Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Daily Pics #308.
Good morning everyone! It’s a very windy morning here today and it has now switched to the northwest bringing in some colder air for us once more. It was 30F (-1C) earlier this morning, now just 2 hours later the temp has dropped to 25F (-4C) and it will keep getting colder throughout the day. The evening grosbeaks are busy at the feeder again this morning, such a beautiful bird to brighten the day. They were chased away momentarily by 2 pigeons so I went and chased the pigeons. Now the grosbeaks are back again completely filling that feeder. Perhaps I should have made it a bit larger this time. Oh well. Another feeder will be added soon to accommodate the overflow. The new restaurant is definitely popular with our local bird population. And Jasper. He was here for a bit also and chased the birds away. However, a few peanuts is all that’s needed to get him away from the feeder.
There was a light misty rain earlier this morning too. I should have checked the forecast before I went out. At that temp the misty rain froze. And once more left a thin layer of very slippery ice on the deck. Couldn’t even tell. Until I stepped down onto the deck. And went sliding. Didn’t fall though. Still managed to pull a muscle though. But I don’t think it’s too bad. Basically only hurts when I move. I would love to see the look on my face when things like that happen. Just thinking about it makes me laugh. Hmm, I see our redpoll population is increasing. We started with 3 awhile back, now I see there is 11 of them out there. That’s nice. I like the little redpolls, they’re cute and friendly little birds. They don’t mind coming down to the feeder when I’m outside and that gives the larger birds, like grosbeaks, more confidence to come down as well.
I have some nice summer flower pics to share once again this morning. First, the featured image is a nice bright rose. Next is a summery look at some delphiniums. The next pic is a bright daylily. These daylilies are a smaller variety and though each flower only lasts a day, they produce an abundance of flowers so the blooming period lasts a long time. I hope you have a wonderful Sunday and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
Daily Pics #307.
Good morning and Happy Saturday everyone! The chickadees were first at the feeders this morning. One little chickadee came and landed on the feeder before I had a chance to hang it up, so I said good morning to it. He/she said “chick a dee dee dee”, which is their song. It sounded so nice and cheerful so I think it was saying good morning to me as well. Okay, I admit, I have an active imagination. Redpolls were next at the feeder and blue jays showed up shortly afterwards. Then the evening grosbeaks came for breakfast, about 30 of them, it was a little hard to count actually since they wouldn’t sit still this morning and kept taking turns flying to and from the trees. There was definitely 28, but I’m sure there was more of them. Poor little redpolls kept trying to get on the feeder with them, but that didn’t work so good, the grosbeaks kept chasing them away. Pine grosbeaks are different and will let the redpolls and other little birds come on the feeder with them, even when things are getting crowded. They are a lot more tolerant and easy going than the evening grosbeaks.
Good thing I put out a lot of sunflower seeds this morning, on both feeders, it’s keeping them busy for a longer time. But I think they are starting to run low now, there’s getting to be a lot more “discussions”, that’s always a good way to tell. Muffin is sleeping on my lap right now. Well, she’s partly on my lap and partly on the arm of the chair. And she’s dreaming. Her little back feet are kicking the air amazingly fast at the moment, her whiskers are twitching wildly, her mouth is smacking, her ears and eyes are flipping and flickering constantly, must be a wild dream. Hmm, she just woke up. Probably a good thing. She was starting to get rather close to the edge of the chair. She might have slid off the chair. Which would have hurt. Me, that is. She did that one other time and she tried grabbing the nearest thing to her, which happened to be my leg. Those claws went deep. With long scratches. It hurt just a bit. Oh well.
I decided to show a couple more zinnias today, still covered with the morning dew on a bright summer day. I have shown zinnias before, but not these pics. Have a wonderful Saturday and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 