Coffee on Tuesday! #3

Good morning and Happy Tuesday to everyone! Time for a cup of coffee and a few minutes to relax, always a nice idea around mid morning. Well, okay, we are a bit past mid morning, but it is still a good idea. When I got up this morning it was snowing heavily, looked like a real snowstorm out there and everything was turning white very quickly.

But now it is a beautiful, sunny morning, that snow has melted and it looks like spring once again. Amazing how fast the weather can change sometimes. Yesterday afternoon it was warm with thunderstorms. But, that is the way that spring works. The birds were really singing out there this morning as well, once the sun was shining again.

Two male flickers vying for the attention of a female.

It was the same yesterday morning. So many birds have now returned from the south that there is quite a chorus of songs each morning now. And each day some new species, arriving back from the south, joins the choir. Although it is a bit chilly in the mornings yet, I can still open my window for a bit, or take my coffee out on the balcony for a while in order to listen to this beautiful choir.

Turkey vultures were returning in steadily increasing numbers yesterday. That was their first big day in returning from the south. Not exactly a beautiful bird when seen up close, but they do look nice soaring against a bright blue sky. Speaking of blue sky, there are quite a few brilliantly white Ring-billed gulls floating around against the blue sky right now.

And once again with one having his tail fanned out.

I always enjoy watching them though I have never been able to get a decent picture of them soaring against the sky like that. But perhaps one of these days. I have been trying for a long time to get some good pictures of our flickers. The are a species of woodpecker and one of two species that migrate south for the winter. I finally got some fairly good pics of them, two males in particular as they were doing what I call their spring “dance”.

Basically it is two male flickers that are trying to get the attention of a female, which in this case was higher up in the tree hidden by the branches so I was not able to get a picture of her. The males kind of bounce around with tails fanned out and chattering at each other.

They do not actually fight, just kind of “dance” around a lot and chatter.

They do not really fight, basically it seems like they just try to impress the female waiting for her to pick one of them. Usually she seems to be unimpressed and flies away with the males flying after her and the process repeats the next time she lands.

Eventually she does pick one and the loser flies off in search of another female. Muffin is enjoying her nap in the sun on the window sill. Nothing quite like sunshine for a good nap. Well, it is getting close to lunch so guess I shall say good bye for now. Thank you for stopping by, have a wonderful day and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2024 Steve McLeod.