THE DOG AND THE COCONUT/Camera Critters

These are photos I took back in April of this yr. when we visited the West Indies. I have a lot of great memories from this trip but I have to say this guy was one of my favorite critter memories. He was extremely friendly, cute as can be with those big brown eyes and his only desire was to play fetch...but throwing a coconut, as the toy of choice, was definitely a first for me!!
Tourist-in-training would have been a good description of this pooch's intent. We all, willingly, threw that coconut several times and he, god love him, never seemed to tire!! Look at those eyes..they are so saying...just one more time!!

..here's look'en at you kid!

Gosh, there were no birds at our feeders this morning. Rain, rain, rain and only Mr TV "eyeing" us as we walked our 2 miles in the drizzling mist. You might have to click on pic to see that stare!

SKYWATCH FRIDAY

..... with the dawning of the sun arrives new opportunities to experience and explore...
Man's mind, stretched to new ideas, never goes back to it's original dimensions!
Oliver Wendal Holmes

Patience..the true teacher within nature

It might take some time, but even a Great Blue Heron who has been statue-still will eventually do something interesting! But that something wasn't caused by a fish looking to get caught and it wasn't caused by another creature trying to claim territory.....
..no, it was caused by, none other, than that itchy little need to scratch!
Those long toes make perfect scratchers as the heron rakes through his feathers on his neck and head, not once but three times those sharp claws slipped over the side of his face...
and all the while he shuts his eyes in apparent relief... ahhhhhh
that's better!!
and as a finale for those of us who have been watching from a far, he turns and flaps his wings as if to say, watch me long enough and I will always give you something worth photographing!!

So much to learn...So much fun!

Am I addicted to this idea of birding or what? I find I have to head outside for at least some of my day. I was only out for about an hour, yesterday, as the wind chill factor, here, was in the mid 30s with a few rays of sun here and there.. but I'm so glad I did. I managed to catch two shots of this adorable little bird flitting among the branches located behind a blind at one of the local parks. I couldn't get that one clear shot that would show wing or tail markings. I definitely need to work on gaining more knowledge of how to use my camera's features so I have more control over the outcome of my photos. I not sure what kind of bird this is... maybe you do.
here, it is partially hidden behind a branch but one can see some of it's back and wing...
and since I'm throwing out... gosh, what is this bird ??'s... I took this over the weekend and haven't been successful in finding pictures that resemble this guy's belly colors! Darn branches, I did attempt to take a few more pictures but by the time I changed the settings...no bird!! just gotta laugh sometimes...but ya know, it's still a lot of fun!

THE NUT HACK, aka... THE NUTHATCH

Even though this little White-breasted nuthatch is familiar with the idea of running down from the top of the tree looking for insects that the woodpeckers didn't find as they went up the tree....he has had to readjust his behavior when it comes to eating from our feeders. Today, he finds he must be patient and wait...
and wait...
until he feels it is safe to jump down onto that feeder...

right-side-up and pick that one perfect seed to hack! ahhhh,.. success!