Chipping Sparrow

Today is a really quick post with just one picture of a Chipping Sparrow. This little guy is super cute. To me he looks like he has on a stripped racing helmet. very different, and I was able to spot him out very quickly amongst the other sparrows. Glad he came for a visit today. 

So Proud of This Moment In Time...Suet Balls

Anything is possible, lol. I wanted to include this here because I am super proud of it and it is part of my bird feeding. I created my own suet balls and was thrilled at the outcome. They came out pretty spectacular. Check them out...

Now that they are made, the key is DO THEY WORK? They can look fabulous, but if the birds don't eat them then you can consider them failed. The whole point is that they need to attract birds, right? So I placed them out with pretty low expectations. I was even okay if they attracted house sparrows, lol. ANYTHING, to validate that my suet balls would be irresistible to the birds. Here is what proceeded to happen..

Not only did I get a bird, I got an BALTIMORE ORIOLE!!! Now the lighting on these pictures isn't as great as the original shot, but how lovely! I had only seen one in my yard prior, and was really hoping to see more. It seemed very attracted to this new food I put out. HOW THRILLING!!! The suet balls were gobbled up! 

I used a recipe from this amazing book right here. My husband actually sniffed this out in a book store when we were at our yearly lake vacation. I LOVE THIS BOOK. I highly recommend it and if you see it grab it. If you are not able to find it in your local book store, it's available on Amazon.com

Another day in the life of bird lover. 

Where Did You Guys Come From, and Why are you In my Garage? :)

I knew it was a matter of time before this happened. We keep our garage door open a lot in the Spring time, and sure enough a few wanderers found their way in. Two different birds within the same week.

FIRST INTRUDER: 05-12-12 - THE HUMMINGBIRD

SECOND INTRUDER: 05-25-12 - THE DOWNY WOODPECKER

Both I believe made it out alive, but what a PAIN to get them out. The Hummingbird was the worst. The more I tried to help it out the more it freaked out. It worked better to open both doors and wait it out. Both made it out on their own. I was smart enough to lock up my cats, these things would not have had a chance in hell if my cats where out there. The garage is their territory! 

Snap Snap :)

Today we had a really cool visitor in our yard. As Kelly was outside watering flowers he noticed this amazing looking snapping turtle just wandering about our grass. The neighbors have a poop pond, GAG-GAG, and I think that is were he came from. The poor fellow lives in poop! 

Since Kelly was watering flowers, he decided to give the little guy a bath to help cool him down some and clean off some of the poop. It was really hot out today and I was afraid he might over heat otherwise. I do not know anything about snapping turtles, so I'm assuming he was hot! We sprayed him down with the hose. It was a light spray (not as forceful as it seems in the picture. Nothing beats a nice refreshing cool shower on a hot day.

I think he's ready to head back to the neighbors poop pond :)

Butterfly Beauty

A little too bright and a little too grainy, but still there! This butterfly was so big and beautiful I just had to snap a picture of it. I was lucky to even get this terrible picture. Butterflies are so super hard to photograph. They move so quickly and I never get a chance to set up my camera fast enough. I will leave the Butterfly pictures to the professionals. My camera was apparently taking a nap today, lol. 

Moo??? Who's Baby is this?? THE COW BIRD

First time spotting one of these today, a Cow Bird. I read all about these bird, and I was really hoping I would get to see one, I did today. First impressions was this thing is BIG!!!! I can't believe it goes depositing it's babies in other peoples nest for them to raise. What a LAZY bird, lol. If you have not had the pleasure to read up on this bird, I would highly recommend it. It's so really different from any other bird out there. It's pretty FUGLY too :)  

Bluebird House is Erected - Build it and They Will Come?

This has been a long time coming, Kelly and I constructed this bluebird house ourselves. Today it finally went up. I have on seen a bluebird once in our yard before, but I'm hoping this lures him in. I can also be luring in the House Sparrows as well, lol. We will have to wait and see if any eggs appear. The birdhouse looks so awesome out in our yard like this.