~~~Strange Behavior~~~

I was looking out the window a few weeks ago and the Blue Jay was on top of one of my arbors in the garden (yes I know it needs painting) .  As I watched he started doing something odd, "picking at the chipped paint" ?
I went and got the camera and shot these photos through the window at the best angle I could, so they aren't great.  They are cropped a lot so you can see this behavior.
I mainly wanted to be able to pull them up close to see what he was really doing.
My thinking was perhaps there was insects under the paint. Then maybe the Nuthatch had tucked seeds under the loose paint for a later snack.

Here he is the "Blue Jay"

Searching out a good spot to pick at.

"I see a good piece" 

"Oh I got it".

"Ooop's darn I lost it"

Try again...".right there I see it"  

"Ooop's reached to far".

"Oh well'.. looks good right here.

"Yummy"

Yes he ate it!!!  Has anybody ever seen this behavior?

Since this I have seen a Jay picking paint chips,from the deck rail, and eating it !!!!

~~~~"Feeding The Entertainers"~~~~

Today I opened the sixth 40lb bag of black oil bird seed since January first.
That is how much seed the birds have eaten, plus add in heaven knows how many bags of mealy worms, suet, thistle seed,and electricity for the heated bird bath, and you have some of the least expensive entertainment there is around. ; )
I keep telling myself "you have to stop standing here staring out the window watching the birds and get something done".  It is addicting, well for me anyway!!

It has been a pretty rough winter for the birds with "very cold temperatures,and lots and lots of snow"!!!   I am sharing some photo's I took through the patio doors,of the birds at the feeders in some of those wild storms.

When the weather is terrible ever bird is welcome at the table .

Here there is a Cardinal, a Eastern Bluebird, a Common Redpoll, 

and 12 American Goldfinches.

   

This was during one of the blizzards we had.

High winds at times made it so hard for birds to hang on! 

A Pine Siskin ...beautiful to see some bright yellow in the middle of all the white snow. 

The cheapest feeders, and most favorite of the Goldfinches, and  House Finches.

Common Redpoll digging for seeds.

The biggest seed eaters are the Goldfinches, and House Finches.

In this photo there are approximately 50 Goldfinches.

 This goes on most of the day.  

They get startled, and in a rush of wings, and up they go.

Of course I am not the only one who gets entertained, Mandy my kitty loves to

watch the Mourning Doves.  

Now those guys can go through a lot of seed!

~~~Window's and Raindrop's~~~

Dull, dreary, freezing rain, rain, and more rain. No sun until maybe Sunday, so staying inside has been the norm for this week .
Trying to get some Christmas decorating done, but not really in the mood so watching the birds is more interesting.

Here are some through the window shot's of the Northern Flicker that has been coming for the suet .  He really is liking these chucks of beef suet I put out .

  

And he is off!!

~~~~Can I get my act together"?~~~~

Well I believe it is about time that I get my act together, and get back to blogging!!
Where have I been , and what have I been doing " hmmm "  in my own little world, doing my own thing!!

My health issue with my throat back in August had a good outcome,but it has taken me awhile to get my energy level back after losing 10 pounds!!   Now losing weight was a good thing, but losing that much in a week left me feeling pretty tired!!
My apologies to all, and especially those who contacted me wondering if I was okay !

I can't believe today was the first day of December, like how did we get here!
Hows that phrase go "time and tide waits for no man"  now isn't that the truth.
I guess the Rolling Stones didn't realize that when they sang 'time is on my side " yes it is"  : ) .

I am going to start out with some recent photo's.   I want to go back to the fall month's too, in the some future post.

Snowstorm  the day 

 before Thanksgiving  11/26/14...UGH!!

House Finch

 checking out the new feeder during the storm!!

White Breasted Nuthatch enjoying the new feeder.

Thanksgiving morning, 14 inches of snow, bright blue skies, and cold!!

Only the fourth time since 1900 that records have

been kept that there was this much snow fall during a storm in November! 

Snow has been melting away.   Today was very nice, 50 above in my area, and

I took a walk wearing a hooded sweatshirt, whereas 2 days I didn't step 

out the door it was so darn cold !

~~~A Few More Swallow's Plus Bluebirds~~~

First I would like to say thanks to you kind bloggers for all you well wishes in my last post, much appreciated!
So far so good , and 11 days to go before this hopefully is over!!
I am so craving my favorite nighttime TV watching bowl of popcorn!!

Well I have a few more Tree Swallow's from another of my nest boxes to share !  These are not babies, but teenager!!   They are not learning to drive but flying is there thing, and hanging around the house ! : )

This was a nest full, and believe or not there is still one inside that hadn't fledged!

It was 2 days later when it left the nest!!

The parents kept trying to get junior to leave the nest, while the rest of the 

teenager hang out on the roof waiting for the first flight of junior!!

One got bored and made a few practice flights around the homestead!!

Even it's siblings tried to encourage him to come out!!

A little head kept showing up in the hole and the 

parents keep feeding, then it was all quite, around the old homestead!! 

I checked the box ..empty!!   It was a successful hatch !

Four nest boxes with tree Swallows where all successful hatches!

In two others I found some unhatched eggs and a few young that didn't survive !

Bluebirds 

The first nesting for the Bluebirds was not a success.   After I had noticed they had moved to the 

box you will see in the photo's I'm posting I 

checked the  box, and found 7 eggs that didn't hatch,and she had sat on them for  

the full incubation time!!  

They where all rotted inside!!

Second time was a success!!

This box is the oldest I have and has had many a repair

 I worried about them using this box, since I hadn't 

fixed the hole where the Red Squirrel had chewed it, and made it large enough that 

predators could get at the babies!!!

But all went well and on the hottest, haziest, humid day we had this summer the little guys left

the nest....

"All but one"

The parents made fly by's with food to temp it to come out, but stopped by with food too!!

It started to thunder, so I headed inside, and left them to there parenting!

When I went out later after the storm...the box was empty!!

I found these two that had fledged in the near by Cedar tree trying to balance there 

awkward unsteady legs !!

Just look at that adorable face!!

These cuties are hopefully going to have more siblings since I found that

the parents are nesting again in the same box, and I am seeing the 5 that fledged 

hanging out on and around the nest box!!

Just hope it is not to late in the season for a successful hatch!!

~~~"Swallowing"~~~

Due to circumstances beyond my control I fell of the wagon "yet again"!!
This time I was whisked of by ambulance to the local hospital with a severe pain in my upper back !
After a day in the emergency room, it finally came down to emergency surgery in the Endoscopy unit!  For some reason I have a  deep sore of some sort in my esophagus that was inflamed and contained food particles !!
  To much inflammation so couldn't do anything, but put me on medication,soft foods only diet and drink plenty of water to settle the monster down, so the pain eased of and is at bay thank goodness!

Now I am scheduled for Aug 25 to do this procedure again, and hopefully fix it!!
"No more sword swallowing  practice for me"!!

So I am finally able to sit at my computer, for awhile instead of jumping in here and there for a few minutes at a time!

I was thinking since I started out on this subject it would be a good time to do some Swallowing, as in Tree Swallows that is !! "Sorry couldn't help that": ) !

I had 6 of my nest boxes with Tree Swallows nesting in them!!

Most had a good fledgling count, and this is one of them from July 11!!

 This was a busy box in which 6 hungry little mouths where constantly being feed!! 

"Well maybe not so little a mouth" 

Very demanding mouth's!!

"Screaming mouth's"

Full, and content for the moment!!

Well I won't turn down just one more!!

~~~What's Blooming in July's Garden ~~~

" Darn" I fell of the blogging wagon again !!!   I am a trying to balance on the edge, so many things to accomplish around here, and of course distractions !!

 For instance I just saw two Wild Turkeys hens near the tree line of the field in my view from my computer!! You know I had to check it out to see if there was chicks in tow, but even with binoculars I couldn't tell so I have to keep one eye on that !!  : ))

It has been extremely hot here, but I have tried not to let my camera gather dust !!

These are some I have taken through the month of July!!