Takin' A Break

Angie and I just started a 2 week vacation. Finally! Almost 6 months since our last one.

I've been pretty tied up the last month, cat sitting for some friends a good part of 3 of the last 4 weeks. Throw in that never ending ice storm and me getting sick, that didn't help for much in way of outings and things to blog about.

The cat sitting was a blast. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

For starts, this lovey boy named Oscar certainly made coming to visit a pleasure. Such a gentleman and oh so affectionate.

His brother from another mother, Riley, took some work to get to where we ended up. He's not mean, just very timid. The first couple days he was pretty spooked of my presence in his house. Then, little by little, going his speed, we had signs of growing trust and finally some admiration for me, and affection. It's a great feeling when an animal comes to trust me.

The money I made from this gig will be put to good use soon as I intend to upgrade my camera gear.

How about that ice storm? It was brutal to say the least. It just wouldn't stop. 4 days of rain, freezing rain, ice pellets, winds. Ugh!

This Pigeon just dealt with it.

What could he, or any of the animals do?

Pretty red Cardinal in the ice and snow.

This Robin spent the weekend with us. We put out meal worms for him.

And I went to the park to take more sumac berries for him to snack on as well.

This Cooper's Hawk also spent the weekend with us. He prowled the Holly bush where the Sparrows hid within. He sure put on a show chasing them.

A pair of Crows came in too. We see them away from the yard but seldom in it. They were grabbing peanuts to help them through the cold dreary days.

Another one we don't see in our yard but also spent the days with us was this Song Sparrow. Sorry for the B&W photo but my settings were still set when I took that shot of Oscar at the start of this blog. I mis-ID'd this Sparrow as a Lincoln's because it didn't look like a Song to me. A few friends helped me with this one and were kind enough to not make fun of my mistake.

A new friend appreciated the hand outs.

I have another new friend. He waits in Pierre's old spot most mornings now. It's sweet but also tugs on my heart a tad.

If I haven't mentioned it in a previous blog, I'm not naming my new pals. We named a few earlier in the year and they all disappeared. There was Fitz, Ginny and Charlie. I could just be overthinking things but the first Pigeon photoed has been coming in on and off since February. No name. Still here. What would you do?

The weather is improving, being more like Spring, with a few Summer like days already being thrown at us (28 c humidex). The birds are showing up, returning for the nesting season. I've done a nest blog recently, hope you check it out. Link here.

It was like a reawakening once again, as our night critters disappeared during the stormy days and are now back.

I love this shot.

So nice I can put water out day and night again without it freezing.

Day time visit. He must have been pretty hungry.

We've had a few appearances by either one or more Hermit Thrushes. A rare visitor to our backyard. Prior to this spell, we only ever spotted one in late November of 2016 at our Holly bush.

A Ruby-crowned Kinglet spent an afternoon with us too. We don't see these very often in our backyard.

Egrets are down the street.

Turtles are showing themselves in the warm sun. Someone's unwanted pet Red-eared Slider sunning near a Painted Turtle.

It sucks the Slider population is increasing in the local ponds. I counted 5 last weekend. They will eliminate our native species Painted Turtle in no time.

I had all intentions to publish this last Friday, on my last day of work. Oops. So much has happened in our first few days but that will be for another blog soon.

Enjoy May, and the birds. I'll be back in a couple weeks. Cheers!

If you really need just a little something more, check out this video I recently took. A nice time out hand feeding a Red-winged Blackbird.