Thursday, January 2, 2014

Here We Go!

A New Year has begun.
I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who takes the time to read "Garden Grumbles & Cross Stitch Fumbles & Birding Bumbles".  I am constantly amazed that anyone (other than my most loyal Mom, Dad, and sister) chose of their own free will to Follow my blog!  Wow!
Your insightful comments are a continual source of inspiration and motivation. 

I picked up Cottage Garden Samplings "June's Honeysuckle" over the holidays.  I love the two colors of floss used to stitch the sentiment.

That went so well, I began to stitch the honeysuckle vine.
I have just three large blossoms to stitch to finish this one.
My Large Stitching Goal for 2014 is to stitch the remaining months in this series - July through December. They are all wonderful patterns, so I am very much looking forward to working on the other six patterns.

A friend who lives within a couple of miles emailed and asked me if I had lots of robins around.

I wrote back and said, "No robins, but I do have mourning doves and  

Jays and 

over 22 California Quail and

at least seven flickers (female)

and male and

golden-crowned sparrows and

juncos and 

once in a while a Black Phoebe

which is great fun to see!

I have chickadees and 

house finches and 

my pair of acorn woodpeckers (female)

and male and

my little downy woodpecker (male)

and song sparrows

and towhees

and sharp-shinned hawks.

She replied that she had "counted 23 (robins) on the ground, 9 scattered between 2 trees, 3 varied thrushes, 4 flickers, juncos, chickadees, nuthatches townsend's warblers, gold finches, bush tits also saw a few gold crowned sparrows and bewick's wrens...no quail or doves."

I've yet to see a varied thrush this year.  I've never seen a townsend's warbler here.  My gold finches left in late October.  I only see bewick's wrens near our Big Creek, and have only glimpsed bush tits once working away in a big leaf maple tree. 

Isn't it interesting that two people living within a couple of miles of each other have such a different bird count?

17 comments:

  1. Happy new year Beth! I really enjoy reading your blog and especially love all of your birds! :-) I hope you have a very blessed, happy and healthy new year!

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  2. I missed your new header yesterday, it looks good. I love the way the quails are all standing in a row eating together. Happy New Year wishes.

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  3. Oh June's Honeysuckle is just so sweet!

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  4. Happy new year, love your blog and your photo's. Pop in every day to see you.

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  5. I always love visiting your blog, Beth--such gorgeous nature photos and lovely stitching :)

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  6. Happy New Year. I enjoy visiting your blog as you do beautiful stitching and I love seeing the different birds that you get.

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  7. Wow! I am so constantly amazed and impressed by your feathered friends! I am hoping to start the cottage garden series this year as one large picture but have signed up on Facebook with the Snooty Stitcher's Society as I love the sampler and have always wanted to do and Adam and Eve sampler.

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  8. Nice going on June! And that's an impressive bird line-up.

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  9. Great stitches and beautiful birds! It is interesting about the variety within a short distance.

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  10. I do love that series that you are doing. After Word Play, I think I will wait on series for a bit but that one is so pretty. You do have an amazing collection of birds! We now have several woodpeckers visit!

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  11. A wonderful new January header.
    This series by Cottage Garden Samplings is really beautiful and has also been on my wish list for quite a while.
    You have such a great variety of birds to visit your garden. It's always a pleasure to look at your pictures.

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  12. Great progress on June Honeysuckle. I've yet to start these.

    Do robins stay in your area all year long? I'd love to see them right about now.

    Happy 2014

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  13. How funny are those quail all in a row. Lovely stitching, a very pretty piece.

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  14. I love seeing all the birds in your area. The Stellar Jays seem to be my favorites, since I can't see them around here. Love your stitching too. I hope you finish the series cause I do love seeing them all develop! Our internet has been out since Thursday -- just got it back today, so I'm behind in my blog reading. Hope you don't mind if I skip commenting on the next couple of posts. :D I'm still reading!

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  15. I'm liking that chart! My eldest calls her husband Honeybee so I might have to get her that chart! Gotta look at yours again, to see if there is anything she cannot do (she is a beginner). I wish I could rattle off a list of birds that I have in the area that is as long as yours. We may HAVE them, but I don't get to SEE them! Hugs!

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Thank you all. I appreciate that you've read my blog and are taking the time to comment.