Garden

[LindaSal]

They are really something to see.   We have seen them here but only a few times.  We have two of them.   They are so big !!  Also saw our first returning hummingbirds yesterday!!  Yay!!  Feeders are out and they are loving it.

@Kachina624   I wonder why that little goldfinch is all alone?  We have them also (should mention we are in New England)  and they are always in pairs.  Hope nothing happened to it's partner.

[GoneButNotForgotten]

thank you for sharing this with us :-)

[JYWilliams]

Pretty

[depglass]

We have found those pileated woodpeckers are murder on the trees.  

[Drythe]

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@Kachina624 wrote:

Not as exciting as a pliated woodpecker but I've had a lesser goldfinch visiting me, a bird I've never seen here before.  She's very friendly and flies down to chip at me when I go out the front door.  Strangely she seems to be alone as I've seen no male, and has taken up residence in an old mud swallow nest under the eves of my entranceway.  So far, she's talked me into providing her with a birdbath and a feeder full of thistle seed.

My swallow friends have shown up and are very confused about somebody else using their former home.  I'm surprised they haven't tried to bully the finch out of it.

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@Kachina624 

What a pretty girl!  She does almost look like an escaped house pet.  Have never seen one.

[Kachina624]

@Drythe   I was out today visiting with my golden girl and the swarm of purple finches I've attracted when a roadrunner walked through the scene.  Wish I'd had my camera handy.

[Drythe]

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@Kachina624 wrote:

@Drythe   I was out today visiting with my golden girl and the swarm of purple finches I've attracted when a roadrunner walked through the scene.  Wish I'd had my camera handy.

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@Kachina624 

BEEP, BEEP!

[Kachina624]

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@LindaSal wrote:

They are really something to see.   We have seen them here but only a few times.  We have two of them.   They are so big !!  Also saw our first returning hummingbirds yesterday!!  Yay!!  Feeders are out and they are loving it.

@Kachina624   I wonder why that little goldfinch is all alone?  We have them also (should mention we are in New England)  and they are always in pairs.  Hope nothing happened to it's partner.

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@LindaSal    That's what I was wondering too, and it's so strange that she'd nest in a mud swallow's nest.  If she hatches babies, I wonder if she'll be able to provide for them and herself?

[GrailSeeker]

I saw my first pileated woodpecker this morning!  I've lived here over 20 years and have never seen one before.  My brother from Texas has been staying here with me for the last 6 weeks and told me he had seen one.  I could barely believe that myself.

This morning, looking out my bird-watching window (picture window) there I saw him, tearing away at a dead stump at the ende of the driveway.  

I thought I knew all the birds around here and am well familiar with downy woodpeckers, flickers, and red headed woodpeckers.  This was amazing to see this one for the first time.

[GrailSeeker]

All the birds have been very active this morning.  We had a fairly good rain last night.

I have wrens every year and I can tell the moment they are back. In the last week, I've had a pair of rapturous little house wrens, chasing each other around my yard, apparently over-joyed with the new birdhouse I put out this year ( a Christmas gift from my youngest son).  

They remind me of my Aunt's old Blackforest cuckoo clock when they come out of that hole.