Birding Thursday

Design -"Bee Hive"

Chart - "Who's Hiding in the Garden?"

Designer - Patricia Ann Designs

Fabric - 3 count Summer Khaki linen

Fibers - DMC & WDW - 2 strands oer 2 threads

Started - 18 June 2012

Finished - 20 June 2012

This was such a pleasure.  I loved all the speciality stitches used to create the leaves on the tree, the blossoms on the flowers, and the bee hive. This seemed to me to be a perfect Summer Solstice stitch.

Today is "For the Birds".

Some of the Violet Green Swallows have built their nests...

 and are raising families...

...other are still house-hunting!

The Finches are frequent visitors to our 'Ali-Baba' fountain.

As I mentioned, no shortage of finches!  I counted 11 Gold Finches in this photograph.

Here's a happy couple...

...and another blissful pair.

We are awash in Red Breasted Sapsuckers too!  I've found two nests close to our house.  Each nest is in a cavity drilled in the trunk or major branch of a Large Leaf Maple tree.  The Sapsucker babies are not melodious - and they yell from dawn to dusk - louder when the parents arrive to feed them.  

This Spotted Towhee was singing his little bird brains out - a very pretty song too.  You can hear it here.

Friday evening we watched a Great Blue Heron fly across the sky.  Not the best picture - but I'm amazed I was able to get anything.

The Jays and the Starling have been eating me out of house and home.  I had to put my suet in "a cage in a cage" to deter them.  The Flickers can stick their heads through and with their long beak still reach the suet.  They have to contort a bit, and I'm sure they don't like it, but at $1.59 each, I like my suet block to last for more than a day.  

I haven't seen any woodpeckers in a while, so was pleased to see this little Downy Woodpecker.  She is so small she can get into the cage and get right at the suet.

While more and more plants have come into bloom, the Hummingbirds still 'top off' at my feeders.

This House Finches echoes the colors in the Salvia beside him.

My pretty Lazuli Bunting stopped by Tuesday morning - no camera with me darn it! Tweet!