Morning Observations

Wednesday, 7:55 am

I am walking into the sun to get to the nest for a change.

I'm hearing bird song, tufted titmouse, field sparrow, Northern cardinal, Eastern towhee, American robin.

There is a grackle flying into the nest at the top of the barn. They are the messiest birds. There are several nests where I can't reach them and they drop small sticks and poop all over. Then the babies fall out and get eaten by the cats. They have lice too!

The sun is behind me as I watch the nest this morning. It's so much more comfortable than in the evening when the sun is right behind the trees. No motion or sound from the nest.

 Here is Hermione, one of the barn cats. She is stepping on my feet and when I move, she attacks. Thank goodness I have boots on. In this photo, she looks like she's thinking about those little grackle snacks in the barn.

Goldfinches are chasing each other overhead.

Here is an early morning visitor that I haven't observed before, squirrel with nut. It's jumping from tree to little branch, to tree. All of a sudden, the male flicker pops his head up so I can see him in the nest hole. Did he hear the squirrel approaching his tree?

This photo is an attempt to show how close the squirrel got to the nest hole before it settled down to eat the walnut. The nest is in the dark spot on the lower right. The flicker pulled his head down and disappeared again.

Squirrel is done with that part of breakfast.

More observers on this bright and beautiful morning.