Young visitors....

The younger squirrels are still showing up at least every other day. The "Kid" likes our "garden buffet"...........food all spread out and flowers in the background.
If he sees me watching, he waits to see what I'm going to do, but doesn't always run off....as long as the sliding glass door is closed.

I got more entertainment from watching this little downy. All the young birds seem to come fairly late and I don't have really good light. They seem to find that a safer time to visit.

"I think someone greased this tree!"

He spent a lot of time trying to figure out this "odd" tree! I should have been shooting video. He would try to grab it and then start fluttering because he couldn't scoot up like they usually do in trees. It really frustrated him! He managed to grab it and hang there for a few seconds. Downys seldom land directly at the food. They always land higher or lower and then scoot up or down to get to it.

"Now what do I do?"

When he finally got to the suet cage, he still seemed perplexed by what he was to do next. He sat on the right hand stick where he could barely reach the food instead of hanging on the cage or sitting on the left side closer to the suet. He did manage to feed himself eventually!

The Mallards always show up when there is no food out in the drive. I opened the door to throw some out and she retreated to the yard but waited there, and came back to eat after I went in. Maybe she is beginning to realize that I'm the one that brings the food. I don't know why this pair have not produced babies. I did notice today that her left foot seems to be turned inward. I had not noticed that before. The male would not come to the drive after seeing me even though she was eating. Finally they flew over the garage and landed in the pond for a swim.

We bought local strawberries at the farm market....yum! Wish I could share them with you :-) They looked really good this year.