Front Garden Birds

I love the picture of this robin the best, somehow it looks like the gnome has something to say to it. If I ever think of a clever caption for it I may use it on a greeting card.

There must be something shiny about the camera lens hidden inside the feeder because the birds seem very interested in it.

On the other hand, this bird couldn't care less so I'm left to wonder what's really going on.

There have also been doves, goldfinches and cardinals but there are no pictures of them because they seem to favor the other feeders and those don't have cameras in them.

The main thing for us is the enjoyment we get from watching and listening to them chatter and sing in the garden.

It can drown out the traffic at times to the point that you can almost forget you're in the middle of a city.

Birds, close up

There is a small camera built into a small bird feeder in our front yard. When the squirrel doesn't mess with it we do get some pretty interesting close up photos of the birds who visit us here.

They sure speak up when the feeder needs filling.

They are beginning to look like they've got some personality too.

We haven't seen any goldfinches, wrens or black capped chickadees lately, they may have moved on for the season but we sure enjoyed them while they were here. (especially the two batches of wren babies on the arbor and wheelchair ramp).

Latest Photos From the Bird Cam

We never get a full photo of the cardinal because the bird feeder that has the built in camera is a small one.

We are considering either purchasing a larger commercial unit or building something ourselves but this will need to do in the meantime.

This is been one of the best pictures so far and one of the species that we've seen the least of this season.

You have to wonder what this guy is thinking. He certainly looks like he's got something to say. Don't you?

Bird Cam Photos

The bird feeder that we bought with the built in camera is quite small so about the only nice photos we've gotten are of the chickadees.

I'm not quite sure what this was, no real way to tell except that it was larger and quite dark.

Here's the keeper of the feeder.

Believe it or not this is all we get of the cardinals.

Next season we'll be looking for a larger feeder or some way to adapt the camera so that it can get full shots of the bigger birds,

We have several species of woodpeckers that I'd love to be able to show you.

Bird Watching a New Way

I don't like taking my wheelchair outside in the winter so any way I can watch the birds from the house appeals to me.

I recently found this combination bird feeder and camera in a catalog:

We hung it with our other bird feeders because we were afraid that if we mounted it to a tree that the squirrels would get into it.

The problem with hanging it out in the open is that it is motion activated so as the wind blows it around you get a lot of photos of nothing.

Of the 120 photos it shot, these were the only good photos of birds that we got.

Obviously we'll be experimenting with other solutions to the problem and as always, I'll keep you posted.

This was our favorite this time.

Gathering my Thoughts on a Snowy Day

Many people love snow and can't wait to get out in it. I am NOT one of those people. I do enjoy a pretty snowfall from my window but that's about it. I spend most of the winter going through seed catalogs and planning for warm weather with endless cups of coffee and stacks of seed catalogs to pass the time until it's spring again.

I have to say that one of my pleasures this winter is to look out at the brightly painted posts on my wheelchair ramp against the snow. The contrast is really amazing and makes me smile each time I see it.

The only activity in the garden so far was a cardinal poking through the snow to get at the sunflower seeds in the  bird feeder.

Indoors the cosmos seed I planted is up and beginning to get it's first set of leaves. I'd saved it from the amazing orange flowers I had this year and am looking forward to bright flowers again.

As all of this goes on I continue to paint and I've been designing all sorts of products with that last Iris painting on them. Both seem to entertain and amuse me so they'll fill the time as I keep studying cheese making and will be building a press so that we can make our very first cheddar.

I'm enjoying the New Year so far and hope you are too,

Julia

The First Snowfall of the Season

I shot the photo of the cardinal sitting here at the table this morning. I really like having the table in a lighter and brighter location and it makes birdwatching a lot easier as well.

I'm actually sitting here as I write this now. As soon as I finish the blog and design a few more things on Zazzle, I'll get back to a bit of painting so it's been a busy little table ever since I moved it in here.

Large Woodpecker Outside My Window

I'm sorry I wasn't able to get a better picture. It was quite a surprise to see it and there was only time to grab my phone. I tried cropping it closer but every time I did, it was just too blurry to see.

We often get smaller varieties of woodpeckers but I haven't gotten very good pictures of those either.

We are considering getting one of those automatic wildlife cameras if we can find somewhere to put it where it won't disturb anyone. In an urban setting it's a bit more of a challenge but I'm sure it can be done. 

Birds and Butterflies Outside My Window

  As you can see the bird feeders were pretty full and busy yesterday. We also had lots of chickadees and some cardinals along with other birds but they seem to come at different times of the day and I only managed to get pictures of these.

I often edit the photos as closely as I can to get you the best pictures of the birds but I'll include some longer shots so that you can get the idea of the setting that all of this takes place in just outside my living room window.

  It's a pretty wild mess right now but they seem to love it and a couple of days this week there were Monarch butterflies hanging around by the window and I really enjoyed watching those.

Blue Jay

Look who was waiting for me when I opened the blinds this morning! This time I am really going to try to draw it. I'm headed to the worktable now...
I grabbed a cup of coffee and a watercolor envelope and here's what I came up with. I ran out of room for the tail because I did it on the lower left corner of the envelope.

The wildlife take over the garden and I settle in to paint

 I enjoy watching the birds but have never tried drawing or painting them. This may be the year. So far I'm just re-organizing the art supplies and kicking the idea around a bit but you've got to start somewhere and this is as good a place as any.

This white squirrel seems to appreciate the fact that we leave a lot of the leaves and plants for them.
We have an untidy yard but a busy one. the trouble is in trying to get good photos whenever anything interesting turns up. My husband took today's photo's.

There were a lot of different birds on the feeders this morning but they scattered when we pulled up the blinds. They seem to startle easily. There have been a couple of woodpeckers too.