American Goldfinches

It's been very interesting to watch the American Goldfinches. 

When we arrive in Florida in September, we rarely see any. Our feeders host lots of Pine Warblers, but not many finches. They begin to trickle in starting in November and the numbers grow throughout the winter months. By February, we have so many that we are filling the sunflower feeders almost daily.

Last week, we had about 200 on the feeders, the ground and in our oak tree.

The next day, they were gone. This Yellow-rumped Warbler had the feeders all to himself!

This year we have two Sherman Fox Squirrels that visit almost daily. There has been a lot of new construction in the area so we don't see the numbers as in previous years. I hope they are ok.

Any day that we see a Pileated Woodpecker is a good day!

We had an unusual visitor this morning - a Brown-headed Cowbird.

Our beautiful Bluebirds are much more welcome!

In other news, this is a sink hole that opened up in a drainage ditch in front of a neighboring community. Scary!

Colorado Birds, A New Quilt Beginning and a Naughty Squirrel

  I love this time of year in Colorado. Actually, let me clarify: I love the migrating birds, but I hate the chilly, rainy weather. I want to sit outside to watch the birds and not take pictures through a window. Oh well. All the feeders are up as well as the birdbath and Bill has the waterfalls in the pond up and running - so more birds are stopping for a visit.

The Mountain Chickadees delight us all summer long. Happy little birds!

Every year we hope the Western Tanagers will stay around, but they don't. I'm happy to have so many for the couple of weeks they stay.

This was a special treat - a Black-chinned Hummingbird.

Lousy picture, but look at that beautiful neck.

Usually the Bushtits arrive in a large group and quickly move through but this year we have had one who seems to be sticking around.

No this Horned Lark was not in the yard. We spotted him at the new RC Car Track Bill found.

We have lots of American Goldfinches who must have followed us home from Florida. We usually only see one or two this time of year...

...but the trees have been decorated with them the past couple of days. The Lesser Goldfinches have just started arriving.

As usual, we have more than our share of House Finches.

Pretty American Goldfinch.

We have two kinds of jays - Blue Jays and Scrub Jays. This is a Blue Jay.

I can't help it - we love the Western Tanagers!

This is an unusual House Finch. It is a male, probably first year, with yellow-orange coloring.

 We've seen the mature male Bullock's Oriole several times. This is a younger male with the black bib and black cap. Yes, that's rain in the picture.

He likes the blossoms on our bushes.

I don't spend ALL my time looking at the birds. I've started a new quilt - Amish with a Twist. It was initially a block-of-the-month and I'm working on the first installment. This is 2 of the first 12 squares.

I'm having a running battle with the squirrels. I heard that cayenne pepper will keep them away. See how good it works?

New Hobby

Our newest hobby is RC cars. Bill helped to begin a new club here at OTOW and after just a month we have 24 members. Great fun!

This is one of our cars in action on the grass course. Plans are in the making to build a new course with jumps, a drivers stand, spectator area, etc. On Sunday after the weekly races, we gathered here for a hot dog bash to celebrate the club's successful beginnings. Bill grilled hot dogs and made delicious baked beans. Everyone brought a side dish or dessert. So much good food and great friends! We had a wonderful time!

There was plenty of room once I packed up my sewing area.

Here we are!

I thought this was a great picture to compare the size of a Downy Woodpecker (left) and a Red-bellied Woodpecker. The Red-bellied looks a little shaggy. Both birds are regulars at our feeders.

This is an uncommon bird!

I'm sure it was photographing our RC car races!

We've been lucky to have Ruby-throated Hummingbirds this year.

The American Goldfinches are FINALLY yellow! Up until now they have been dull greenish-yellow. They've been at our feeders for a couple of months in large numbers - but most have now moved on.

Our Great-crested Flycatchers are still in the neighborhood.

We took the feeders down yesterday as we prepare for our annual journey back to Colorado for the summer. We've had several birds today looking for them. Sad. I feel guilty but there is plenty of other food available.

This is a quilt I made for my daughter Pamela. She should get it in the mail tomorrow.

The Goldfinches are Returning!

I can't believe we are still seeing the male Western Tanager - but we are. I'm really hoping that he is nesting near by.

He's one of the most colorful I've seen.

The goldfinches are beginning to return. This is the more colorful American Goldfinch - the ones we also see in Florida.

 And this is a Lesser Goldfinch - our first of the season.

This one seems to be especially yellow which makes me wonder if it's a hybrid - mixed with American Goldfinch. That sometimes happens where their ranges overlap - like here.

The Cedar Waxwings have been around on and off every day. On Thursday afternoon, Bill and I headed to Sterling Colorado - in the northeast corner of the state. We spent the night and headed out first thing in the morning to drive the Pawnee Pioneer Trail through the National Grasslands. It was not what we expected - but that's a blog for another day!

Coyote, Birds & Quilts

Bill and I watched with amusement while our resident Coyote stalked what he hoped was dinner - Crows!

The birds played his game for a long time - letting him get closer and closer and then jumping ahead just far enough to keep him interested. This went on for about 20 minutes before the Crows tired of the game and moved on.

This was an especially beautiful Blue Jay visiting the feeders on a gorgeous sunny day.

The Goldfinches are eating us out of house and home - but we love them.

Today we went walking near Johnson Pond. Our find of the day was this Eastern Towhee scratching in the leaves looking for insects.

His partner was nearby.

I'm enjoying my new sewing area. I finished my doggy tribute "Tegan's Quilt" New Year's Day and sent it off Tegan's parents.

Continuing my animal theme - this one is a tribute to cats because every little boy needs a cat on his bed.