Birds in the feeder . . . .

I hate to even put this picture on my blog. It was shot through our living room window with a small digital camera.

It was the best photo from about half a dozen, so you can imagine what the others look like. I was wishing that Annie and her new camera were there at that moment.

Still, the photo represents a brief period of excitement both Bill and I experienced a couple of mornings ago when the Grosbeaks came to visit.

At least, that's what we think they are.

They stayed long enough for me to put batteries in my camera and for Bill to flip through a few bird books.

His theory is that they've donned their spring colors cuz they didn't look exactly like those in the bird-book picture.

They swooped in, kicked the finches out of the feeder and cleaned up on a large helping of sunflower seeds.

Then, they were gone.

We figured they were enroute to bigger plates.

They're beautiful and a rare sighting at our place, so we savored the few moments of their visit.


I'm feeling pretty fortunate that Mr. or Mrs. or Ms. Bluejay has decided to make almost daily visits to our place.

Bill got to see that bird too.

It's a lone bluejay cuz we've never seen any friends or family during its visits.

The jay hangs around the yard long enough to snatch a few peanuts and squawk, squawk, squawk at the finches and robins who pretty much figure this is their territory.

It's also staying a little longer with each visit. That's good in that I love watching it as it sneaks up tree limbs or zooms over to my flower beds to check for goodies.

I'll keep the peanuts out and hope for lots of bluejay stories as the spring unfolds.

The snow we had yesterday morning disappeared by noon. The day turned magnificent, allowing Bill and me to take a pleasant bike ride down Woodside Road.

The trip was relatively quiet as far as sightings of the unusual were concerned, but we did see some deer and a bluebird flying from a fencepost.

I wish we could attract them to this place, but, like the grosbeaks, they come about once a year, land on the posts, proabably for a rest, and then take off.

I don't know if old age brings on a heightened interest in bird watching, but I'm enjoying the brief interludes when something other than the usual robins, crows, finches and woodpeckers comes in for a break.

Easter was a great day. Mother, my sisters, Bill and I dined at Trinity at The Edgewater and loved our meals---baseball sirloin steak and ham dinners.

Tonight we'll have some more ham at my sisters' house when we all meet to watch the NCAA national championship game. This will be a first since we've usually walked away from March Madness when our ZAGS lose.

Somehow, this year, though, we've all gotten to know some of the other teams. I don't think any of us care who wins tonight, as long as it's another good basketball game. And, we've seen more than our share of those this season.

Go Bluedevils. Go Bulldogs! You're both winners!

Now, I'd better get back to the bird watching and the puppy sitting.

Happy Monday.