Saturday's Critters - Plus Edition

I'm combining Hummers and Critters this Saturday as Sunday is Easter.

A female and male Anna's.

Male Anna's

Another photo.

Female Anna's

And a female Rufous - see how she is brown beneath her wings whereas the female Anna is white and green - no brown.  

Here's the male Rufous.

I am finally seeing both birds several times a day, so I think they've staked this area out as their spring / summer territory.

And off he goes!

A Chippy!

Getting a drink.

Eating a stash of sunflowers.

Chipmunk cheeks!

Here's one of my two Douglas Squirrels.  This is obviously a male, so I'll call him Douglas, if the other turns out to be a female she can be Davina rather than David.  Douglas has a tick on his ear, poor guy.

Big Gray!

The Alpha Squirrel.

Easter is just around the corner!

Soon it will be Easter

Here's a flashback with bunnies galore.

It took me about 90 minutes attach 17 buttons. 

I'm pretty pleased with it.

Design - "The Rabbit Alphabet"

Designer - JBW Designs

Fabric - 28 count Antique white linen

Fibers - Crescent Colours - "Betty Bluebell" - 2 strands over 2 threads (used 3 skeins)

Started - 31 August 2012

Completed - 24 October 2013

Only three kinds of woodpeckers in the last while.

My male Hairy Woodpecker comes by maybe twice a week.

There seems to be seasonal ebbs and flows with Hairy Woodpecker feeder activity.

The two male Acorn Woodpeckers remain active.

I've been enticing them with loose peanuts.  Easy to pick up and eat.

Lots of Flicker activity.

Here's a male...

...and a female.

Time for me to bring in the feeders at night!  My neighbor shared this photo Thursday morning. A bear pulled over her feeding post, but thankfully did not bend or break it. 

Building A Basket

I'm building an Easter Basket - will it be ready by Sunday?

Inquiring minds want to know!

I often see a couple of Chestnut-back Chickadees at the feeders.

They seem to prefer peanuts over sunflowers - hands down!

A Golden-crowned Sparrow on a gray day.

It's nice to have Robins hopping about on the 'lawn' once again.

Four Band-tailed Pigeons hanging out...

I took down all the saucers so they cannot perch on them and eat out of the 'tube' feeders.  I don't mind if they clean up 'dropped' seed on the ground, but I cannot afford to feed them my good feeder food.

I found this bit of nature at the edge of the back patio.  A small wad of feathers and a ball...

The ball (the size of a quarter) is an owl pellet. Indigestible material left in the owl's gizzard such as teeth, skulls, claws, and feathers are too dangerous to pass through the rest of the bird's digestive tract. To safely excrete this material, the gizzard compacts it into a tight ball that the bird then regurgitates.  Icky, but effective.  I think this might have been a smaller owl like a Northern Saw-whet owl rather than a Great Horned Owl.

It certainly was not a Turkey Vulture - if it's dead, they'll eat it!

Wednesday's Walk

I don't have much energy today - but we can still see a lot with a walk around the edges of the front and backyards.

Starting off with the bright green leaves of the Elderberry - the Black-headed Grosbeaks will eat all the berries before they even ripen.

Blackberry vine.

Teasle.

Daisies.

Hazel catkins.

Oregon Junco on a Hawthorne - the tree is beginning to bud.

My mom and sister with my dad's help have planted daffodils all over the place.

Tree stump quietly decomposing.

Close-up.

Native Ceanothus leafing out.

A clump of Iris tenax.

A tiny, tiny wildflower.

Daffodils

Grand Hound's Tongue's - a member of the forget-me-not family.

Our earliest blooming wilding tree.

Here's a close-up.

Big Lead Maple.

Yet more daffs. See, I told you there was a lot to see!