Seen Around the County

Catching up on some pictures from the past week. 

I am hardly seeing any turkey right now, and fewer deer... but the other night, the dogs and I went out for a bit, and we saw these two.  There was actually another turkey off to the left. 

I am seeing more and more hummingbirds in this last week.... after a dearth of them, so few that I almost took the feeders down.  Now I can sit on the deck in the evening, and they swish to and fro in front of me. 

I'm seeing hawks all of the sudden, too. 

This Jersey Giant was for sale, and he was a big'un!!!

These little meat birds were going to go to freezer camp on Sunday.  I could never raise them, I admit it. 

This beautiful Siamese rabbit was best in show. 

Check the expression on the cow in the middle. 

I saw this bird come down to a vernal pond on my way home from church tonight. 

I am not sure what it is, but I'm going to post it in Kansas birding and try to find out. 

While I fooled around with different settings on the camera, on a road I travel regularly.... I was not paying attention.  Thank God, I don't hit the gas and take off... especially on gravel.  My average speed is 27 miles an hour.  Anyway, I took the picture, and then started off slowly.... and a buck drove out of the corn on my left, lunged across the road in about two jumps, and into the field on the right, and over the hill before I could stop and get the camera up.  Maybe... maybe.... 8 feet in front of the car, the closest call I have ever had.  

I'll be going very slowly down that road until the corn is harvested. 

Are You Sick of Birds, Yet???

Gosh, I promise I'll get a few other subjects in quickly. 

I just have some more bird pictures to share! 

Ooops... Not a deer. 

These ladies crossed in front of us yesterday morning... no, Sunday morning on 

my way to church. 

Shot through the windshield, so blurry. 

They don't always jump. 

Can you see them watching me from the pasture before they turned to go? 

I jumped out of the car at the bluffs to snap a picture, I am trying to take at least one picture a week there. 

Then I saw something wondrous, but I could only shoot it through the windshield.  I had to pull out on a horribly busy road to get it, and by a miracle, no one was coming from either direction. 

This is a scissortail flycatcher, I just do not see them very often.  He posed for me, almost. 

But of course, shooting through the windshield just did not get a clear picture. 

I'm stalking him now. 

I saw something move away back behind the big ditch. 

There they are a little closer.  Three geese in the weedy pasture. 
It was just... strange. 

I guess I expected to see turkeys that usually hang out there. 

Oh, wait, I did see some around the corner.

I have seen a large group of goldfinches at the park lately. 
I was lucky to have the camera close by on Sunday and got their pictures.

So, look whom is visiting our feeder on the back deck! I did not have it 
ready for orioles, though. 

He kept trying to find a way to get some sugar water. 

By the time his missus came by, I had some jelly out for them. 

I looked at an oriole feeder yesterday, by the way... and decided I could serve the purpose by 
the jelly dish.  I also removed a bee guard or two.  
However, tonight, I added another dish of the size above, full of sugar water, 
and cut an orange in two and put them all on the railing. 

She appreciated it! 

Sticking Close to Home

Tomorrow, I start my first of many 

Fridays at the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame .

Saturday, we have our first (huge) event of the season, 

Barnyard Babies. 

I stuck pretty close to home today, to get our house clean, and 

to rest in anticipation. 

We did go for a walk, and despite driving about 8 miles of 

back roads, this is all we saw: 

Yesterday...

I saw this in the hawk nest.  I got a little worried... from the street, you could only see white. 

The mailman stopped, he has been watching her too... and we talked about it.  The white worried him. 

This was this morning: 

She is fine. 

I left the door open while I worked in the basement cleaning today, so I could hear the birdsong.  

Then I took a chair and put it back in the shadows, and shot out the door. 

A grackle soon took his place. 

While this cowbird ate under the bench. 

He was not alone. 

They look a little spooky, don't they? 

Saturday and Sunday Pictures

This little female dickcissel was chipping her heart out as I drove to the old place Saturday. 

She doesn't have a beard, it's a piece of the plant behind her! 

I'm starting to see the red-tails again.  This one almost looks suspended in the air in front of the tree. 

I missed the great shot a few minutes before, a red tail swooped down on something, talons extended, about ten feet from the car just as I turned a corner.  I was so dumbfounded I couldn't stop and grab the camera in time! 

Then I saw this one going across a pasture to the tree, and stopped and caught it.  This is 

much-cropped, of course. 

I am having so much fun feeding the birds on the back yard deck rail.  

Today, I saw a dove eating there that had a hurt leg... she hops on the good leg... 

I don't know how long she will be able to last. 

I did not know until last week that there are six kinds of bumblebees around here. 

I love to watch them. 

They love the catmint that has invaded the old gardens. 

This ... thing... is blooming under the feeding station at the old house. 

Look at the thorns! 

Here they are growing under the flat feeder. 

The suet feeders are empty out there, and I think I may take them 

down.  Then again, I saw a woodpecker fly to them yesterday, so 

they may stay up for a while. 

This is a very small daylilly, and it's coming here.  I'm going to get 

it ready to move tomorrow or Tuesday. 

You see the catmint to the left of it?  Invasive! 

Here's a better look at the Virginia Creeper growing up the old walnut tree. 

The red hens are really starting to look good! 

Our green apple tree out there does not look good at all.  We planted these five years ago, but 

we did not really LEARN about them.  We have never sprayed them, as should be obvious. 

This is the worst it has ever looked, it has something. 

Something bad. 

The red apple does not look like this. 

I have shown you this little girl several times before.   She stays in a specific area that
I pass through every day.  She is not afraid, and it scares me. 

As Keith says, she must have been orphaned and not taught by her mother to be afraid. 

She stood there calmly while I dickered around with the camera. 

She's the little doe with the ticks by her eye that I showed you a few weeks ago. 

On my way OVER to the old house, I saw eight or nine vultures in the sky, circling above this freshly-mown field. 

When we came back there were eight there. 

The ninth flew in, and took off again. 

I love these big birds. 

This girl is the first turkey I've seen in the open in a month! 

She was getting a drink from the standing water there in the yard. 

Tomorrow I'll show you the standing water in OUR yard, and tell you what we 

are going to do about it! 

All About the Birds

All taken today, and yes, something got one at the old house.