Nothing to post....

I hope that everyone has a happy Memorial Day weekend!

I haven't been posting much because:

1. I have nothing to post

2. I've been quilting

3. I've been watching the French Open Tennis instead of taking photos.There were a few shots still in the camera. The Chipping Sparrow wanted the suet, but so did the little Downy.
You can see by the top of his head that he is young and doesn't have his color yet.

Another baby trying the feeder for the first time....baby Chipping Sparrow.

Dove....one of about 6 hanging around the driveway.

One of the male Goldfinches on the rail.

This is a black dragonfly I saw at the wetlands....anyone know its name?

Sort of a "Darth Vader" dragonfly all in black.

I could see a Waxwing sitting on this snag in the water....easy profile to recognize!

However it wasn't anything more than a silhouette shot....so I jazzed it up a bit with some purple color for the background :-)

That's it.

Got company coming over the weekend. Don't know when I will post again.

Everyone have a nice weekend!

Mom and the kids....

We were walking back to our car after a wetlands visit, when Mike spotted this little Mallard family along the edge of one pond. Mom and 2 of the kids on the log.....
....Mom keeping an eye on everyone....

.....3 more nosed into this grass clump snoozing.

I was amazed that she didn't take them and swim away with us standing so close to them.

"Hey....wake up!"

Time for some grooming.

This was the only movement I saw the mother make while we were watching....she turned her head and combed a feather or two.

Look at all that soft downy feathers on the back.....not babies, but not grown either!

This one decided to get in the water and cool off and clean up a bit.

Sometimes you have to scratch.

All cleaned up!

Very alert Mom supervising the bath time.

Time to leave them alone and let Mom relax.

Some days you wonder why....

...you carry a camera around and pretend to be a bird photographer. I mean really....birds DON'T LIKE to have their photos taken! They will do their best to keep you from getting a good photo....it's their nature! They fly away. They hide. They move the minute you click the button. Today at Blue Grass was mostly one of "those days". Can you see the bird in the photo? Don't blame you, if you said "no"! It's there....don't ask me what kind of bird (female Indigo Bunting maybe). Almost every bird I saw was so far away, that even with binoculars, I was having trouble making identification.
How about this one????.....there it is....in plain sight!

My personal favorite to show what a poor photographer I am! LOL! I knew when I tried for that one that all I was going to get was grass....but I took it anyway!

We saw several Dickcissels, which obligingly settled at the top of the small bushes and trees and gave me the best shots of the day. This is the typical distance.....

....with some cropping (too much cropping) I can tell what it is!

This one decided to turn around on me.

Here it is peering over the top of a leaf....good for hiding behind and obscuring the photos!

Number three at its best. Of course I know that the reason these aren't good is not the fault of the bird, but of the photographer, but it makes me feel better to blame the bird! I have to have some excuse for not having any good photos for the day :-)

Daisy patch with thistles along the side of the road.

Up-close daisies

Robin singing on a sign.

Now this is more like it!....something that doesn't move and that lets you get real close to take photos! I think I found my calling!

(NOTE:I found two local cemeteries with several of those log tombstones, like we saw a couple weeks ago at Muscatatuck in the Barkman Cemetery. I am going to post more photos of them in my other blog....This, That, and the Other Thing and hope to find out something about the local ones. They were fairly elaborate and all had a similar look.)

The bee and the thistle....

I saw a patch of thistles in the late afternoon, so we stopped for photos. One very busy bee was enjoying them.
I was fascinated by the different stages and looks.

The bee could really get lost in this thing! I have seldom seen such big fat thistles. This is a different type than what I usually see.

A droopy falling apart one. I bet the Goldfinches are hanging around here.

I guess I should have put the stages of opening in order, but didn't think of it until the photos were loaded :-)

I liked the spiny bracts tipped with purple.

A happy flower :-)

I was going to call this post "The bird, the bee, and the thistle", but the bird photo is so poor, I decided not to draw attention to it!

However....I think this is a life bird for me! I saw it land on the rail facing me and had this impression of yellow breast and the head looked like a flycatcher, with that sort of "crest" look they have. I saw it flying, too and it really looked yellow underneath! My best guess looking in a guide book is a Great Crested Flycatcher....but I'm not sure. Anyone know for sure? By the time I got the camera, it turned its back and I got one poor photo through our glass windows that have moisture in them...sigh! I wish it would come back, whatever it was!

Birds and Babes.....

Drove by the Heron Rookery yesterday afternoon.The nests are so full now with large babies, that you wonder how they all can stand in the nest and the nest not collapse!
A pair at the top waiting for food.....and easy to see.

One of them was testing his wings...."I want to FLY"

Mom with a nest of smaller ones waiting for dad to bring dinner home.

Hmmm....I wonder if dad will take his time to get a little peace and quiet. Mike says that the noise at the nests is pretty loud, but with my hearing, I can't really tell :-)

At home the suet is still the most popular food. This Grackle has been hanging around alot.

Here we have the Carolina Wren, the House Sparrow and the Downy on the back side all trying to get a bit of the suet.

I wondered if this was a young downy. The "fuzzy" top sort of looks that way. I didn't see the parents bring any little ones to the feeder this year....usually around Mother's Day. We have one little Downy that keeps flying into the garage and flying back and forth at the top between the louvered windows (which have screens over them) like it can't find the way back out. We have several "downy-size" holes in the siding that I think they use to come in when the door is down.

The Chipping Sparrow has been very busy and visiting alot.

Posing on the drive last night while I watched it. I don't have any of it's favorite seeds at the moment so I threw some crackers and a crumbled up scone out there.

Here is why it wants food....a baby in the bushes!

Peeking over the grass.

This is at my sister-in-law's house.....Robin built on the porch light and the nest is occupied.

This House Wren has it's volume turned up all day! I think that it has chosen the Bluebird house to nest in and is singing for a female. It stays in that area. I hope he finds a mate soon! (Or is it the female singing....whichever, I hope it finds a housemate soon.)

He sat in the tree over my head just singing away. The video below is of his song.