Hello again! Sorry for not posting in such a long time. We miss all of you quite terribly.
I have to get this off of my chest before it crushes me. I (this is Seth) have been an alcoholic for many, many years (almost 20, in fact). It has quickly progressed over the last 7 or 8 years and in the last 2 years it has become an obsession. Everything became second to alcohol, including the birds. I finally hit my rock bottom 17 days ago and I am now in recovery. Actually, as I write this, it is now day 18. I am attending A.A. meetings daily and I feel like I have been given a new life and a new start. I don't know why I feel the need to share but I felt driven to do so.
My point is is that I am now, more than ever, devoted to these little birds that we call friends, and hopefully you will see that reflected in our blog postings. We will try to update as much as possible and I appreciate all of you that are still hanging around.
Two juvenile and one adult Black-Capped Chickadee
This is one of a family of 4 Black-Capped Chickadees that have been coming into the yard the last week or so. 2 definite juveniles!
Here's one of the juveniles trying out a thistle sock! He (and the other juve) have been on just about every feeder in the yard.
Just a cute shot.
The Red-Breasted Sapsucker showed up about 3 days ago! He's 2 months earlier than last year for the yard.
Another shot of him in flight. I took about 100 photos trying to capture him in the air. Thank God for digital cameras!
Such a gorgeous bird
Male Downy Woodpecker. He first showed up this year on June 5th. That's the same day last year that he first showed up!
This Flicker made the House Sparrow a little too uncomfortable.
One of the resident Yellow/Red Shafted hybrids that we get all year long.
Such awesome little guys...
...and girls!
A shot of a Bald Eagle through the back of a waterfall. We just thought it was kind of cool.
A little bit of a closer shot of a different Bald Eagle. This one was at the Oregon Zoo (so what if we cheated!)
A vibrant little American Goldfinch. We had dozen and dozens of them in the Winter but only in ones and twos this Summer.
The Evening Grosbeak is still hanging about.
Stealthy little buggers they are.
Here's a female Black-Headed Grosbeak taking a bath the other day.
She was going to town in the water!
Here is a juvenile Male Black-Headed Grosbeak. Such wonderfully patterned feathers.
Another of the BH Grosbeaks we get on a pretty regular basis.
Another Juvenile.
They visit quite a few different feeders.
But they really like the apple trees.
The Bushtits have been gone for a couple of months but about 2 weeks ago they came back in full force!
A Northern Shoveler
A baby Robin...
...and another...
A Juvenile Bald Eagle on Vashon Island. We took a trip up there for a few days in June for Michelle's Birthday (the 21st). If you have never been, it's definitely a must see!
Here's the young Eagle sitting in tree along the beach of the island. I will be posting more photos of the Vashon trip in the next day or so.
A juvenile Cowbird. There are 3 babies that come into the yard. All are in different stages of plumage.
Here's another juve Cowbird. Pretty cute, actually.
Here's the same guy eating from a thistle feeder. He sat there for quite some time and seemed to enjoy the meal. Since Cowbirds do not build nests and subsequently have other species raise their young, we assume that this little guy's parents must be of the Finch persuasion.
A young Scrub-Jay. We watched his mother come into the yard for weeks, grabbing suet chunks and then flying away. We presumed that she was taking the suet back to a nest. then, about a week ago, we noticed to juvenile Jays in the yard. They tried almost every type of feeder and food that we have but they ended up preferring suet. We were quite amused.
One of the juveniles.
Another one eating suet.
Fluffy-butt alert!
Poor lil' Jay thinks he's a Flicker or something.
Checking out the garden.
A resident Male Anna's Hummingbird.
A resident female Anna's.
A female Rufous. We can never seem to grab photos of the male!
Another Rufous.
A White-Crowned Sparrow, also from Vashon Island. There were quite a few of these guys up there.
Here is another one, just outside the cottage we were staying at. Such wonderful singers.
A Male Western Tanager. We sure hope that they stick around for a while!
