In My Backyard

I do enjoy the birds in the garden and I love that we can enjoy them through all the seasons. It's especially nice to see them in the winter when the rest of the garden is just twigs and bare branches and snow.  This year, along with the sparrows and occasional visit by a cardinal or bluejay I've been enjoying juncos.  Maybe they've always been around and I haven't paid enough attention to realize what they were but I've never really noticed them before.  In fact, I'd never even heard of the name junco before even though they are quite common. These little ones often come in groups and share the seeds that have fallen to the ground.  I love them with their dark grey body and puffy white belly.  They are pretty camera shy though so any time I try to snap a picture they are long gone.  Today I had a bit of luck while some perched in our tree.

As I was watching these guys a friendly visitor came by and I couldn't help but wonder, could this be one of the Mourning Dove babies from the spring?  I hope so. I like to think they will always think of our backyard as home.

The Adventure Continues

A little update on Annie.

Annie and Oscar enjoying a tender moment.

The babies are getting so big!

Where did the time go?!!

Feeding time!

The Adventures of Annie

Last night we had quite the storm. Luckily it was short lived. Darkened skies at 5:30 p.m., so windy, thunder and lightening and rain. I'm not sure if it was the wind that knocked Annie out of the nest or if the thunder had startled her but we heard alot of commotion and flapping against the window and then she was gone. This was the first time we had seen her away from the nest. I teetered on a chair and could look into the nest hoping to see the eggs would still be there and not blown out. To our surprise, there are already baby birds there. At first I thought two but afterwards I think I could make out three little ones.

I was kind of worried that Annie might have injured herself . I found myself looking for her in the backyard. Silly really but I was worried about the little babies getting cold. Three hours later she returned to the nest. Relief.

This morning the sun was back and the wind has died down somewhat and Oscar showed up to check out and probably bring some food to the troops.

What a handsome fellow!