Wordless Wednesday #36 ~ "Hey There, My Little Chickadee..."

"Mind if I hang with you awhile??"

A Few Fine Feathered Friends

I'm finding (a bit to my surprise), that I'm enjoying a bit of birdwatching these days. Not that I would necessarily go out on hikes and look for specific species or anything, but since we've moved out here in the country, where we are surrounded by trees and ponds, there seems to be an abundance of them right outside my window.I've watched a few of these blue jays throughout the winter months, and have even been awakened twice by their tap-tap-tapping on my windowsill...the window happens to be situated smack dab in the middle of our headboard...so this is quite an effective alarm clock for me.

This morning, I had a couple of new visitors, the bright red color of this cardinal caught the corner of my eye, while I was on facebook this morning. This picture is a little blurry because I think the camera was focusing on the window screen.

He was very shortly joined by his wife. She is a little hard to see here, but I guess that's why God made the females so much less conspicuous than their mates...for their own protection.

They were both posed "pretty as a picture" for a few minutes, right in front of my window...but alas, that is when my camera decided it needed fresh batteries!! I did manage to get this one of the pair, (he is next to the tree, and she is in the foreground here), after replacing the batteries. Right after that, he hopped behind the tree.

I'm thinking that it might be fun to get a bird feeder to put right here outside my window, since they all seem to like to hang out here anyway. I'll also keep my camera nearby, to try to catch them...which is easier said than done...birds can be so "flighty." Just when I think I'm all focused in for the perfect picture...they jump to another branch or take off to the skies.

In Search of... My Elusive Blue Alarm Clock

In the past month or so, I've been awakened twice by a blue jay tap-tap-tapping on my bedroom window sill. The bedroom is right next to my office, where my computer desk sits right next to another window on the same side of the house. Ever since the first time it happened, I've been trying to catch a picture of one of these "natural alarm clocks". I used to think there was only one, or maybe a pair of them. I had seen two of them at a time, now and then...but every time I tried to get a picture of one, it would flit away just about the time I was going to snap the picture.

Our propane tank is right outside the window here, and there is some shrubbery next to it. This is where they like to hang out. Maybe it's warmer there around the tank? Anyway, I had gotten a couple of not-so-great pictures of them underneath the tank...but they're kinda hard to see.

Well, this morning I really hit the jackpot. There were two males and one female on the small trees right outside my window. I grabbed the camera...and my batteries were dead! Okay, so I go put get new batteries and come back to the window. I was not able to get more than one bird in the photo, I've discovered they just don't sit still long enough for me to even focus, but I did get this:

Not bad, for being taken through a window with a plastic insulator kit on it, huh? After I got that, I noticed a 4th blue jay in the trees that are along the edge of the property here. There was a squirrel chasing him from tree to tree to tree! This went on for quite some time, and I wondered why the bird didn't just fly away. Was he enjoying teasing the squirrel? Was he defending his territory? I don't know, but it was quite amusing. I know, sometimes it doesn't take much to amuse me.

Well, I suppose I have about a million things to do before tonight, so I'd best quit bird-watching and get to work. We have Ladies Night Out at church tonight, but first I have to help set up for the derby tomorrow morning. After the derby is our CousinConnection get-together on Saturday evening, where we're doing the karaoke. We just purchased a bunch of new karaoke discs and I've been trying to make copies of new song lists for each book. However, Jessica and I have used up all the black ink in both of our printers already...so I guess each book will not have the new song additions in them...yet.