Word of the Day:
roborant \ROB-uh-ruhnt\, adjective:
1. Strengthening; restoring vigor.
2. A strengthening medicine; a tonic; a restorative.
Everywhere I turn, the sights and sounds of Spring are a roborant to my spirit. Thank goodness Spring follows Winter.
We have a pretty juvenile Cooper's Hawk at RAPTOR:
Remember my post about the differences between adults and juveniles?
Here you can really see the vertical streaking...an adult has orangey horizontal streaking.
And that yellow eye...so fierce.
This is a very mad red-tailed hawk. Look at the raised "hackles".
Our chickadees are investigating the sunflower nest box all day long now. I have watched a male lead a female to this tree, and they take turns going in and out, in and out.
I never expected anyone to nest in this little ceramic box. I just thought it was cute...painted to look like denim. But Carolina wrens have packed it full of straw and stems. If you click on the picture, you can make out one of the wrens in the lower right quadrant. I don't think I have seen any young wrens here...that will be fun to see!
The ugly plant in front is a blankety-blank multiflora rose that refuses to die. I always forget to trim it and dig it up before it gets going in the Spring, and now, I guess I will keep it there to help protect the wrens. I can hardly get near that side of the garage myself.
My weeping cherry tree (a gift from Geoff on my first Mother's Day) is full of delicate, sweet blooms. Oh, yeah.....
My orange-tinted house finch is looking so dapper and shiny. I wish he could find more carotenoids, though.
Bad kitty! Bad!
And before Kathi and Rachel start hollering at me, I only let her drink a tiny bit (enough to let me go get my camera) and then took it away. Yes, that's a Samuel Adams glass.
SLURP!
roborant \ROB-uh-ruhnt\, adjective:
1. Strengthening; restoring vigor.
2. A strengthening medicine; a tonic; a restorative.
Everywhere I turn, the sights and sounds of Spring are a roborant to my spirit. Thank goodness Spring follows Winter.
We have a pretty juvenile Cooper's Hawk at RAPTOR:
Remember my post about the differences between adults and juveniles?
Here you can really see the vertical streaking...an adult has orangey horizontal streaking.
And that yellow eye...so fierce.
This is a very mad red-tailed hawk. Look at the raised "hackles".
Our chickadees are investigating the sunflower nest box all day long now. I have watched a male lead a female to this tree, and they take turns going in and out, in and out.
I never expected anyone to nest in this little ceramic box. I just thought it was cute...painted to look like denim. But Carolina wrens have packed it full of straw and stems. If you click on the picture, you can make out one of the wrens in the lower right quadrant. I don't think I have seen any young wrens here...that will be fun to see!
The ugly plant in front is a blankety-blank multiflora rose that refuses to die. I always forget to trim it and dig it up before it gets going in the Spring, and now, I guess I will keep it there to help protect the wrens. I can hardly get near that side of the garage myself.
My weeping cherry tree (a gift from Geoff on my first Mother's Day) is full of delicate, sweet blooms. Oh, yeah.....
My orange-tinted house finch is looking so dapper and shiny. I wish he could find more carotenoids, though.
Bad kitty! Bad!
And before Kathi and Rachel start hollering at me, I only let her drink a tiny bit (enough to let me go get my camera) and then took it away. Yes, that's a Samuel Adams glass.
SLURP!
7 comments:
Thank you for the first photos. I'm watching for the first signs of fledglings here- so far just a lot of coming and going on the part of mama and papa hawk. I have a line of sight over the edge of the nest from the second story with my telephoto- I'm hoping for some good pictures.
I love Caroline Wrens- we had a house with some nesting every year back in Michigan. I miss them so please keep us posted!
Sweet kitty! I love those caramel markings.
I love the nesting photos. I can't wait to see what happens. And your Geoff gave you a tree for your first mother's day. That rocks!
First comment: That is a mean looking hawk! You have very unique bird houses, Susan. That one with chickadee peeking inside is adorable. Makes me want to run out and get some houses! Your orange finch is quite handsome. Do you think kitty cared about your saying, Bad Kitty Bad? Cute photo...
I'm loving your fun birdhouses! Mine are all cleaned out and waiting for tenants but no takers yet. Cute kitty picture- a little bit of milk can't be that bad. Did you see the corgi on Cute Overload? It's licking out a peanut butter jar- too funny.
Love that Red-tailed Hawk photo! BTW: Would LOVE to have a Carolina Wren nesting near me! Also, my mom use to let some of the cats drink her milk, then once I got them they thought it was free to do! They also think anytime I have toast they are getting butter (although my one does get it).
Where did you get that adorable sunflower nestbox? I totally want one!!!
(Great pictures, as always!!)
Confession time: I give one of my cats milk. Also cooked egg, chicken, cheese, tuna fish, pretty much any protein or dairy that I am eating. (His littermate, now deceased, would take food right out of my mouth if I let her and tried to steal sips of wine!) My sister yells at me all the time about this. I only feed table food to this one cat, "because he's crippled!"
Louie broke both his back legs when he was hit by a car as a 6 month old kitten. I fixed one leg pretty good, but the other one not so much, so he runs like a drunken sailor. He doesn't let it slow him down, though.
He is the sweetest, most wonderful cat, and I spoil him rotten. He expects to be treated like royalty, but never gets pushy about it.
One day, I gave a little bit of milk to Dixie, my only female cat. She promptly ran around the house urping up curdled milk EVERYwhere. I forgot what a lactose-intolerant cat was like. Ugh! Never again. Louie is the only one who gets people food [say it with me] "Because he's crippled.
~Kathi, guilty as charged
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