Feathered Friends

It's nesting season for the birds in my area and everytime I go outside I hear birds singing or chirping. It has been raining a lot lately, so I wasn't too surprised when I came home the other day to find mallard ducks wandering around in my front yard!
Here are a few photos I've taken of some of my feathered friends.

Bluebirds are using the nesting box on our garden fence again this year. This is the female bluebird with a nice bug to feed the kids.

A chipping sparrow has been working on a nest in the vine over the garden trellis.

This baby wren is waiting for a meal from inside his little bird house hanging in a garden tree.

There are four robins crowding this nest. A couple of them were peaking out when I took this photo.

A male cardinal keeping watch.

A young family of Canadian geese going for a swim in the neighborhood park.

Another family of Canadian geese in the neighborhood. These little ones are little older and starting to get darker feathers.

There is an abundance of wildlife even in our suburban neighborhood!

Bluebird Update

I wanted to share an update on the bluebirds nesting in my garden. The babies hatched last week and Mom and Dad are sure busy feeding them!

This is Mom with a bug, yummm!

Dad is very active in feeding the babies, too.

We had a lot of rain over the weekend, which softened the ground. That has made it easier to find lots of bugs and worms to feed the kids.

They take turns bringing food to the babies, but neither is gone long before I hear the little ones peep, peep, peeping from inside the box.

I can't yet tell how many babies are in there, but each day they seem to make a little more noise when Mom or Dad show up with food. It won't be long before they take off, but it has been a pleasure to watch the pretty little birds!

Bluebird Treasures

In keeping with my Bluebird theme, I'm sharing a few Bluebird image favorites found on Etsy this week.

Woodland Magic Bluebird locket from starsb117

Bluebirds Vintage Images on CD Digital Art from candyconnection22

A pretty little Bluebird pendant from TickleMePinkBoutique


Summer's Song Bluebird quilt from prairiegrovepeddler


Bluebird of Happiness finger puppet from cherylasmith

Enjoy!

Happy Weekend Everyone!

Bluebirds of Happiness

Okay, so they are not THE Bluebirds of Happiness, but they do make me happy to see them building a nest in the nest box on our fence! I thought I'd share a few photos with you. (I don't have a fancy camera, and I didn't want to get too close, but you can see one of them on the fence beside the nest box in each photo.)

The female seems to be the one bringing in all the material for the nest.

The female is not as vibrantly colored as the male, but you can see her blue-gray color here, just to the left of the nest box roof.

Here is the male, checking on her work!

She's back with another bunch of grassy material.

You can see the nest box in the middle of this photo, on the fence, and you can see the close proximity to our screened porch on the left. I'm always surprised and delighted when they choose to use this nestbox. It's so close to the house we can really keep an eye on them and they don't seem to mind us being so close.

"We never miss the music till the sweet-voiced bird has flown."
O. Henry

Leaving the Nest(box)

A pair of bluebirds built a nest in the nestbox on our fence. It's actually very close to our screened porch so we've had a great view of all the activity. The male hung around the yard and waited patiently while the female stayed in the box on the nest. The baby bluebirds finally hatched a couple of weeks ago. The Mom and Dad have been busy feeding the little ones 24/7.

We could hear the babies quietly chirping when Mom and Dad got close by with a bug to eat. And for the past couple of days the babies have been chirping more and sticking their heads out of the box to have a look around. So, we thought they might be getting ready to leave the nestbox and this morning Daddy bluebird coaxed the last little one out to fly away!


At first they didn't go far, but then after a while I didn't see or hear them any more. But off and on for the rest of the day I could hear them calling to each other from the garden or a neighbor's yard. It was fun to have an up-close view of their lives and I wish them the best. Hopefully they are all healthy and survive to come back again next year!

Bluebirds in the Garden

A pair of Eastern Bluebirds are building a nest in one of our nesting boxes!

They haven't used the boxes for a couple of years, so it's good to have them back. The nesting box is close to our screened porch so we have a great view of the pretty little birds.

They have a distinctly musical call and it's easy to tell when they are in the yard. When they are out in the sun, their backs are a deep blue, especially the male.