an hour - easy.
Try the SeZ pattern. The pattern starts by using seeds (maybe real ones like sesame or rice or bulgur wheat) or making random dots.
Here is a page I made based on yesterday’s prompt: Experiment with the MAELSTROM pattern. I used the May 2020 page from the Audubon calendar. It provided lots of spaces to experiment with the pattern. I tend to like the random usage of the pattern…and the curved part of the pattern although I did start thinking about radio waves coming down to a radio telescope for the other part of the pattern. Using the calendar page was a good experience and I’m thinking of using the page for June to show the prompt for each day…maybe showing the page as I fill in each week as we move through the month.
Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts here.
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The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.
Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….
Today I am highlight 10 small things I celebrated this month. Half of them involved birds!
Rose-breasted Grosbeaks were a new bird at our deck this year; my husband both celebrated their appearance. They came for the first half of the month both males and females. Now they are probably raising young in a nest a little too far from our feeder…but maybe they’ll bring their fledglings!
Virtual Cape May Spring (Birding) Festival. It was two days of rewarding sessions….celebrating a place we enjoyed last spring (Cape May, New Jersey) in the best way possible in 2020!
Downy woodpecker fledgling. We had a fledgling downy…bumbling to the deck but not the feeder – yet. Celebrating new life in the forest.
American Goldfinches. The males are in their summer plumage. It’s always a day brightener to see them.
Indigo Buntings were another new visitor to our feeder this year. Like the grosbeaks – they were around for the first half of the month. Hopefully, they will return with fledglings…and built their nest far enough away to not have a cowbird nestling.
And there were other things I celebrated…many probably obvious from my previous posts.
Irises. I celebrated every single one that came up in our garden. The rhizomes appear to be recovering from a collapse a few years ago. I hope that cutting the stalks will make it easier for them to build up even more for next year – anticipating more flowers to celebrate.
Poem sent from my Mother…30 years ago. I found a poem my Mother sent to me as I started my daughter in day care 30 years ago. I must have celebrated it at the time….and did again when I found it again.
Providing a Zentangle session at Howard County Conservancy. Celebrating sharing something I enjoy.
Chipmunk on the deck. Celebrating the rodent that has Oreo cookie stripes on each side!
Flower Designs from the 1800s. Celebrating Marcia Bradford’s book of flower designs for watercolor…that worked very well with Ultra-Fine Point Sharpies with Zentangles filling in the background! I completed 2 in May.
Instead of trying a new pattern today – pick ones from the last week to make again – in a new combination or as a monotangle. Take your pick from: GINGO, MEER feathers, ANTIDOTS, ELIROB, BATON, PHICOPS, RIBBON ROSE, and SHARD. Or maybe decide to take a break and just admire a mosaic of your tiles made over the past 6 days. Here are mine (including the RIBBON ROSE and SHARD tiles from yesterday.
Fledgling red-bellied woodpecker. The fledgling was on the roof of the covered deck while the mom was at the feeder! It first came about 8 AM and I watched for it all through the day. It wasn’t quite coordinated enough to utilize the bird feeder directly.
Chicken baked in spicy spaghetti sauce. I’m not sure why I hadn’t tried this before…it’s easy to make and delicious. I simply put boneless chicken breasts in a Pyrex baking dish, poured some spicy spaghetti sauce over them, sprinkled on some garlic and coarse ground pepper….cooked for an hour at 350 degrees (included some potatoes in the same oven). The baking dish has a lid, so the leftover chicken is in the refrigerator in that container (easy cleanup after our meal). My husband – a somewhat picky eater – liked the chicken so much he even volunteered to eat the leftovers!
Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts here.
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The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.
Copyright © 2024, Gwen Morrison. All rights reserved.
Celebrating the whole of life....
Thanks for visiting my blog! Enjoy the photo picks from 2023:
Copyright © 2024, Gwen Morrison. All rights reserved.
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