Hey, Nellie....your buddies are back

Pick any day, and you can go about it thinking that it will be just an ordinary one.
While getting ready to take Lorelei out for the day, I glanced out the back windows, as I have been doing since March 25, expecting to see an empty spot on the martin housing.
But there was someone there:


A tree swallow.
I said in a quiet but persnickety voice, "Where the HELL have you BEEN?"



It even checked out the TRES digs. They failed last year, but the year before they raised and flew off with 5 young. May we have a normal amount of rain this year. We need bugs, and lots of 'em. I can't wait until Nellie sees them. What a wuss.

A new yard bird was nice...but with a sad twist:

A female purple finch. But she has mycoplasmal conjunctivitis. Dammit.
(It looks like that goldfinch is staring at her, doesn't it?)


There's also a male house finch with both of his eyes nearly gummed shut. So that's three birds who are affected...at least that I have seen. Looks like it is time to take down the feeders for awhile. The most I have seen with the disease at one time is just one bird. So this is a 300% increase. Dammit.

Let's cleanse with a happy little chipping sparrow. I never get tired of looking at this tiny bundles of sweetness:




And for your additional cleansing enjoyment, a quickie Nellie video:

Houston, Susan Gets Native has landed

I am here. I am so happy, I could spit.
The drive was long, but as I got closer to Port Clinton I started noticing the birdscape was changing. Starlings were replaced by red-winged blackbirds. Great blue herons replaced soaring vultures.
I knew I was close when, along the roadside, maybe 5 feet from the road, stood a great egret. Oh, Hell, YEAH.
Okay, I teared up a little. Well, maybe more than a little.

This picture is strictly for Geoff. The man has a very bizarre love affair with rest areas.

The town of Cygnet is about 20 miles from Port Clinton. Seeing this sign always makes me smile, because I know I have crossed into Lake Erie country.

How's that for a view? I have views of Lake Erie on two sides of my hotel room.
Somewhere beyond that horizon is Canada.

Here's the sunset over the lake, taken from the deck right under my room.

And here's the hot tub.
Can I get an "Amen"?
I have already tried it, and it's as wonderful as you can imagine.

Right now, I am sitting in my "balcony room" with the windows open, listening to the surf crashing below and the gulls riding the waves.
The wind is strong and chilly. Good weather for sleeping with the windows open, just a little.

I took this before I left today.
Look, guys!
Swallow PORN!!!
(At least he kissed her first.)

I'm so full of myself right now, I have ME coming out of my ears

I couldn't wait to post tonight. I took some of the most awesome pictures ever today.

I am not thrilled when I see brown-headed cowbirds at the feeders, but they are native, so they have a place here.
And even though I always think of the nest parasitism they engage in, I have to admit they have a subtle beauty. Well, at least the males do. The females are boring.

Glossy black under chocolate brown.

I think we have a winner in the tree swallow Nest Olympics:

I watched the male swoop and drive off every other swallow except for this one. I looked closer, and the other one is less irridescent, so it must be a female, for him to let her sit so close.

This is a bird to make a person a BIRDER.
Look at that clean white. That glossy black/blue. I so love these guys.

Nellie finally saw them today. She has known something is up for a few days, but today, when she actually laid eyes on them, she ran for the back door, tail down and eyes half closed. Sissy.

I had to get the girls out of the house today. They have been on Spring Break (They are in preschool, for chrissakes. What do they have to take a break from???) and the blue skies and flowers were beckoning.

The Cincinnati Nature Center, in its best season. There are daffodils as far as the eye can see.

And the rest of the ground is covered with pert little Celedine. I know nothing of this flower other than it is a member of the buttercup family.

The critters are waking up...Dang, this was a huge bullfrog. I showed the girls how his throat was making the water vibrate under his chin.

The squirrels were up to their butts in foraging for vittles.


A pic I am very proud of:

This chickadee was just flying out of a cavity in a dead tree. I saw him or her fly in, so I waited until I saw the little face peek out. There's something in his/her beak...food? Sawdust? Anyone wanna guess?

Then, after doing the Susan/Snoopy dance for getting such a cool picture, I saw this duck:

Ohmigod! A female wood duck!
So, would I be lucky enough to see the male?

Oh, Hell YEAH. I have seen these before, but have never gotten so close. I was extremely pleased with myself.

And now, a mystery butterfly/moth:

There were a few of these precious little guys flying at the edge of the trail. I looked at a zillion butterfly sites, but I can't find this one. I will be very embarrassed if it is a really common, boring butterfly. Anyone know what it is?

The magnolias are showing off their feminine blooms...there was a solid wall of magnolias in full bloom at the entrance to the center.



And I got the girls to hug and pose under one of them.
Sweet flowers, vibrating frogs, tiny butterflies, lovey-dovey tree swallows, and secretive wood ducks.
A good day.

A gift from above

I don't know if I can explain what this bird means to me.
Last year, they arrived as an unbelievable and joyful surprise, a life/yard bird at the same time, and became the most successful nesting birds in the yard.
I mourned when they left for the winter, and the hope of their return kept me going through the cold months.
Today, my wait was over.

The first tree swallow of 2007. He swooped happily through the air above me, as my heart did the Snoopy dance.

He was joined by 4 other swallows and he chased them all off. Soon the females will arrive and they will set up housekeeping.
Question for my bird peeps: I have been searching for information about the spacing of tree swallow nests. I seem to recall that 150 feet or more is preferred, but I'm not sure. All I can find is the spacing needed for bluebirds and tree swallows combined. It's too bad that they need so much space...if they nested colonially like purple martins, they would be all set here.
So, who knows the answer to this?

Nellie cracks me up. I let her out when the TRES flew away, and though she didn't see them, she acted like something was wrong. Her ears were only half up, and she skulked around the yard, looking up into the sky. She KNEW, SOMEHOW, that they had been there!
Here's a post from last year. Nellie and the TRES go way back.

I watched a robin today defend his territory from himself. This is a side window on our neighbor's house...I may have to give them some advice on how to stop this bird from exhausting himself by trying to kill a figment of his imagination.
Geoff thinks that I am going to march over there and demand they put decals on their window.
No worries, dear husband. I have no plans on alienating our very nice neighbors. But the next time I see them out in their yard, I may mention the robin and ask if he is bothering them.
I noticed later in the day, they had the window open, and the robin was just sitting in the tree, and not attacking.