Birds and Others – June 8

3 Comments / uncategorized / By

I know they are common birds, and can be raucous bullies, but blue jays are beautiful, and, as evidence, here is a series of pictures.

It is time for baby birds to leave their nests, which is a stressful time around here, with so many cats running loose. The swallow parents are maintaining the upper hand, terrorizing the cats whenever they venture into the open.

A young dove with parent
The last baby swallow prepares to fly
Adult swallow stands guard
Marmalade hates the swallow bombers – “Stay away from me!”
“Damn! Got me again!“
Roscoe is very cautious

Tuesday was dumpster day. Horses enjoyed the cool morning, strolling in later than usual. Harlan, right on time, was in fine form.

Oisin leads the way to breakfast
Oisin
Stone and Bart
Bart is in no hurry today
Harlan in his summer uniform
Ready to leave

Fred arrived to reset the horses’ shoes. Jane and Derry came over and we all had plenty of laughs.

Fred prepares to argue with me
Jane is amused
Derry awaits a treat
Hot fit
Derry arrived with some new white spots courtesy of the many swallows in Jane’s barn
Fred’s assistant, Sue
Fred’s other assistant, Stripey

Harry and Weedy had a luncheon engagement.

“Stop taking pictures! We want to get on the road!”

The cats are a favorite photo subject.

Marmalade is ready for breakfast, looking in the window
On the way to the barn, Marmalade defers to grumpy Rosie
Tom Morris on the lookout for swallow bombers
Shed breakfast – Tom Morris, Licorice, & Marmalade
Roscoe dreams

The oriole seems hungrier than usual. I assume there are babies nearby, but I have not seen the nest. And speaking of nests, the catbird eggs did not hatch. The catbird seems to have a new nest somewhere. I have been seeing the catbird on the east side of the house, though I haven’t managed a picture.

I think the oriole is taking food to babies

The skink that I often see on the ramp fell into the dumpster. I rescued it, which stressed it out. The poor thing was breathing very hard, but soon it skittered away . It still has ticks, alas. I decided not to try to pull them off. The skink thought being chased around and removed from the dumpster in a bucket was bad enough! I didn’t exactly enjoy rooting through the dumpster after a skink, either.

Skink in the dumpster!
Skink (and ticks) back on land

Connie came today to replace the pump. We returned from lunch with our good friend, Cherie, to find the stream running again. The frogs are singing, flowers are blooming. We are feeling very fortunate indeed.

Harry and Connie
Plenty of water
Siberian iris
Clematis etoile rose
Native wild hydrangea
Oak leaf hydrangea
Squirrel Nutkin

Be safe, be well. Slava Ukraini! Peace.

3 thoughts on “Birds and Others – June 8”

  1. Janis

    We have generations of killdeer which nest in our gravel drive. Fortunately, mom puts the nest right in the middle, out of the tires! The baby hatch and are up and running. Amazing.

  2. Carolyn

    So many lovely photographs of your wonderful home and numerous companions, wild and otherwise.

  3. Fran c

    Good work with the skink! Rather heroic actually, and very kind…good pr for the blue jays too- I dislike disliking them bc of just that beauty. Always insightful and entertaining here, thanks!

Comments are closed.