new sights and sounds

hello, out there...

it's been a VERY long absence on my part.

i've often had good intentions of getting back on this thing,

but life is so busy and i am not equipped with a camera that is charged very often, making documentation very difficult.

we've moved into our new house and been here now for more than six months. as spring unfolds, i have found myself very content in the backyard picking around and figuring this gardening thing out. we are SO excited about our backyard (thanks to the valiant and thorough efforts of the previous homeowners), and it has been so fun seeing what's been popping up.

i recently purchased a shepherd's hook and a few bird feeders (thanks to a very informed bird enthusiast at walmart.) i set up the bird feeder right outside of the kitchen nook so we could watch for birds as we eat breakfast... and so that levi could have a little 'kitty tv' as i like to call it.

this morning i woke up early and sat at the kitchen table, and to my surprise, saw over 7 different kinds of birds visit our feeder. (so far no hummingbirds to my hummingbird feeder, despite the bird enthusiast's emphatic assurance that they would come.) i found a great website that helps identify birds.

so, without further ado, here are the characters of the bird show now playing on kitty tv:

brewer's blackbird- our first visitor, a bit of a bully.

house wrench (male on left, female on right)- our most frequent visitors.

they always come in a pair... what love birds!

mourning dove- apparently a very common bird in the u.s.... is it just me or do doves seem kind of ditzy?

american robin... very, very, very early this spring they covered our aspen tree- maybe ten pairs of males and females?? all the males sat at the top (viewable from the second floor window) and the females at the bottom (from the main floor window). they only did this for one day.... what is that all about? anyone? anyone?

the red-winged blackbird... male.

the red-winged blackbird... female.

cassin's finch- my personal favorite.

there are still two i have not identified... a yellow bird we saw in the aspen tree while working in the backyard, and a black/gray/white bird i saw for only a second at the bird feeder this morning.

i feel kind of silly getting into all of this- like i need a pair of binoculars for my inner dork- but really, these birds- and the many more i saw while searching online- are absolutely beautiful, and so varied...

i will keep posting what else i see- first hand- and hope one day soon, it will be a hummingbird.