bye bye gremlin

Well,  finally I was able to get the last of my info off of this crappy i-mac and onto discs. Monday it goes back and hopefully gets exchanged as its been a ghoulish nightmare since I got it. I swear there is a gremlin in this one. Any how this will be my last post for a bit while the gremlin is being exorcized.

Have a wonderful summer filled with smiles and hugs.

the wonders of parenting

Chipping Sparrow; parent and babe.

I was sitting outside for a wee bit and was treated to this special sight and lucky that I got such a clear shot as in all the rest the birds heads were blurry; kinda like the Linda Blair head-spinning image. It really amazes me how the parents manage to find and feed a scattered brood.

May you all have a fantastic weekend, hugs to all, share the good, share the hugs.

more babies

I am happy to report the latest little bird evicted from the nest is...

my first grandchild. A most joyful experience to welcome this sweet little boy to the family.
Major big hugs to all!

A watchful eye

Yesterday I was attempting to keep an eye on the baby flicker, but when I went to check on him later he was in the alley close to a lilac bush.

I was precariously standing on the ruble pile looking over the fence to get this shot. People voices emanating from the yard behind the flicker sent it scurrying across the alley. I wandered out to see where he disappeared to and hearing a flutter I spotted it in an open garage where it hid for a short while.

Yes, I feel a bit like a peeping Thomasina peering into other folks garages.

But the shot was a Sweet Deal I could not pass up on. 

A secret garden.

Looking up I see a male Merlin scanning for a meal. The baby Flicker is now hiding right under the Lilac brush which is about thirty feet away from this evergreen tree, so I say a small prayer that the Flicker will stay hid till the Merlin leaves. I know the Merlin is most likely looking for a meal for its own young but I didn't want it  to be my sweet little baby flicker.

more young-uns

This morning upon hearing a sharp pheeet, became curious to put a name to the sound. I went to investigate and not being cautious enough I startled this male yellow shafted flicker. The early morning sun glowing through his head heart makes a delightful view.

A scurrying in the grass caught my attention and a flutter of wings went over the fence and landed in the neighboring yard, though I could not tell it may have been a young one. Then this little one pops out of the grass to investigate me.

The parent flew to the backyard giving a few calls and the little one bounced, flounced and tumbled clumsily attempting to fly. Sadly it has not enough wing feathers to get airborne so I hope it stays safe in the long grass and shrubbery. For about an hour it spent its time climbing and grooming itself on the rubble pile waiting for the parent to return with grub.

Here you can see the lack of flight feathers.

For a while it hides, but mostly was content to sit out in the open. 

All shots were taken with a 300mm lens and cropped.

still waiting still

Waiting, waiting!
My new (broken) camera is still not back, its pretty frustrating to miss the good shots due to the slow speed of my old Rebel, but man-o-man the Rebel was built well.  I am happy the D50 is getting repaired, but its frustrating all the same; seems it was not my year to buy electronics. I got the crappy camera and the crappy i-mac. I have been attempting to put my photos on disc so I can return the mac, and what a pain to go through 20,000 photos for about the third time. Nothing works right. I finally came to the realization that I have to go through and delete fuzzy shots and make adjustments on only enough for the disc, burn it then start on the next batch. I previously have gone though all these photos and when I went to put them on disc found that old fuzzy already deleted shots were back in i-photo and adjustments and crops have reverted back to the original photo, grrr, its enough to drive a sane person madd let alone someone like me, lol.

Any how enough of the griping, here are some shots taken with my old reliable Rebel.

I kept hearing this strange little bird right outside the window so I ventured out in my PJs to investigate and this is what I found, a baby chipping sparrow.

The parents were busy feeding at least three chicks that were scattered about. I wonder if the storm the other night tossed them from their nest or whether its usual for the parent to have to cover a large area of ground to feed their fledglings. Maybe its safer that way.

The parent made quite a raucous when I ventured round the other side of the house, the reason being this second chick was in the grass. These were taken using a 300mm lense so I was not close to the babies. I don't like to place stress on the birds as its quite a job to take care of these little hungry mouths.

I like this shot, he jumped up out of the grass and posed before he ran along the cement and into dense shrubbery in the neighboring yard. Later I noticed a parent enticing him across the backyard to where the other baby was perched. But a few hours later they had made their way elsewhere and I no longer heard their strange typewriter sounding chirps.