View From the Swamp

Today is supposed to be a 52 Ancestor Challenge post, and perhaps before the day is over I'll be able to put one together.  I found a couple pictures I haven't posted from my first trek to the swamp.  I was hoping for Warblers but instead I found more common local residents.  The photos are not great, I apologize.

Eastern Blue Bird

Tree Swallows

Tufted Titmouse singing like mad!

Wordless Wednesday Out My Window

Busy Birdbath

Cleaned out birdbaths and filled with fresh water.  We've only recently come home and returned to some semblance of order.  Birdbaths were pretty much non stop yesterday.  Pictures are a tad fuzzy, taken from inside through a screened window...and a bit of sheer curtain.

 Crazy Tree Sparrow decided to have a dust bath after the birdbath.

 American Robin just wanted a drink.

 I'm not sure of the ID for the bird on the right.  The Mourning Dove wanted the deeper end of the birdbath but whatever this bird was, it was not going to move.  Later in the morning, I spotted the Mourning Dove just sitting in a second birdbath having a good soak.

 Female Northern Flicker

 Eastern Bluebird....I can't remember if this was the male or female....hard to tell with my camera grabbing so much of the screen and the bird was drenched!  The pair took turns for a good thirty minutes.

View Through the Window

For these pictures, it was sound that caused me to stop and look.  Opening windows on a mild January afternoon, the cacophony of squirrels in treetops shouting their screeching, grating alarm was deafening.  If it were a hawk, all would have been quiet so I looked downward and at the edge of the scrubby woods caught movement.  Small dog? Small deer?  Grabbed my camera and set my sights on a Bobcat!!  I did hear a high and full sound, almost a "whoop"  that I'm thinking might have been the bobcat.  Then it settled in under this tree just over the stonewall into the neighbor's woods and dug and dug, and found something to eat....with a tail.  I think this picture, if zoomed in, shows a bit of its tongue.

 This morning coming into the kitchen to turn on the coffee, I caught movement at treeline yet again.  This movement was a vertical drop and ascent.  My guess was bluebirds but they were too far away to see any blue.  These two shots were taken with my zoom but cropped and cropped again!!  I did spot two females and three males.  Only two males made it into these shots. 

The Bluebird of Happiness

Well, I don't know about that, but they do put a smile on my face.  December First arrived with a gentle snow and rain mix throughout the day and a couple of Eastern Bluebirds.  My header picture is from that day, with a bit of snow falling in the background.  Tuesday was a foggy, drizzly day and the front yard was just a-flutter with activity!  Three bluebirds were in and out of the holly all morning and while waiting their turn, sat in branches above the yard.

Waiting to drop into the holly bush.

This Bluebird found itself in the company of Mourning Doves!

Views From the Water ~ Friday

These ferns are almost as tall as I am!  The tallest came up to my shoulder.  They are right near the edge of the swamp.

One gosling.  It was so neat to watch this family maneuver across the swamp, with baby safely in between.

I couldn't get a good enough look at this busy bird to identify it.  It was flying back and forth, looked like it was making the nest ~ bringing white downy material and molding it in with its chest.  I think this picture is a tail shot as it was stuffing the material down in before molding it with its body.

I apologize for the terrible picture quality ~ a blue bird pair was very busy feeding babies, apparently.  It was nonstop action for the hour I perched on my log.  This is the male at the entrance to the nest.  Unfortunately, I could not see in but I could see mom and dad as they flew out and skimmed the surface of the pond for tasty bugs.

Baby Hughie, Other Babies, And New Nesters

This is the first turtle of the season, or at least that I've spotted.

They come up the steep hill from the swamp, spend the rest of the afternoon looking for THE spot, and then  an hour or two digging a hole, laying 5 or 6 eggs, and then filling it in and covering it so amazingly that it is impossible to find!  I am not sure if there have been successful hatchings or if they just get dug up and eaten by nocturnal marauders before they can hatch.  

There were three baby bluebirds frantically following this parent.  Somehow my son-in-law and I had NO success whatsoever in capturing babies and parent together.  So, we have a single shot of parent above and shot of only one baby below, blurry at that.

Nuthatch family has been a delight to watch!  This was a group of about 4 or 5 babies ~ always on the move and very hard to count!  I think this may be parent eating at the feeder and one brave baby at the top.

Downy or Hairy Woodpeckers, not sure which.

Baby Hughie!  This is a Red Bellied Woodpecker baby.  All last week it would just cling to a tree and wait for the parent to feed it.  This week it is making it to the feeder, but it just clings and waits to be fed.

A VERY short clip of the Red Bellied Woodpeckers.  I didn't realize the camera was on video and thought I was just taking a snapshot!!  But, you can see how "Baby Hughie" compares to its parent.