The sounds of hope...

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
and never stops at all~ Emily Dickenson


This little purple finch filled my morning with song...he huffed and puffed and sang from his heart. ...rolling his head to one side while sharing his sweet sounds of hope with me.
He lingered for a while after he finished singing, eating a few seeds from a pin oak tree.
It was nice to see him...my first of the season!!

Hidden but not hiding...nest boxes redefined..

When its sunny but cold and the temps are falling instead of rising.. all of God's creatures seem to find a way to stay warm... even if you happen to be a member of a fairly large family!! I think these little bees just might be thinking about stay'en on for a while. The house size looks to be about right (probably still holding a couple thousand bees) ..they seem to have an interesting exterior design worked out, that honey-comb pattern just might work....


plus the neighbor is really cute and friendly......even if his house is a little shabby chic. ;-)

a Tsee, Tsee tiny song...all for me ;-)

I never saw so many little flitty birds zooming in and out of the trees and scrubs.. not much bigger than a hummingbird, always in motion, jumping from one branch to another, one tree to another. Such pep... energy I could have used after attempting to photograph these tiny Golden-Crowned Kinglets. I felt as if I just finished a class of aerobics with some calestentics thrown in..all that twisting and turning, bending and reaching..but oh so worth it!! We were, again, visiting Magee Marsh in Ohio and were enjoying an early morning of clear skies and sunshine. Our first walk was through a heavily wooded area with lots of conifers and shrubs. I spotted this little guy first, as he stopped to preen a few feathers.. and then to give me a tsee, tsee.. tiny song... and at the last moment a little lift in his cap revealing that nice orange patch that is bordered in yellow and black!!! Yeah!

Wasn't it so nice that he posed for me? Such a cutie, and with such a friendly disposition.
The blue sky behind him really made him stand out...
..as for her, a little shy, maybe, as she only wanted to show me her back...can't tell you the number of pictures I have of her fanny..lol.. but back, front, top or bottom..these little Kinglets were wonderful to watch and admire!!

Like the prize it is....

My husband and I are visiting the north east part of Ohio for the weekend. Lucky for me we are not very far from the shores of Lake Erie and several wonderful marshes and swamps. Upon our arrival, yesterday, we headed to a well known marsh called Magee Marsh Wildlife Area which is part of the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. One of the first birds we saw as we drove along the canal leading to the parking lots were several blue herons. There were 6 herons in one canal! I love the steel blue color of the adult birds and the little ornate black plumes that wisp upward off of their heads..and those eyes.....so serious looking !!
We stopped and watched as this guy spotted something in the water. As usual, he posed over the water for a few seconds before swooping down with that bill to get his meal. We linger.. eager to see him quickly swallow whatever he has caught...I have to say we were very surprised when he emerged from the weeds with a big fat catfish that had to be 10+ inches long! Was he really going to swallow that!! We stood and watched for quite some time.

First one attempt , than another, to throw the fish upwards with those long neck muscles. As we watched he made about a dozen attempts to eat this fish..and every time he looked like he was making some success, the fish would plunge to the ground...back to step one..over and over..he finally started to actually rest his head on the ground in between attempts..
Finally, after about 20 minutes or so of pure work on his part.. he just stood looking at the fish lying on the ground....What do you do with a fish that is just not cooperating in being your dinner??

Well, you just proudly pick it up, like the prize it is, and slowly stroll into the tall weeds like nothing happened. Maybe he can make the other herons jealous that he already has his dinner.. even if he can 't figure out a how to swallow it!

It's a family affair...

Today's visit to the park seemed all about family...When I arrived there was A huge Congratulations banner hanging in the tree where the owl's are nesting!!
nah..not really ...had to do the April Fools thing!! ;-0

A friend of mine was there watching the owls and she had her scope. Wow!! What a treat it was to view the owl and her owlets through that scope!! Such detail and oh my, those owlets were too cute. We saw that Mom was sitting higher in the nest giving some room to the owlets, who were eating. I did manage to get a few so so pictures of the female owlet but the male, who was smaller, stayed very close to Mom. Sis, on the other hand, seemed much more adventurous... exploring her new world, sticking her head out over the edge of the nest.

I had to laugh when I saw all these turtles hanging out together on one log..that's togetherness!!
The Swallow family seemed to be having a difficult time deciding on which house to choose.
This one seems to think the craftsman-style house was the best..new construction, no mortgage and good location!!

Mean while, the rest of the gang were looking at the duplex...


and then we're back to the single family home...
back and forth...for at least twenty minutes..very pretty birds but a loud bunch!!
If it was up to the blue bird I think his wish would be that they would all leave...so that his family could move in.

Party for a Cooper? Poor Alice is feeling left out!

Jeeze, the trouble with being punctual is that there is nobody here to appreciate it!
I know that party is here somewhere...
..and I'll find it..gotta hurry tho..
Alice is such a frequent visitor to our yard, we believed a name was appropriate!!I think there is a slight resemblance in looks...don't you?
(altho, I'm sure my Alice isn't anywhere as musically talented as the real Vincent Damon Furnier!!)

Sitting and waiting for the future...

I took some time on Saturday to re-visit with Ma and Pa owl.. even though I read that Mom and Dad take turns sitting on the nest, I think this might be her.. The last few times, I saw her, only her head was visible...but this time she seems to be sitting higher in the nest! There were people walking along the paths below her but she seemed quite content with just soaking up the sun. I read that incubation takes a month and I know the nesting process has been on going for several weeks...so I'll just keep checking back when I'm in the neighborhood. Maybe I will catch a glimpse of a owlet or two !!I only had a few hours to devote to seeing the owls..so I moved on to the long-eared owls.. which is a short drive from the horned owls. The leos seem to have selected one tree as their favorite..which is now a little easier for me to find. ( I'm not the best at finding "that one" pine tree in the middle of a whole field of them, the last time I visited, I felt like I walked miles b/f stumbling onto their roosting tree..and I only found it b/c of all the birdee do do on the ground!!) If you click on the picture you can see there are three in this picture. All five were still together but I have heard they will be leaving in April as they migrate north for the summer.
They are just so darn cute with those big tufts of hair that stick up from their heads!!
Last but not least..its on to the Screech Owls who are at the local nature center. I was fortunate this time to catch the grey-phase owl sleeping in the entrance to the wood duck house. You can see how small he is...his little feet are sitting on the rim of the entrance hole.
He even opened his eyes for this shot!
I love his markings, the facial disks are dusty white with mottled brown and then bordered in black..his eyes were a funky yellow white.

I was a little disappointed not to see the red-phased screech owl. ( Sorry Barb, I tried ) I did ask one of the park employees and was told that she is in the nest box sitting on eggs. I was also told that there is no nest building in the box. Her eggs would have been laid on the wood floor of the box... but when these particular boxes had been cleaned, sawdust had been put in the box for future squatters. And what about Dad, well he apparently spends his days sleeping at the front door and his nights feeding her and, like the great horned owl, they tend to mate for life... ahhhh shucks ..ain't that sweet!! ;-)