Home birds....

The birds at home are really busy at the feeders.  I know many of them must have babies in their nests.

 One of the male Cardinals looking over the selections in the box feeder.

 The female tries her luck at one of the hanging feeders.  I put those sticks in just for them to sit on, but unfortunately it encourages some other "sitters" who I would rather not encourage.

 Found a peanut.

 The Catbird 

 This is one of the "flying wounded" that I have right now.  This poor little chickadee apparently has a broken leg.  I thought it was interesting that here he has managed to get one claw of the bad leg onto the stick to help with his balance despite the fact that it is hanging limp.

 I feel so sorry for the wounded birds and wish I could put a tray of food out that was just for them.  However, I have several batches of House Sparrow "brats" that have hatched and are everywhere at the feeders seeking food.  They hog so much, it is hard to help a bird like this one.

 Fluttering for balance.

 Hard work, but he is a survivor.

"I need a little bit more before I leave". 

The Carolina Wren inspecting the box and some suet.  You can see his tail wagging. 

 Doesn't seem impressed.

 "I'll try a little bit of this, but where is the good stuff??"

 Perky

 They move from one spot to the next so quickly it is hard to keep up.

 Taking the Chickadee's place at the suet cage.

Besides the wounded chickadee, I also have a Mockingbird with one foot missing!  It is really struggling for balance and only wants suet, which is hard for me to put where it can get it easily.

It comes to this suet cake and sits on top and tries to reach down without falling.  I try to keep a large suet cake in the feeder.

 A couple of the House Sparrow babies.  They are cute as they flutter around, but there are always so many of them!  And the father House Sparrow is feeding more in the bluebird box nest.  Just what I need.

Cute :-)

Nothing cuter than baby geese.....

There are three families of Canada geese at the wetlands right now.

 This pair have 7 babies and I love how they swim along in a line with mom and dad at each end :-)

 The other two pair have 4 babies each.

This group was busy dunking and diving as they swam away.

The second day they were less afraid and totally ignored us as they did their eating and preening. 

"This is the way Mom taught me to wash before eating." 

 "Aren't my babies adorable??"

Snorkling for food.  So cute to see them all head down copying their parents. 

 Ahhhhhhhhh

 If these were humans, I would say boy in the back and two girls busy preening in the front :-)

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm not finding much!" 

 "Mom, says this is how we get our food."

 Back on the creek with the turtles, there is one pair of geese with no babies.

 I think this one looks like a ballet dancer standing at the barre ready to begin exercises :-)

Goose guard

What all those little yellow balls of fluff will look like eventually.

Wetlands walking.....variety

This is sort of long because I tried to combine the things I saw on both days walks.

I haven't seen many dragonflies yet, but this Eastern Pondhawk female stopped to pose.

Mike spotted these two tiny frogs out in the "pea soup", but the camera sure didn't like trying to sort them out from the surroundings.  I can always count on Mike to spot the little critters!

.....and the big ones!  Mike saw this Kingfisher dive in the water and grab something and fly up to this tree.  I was busy looking at baby geese and almost missed it.  Not very good shots, but whatever he caught was rather large and he was having trouble controlling it.

Here he took off with it.....probably to some safe spot to eat it before he dropped it.

How many turtles, Rose??  This was one of the busiest logs, but this is only a small fraction of all that were out sunning on these two days.  I never get tired of turtles, so you have to put up with lots of photos.

I call this one "Turtle Yoga".   

This was one of the little ones....maybe silver dollar size.

A tiny frog that Mike spotted sitting in the duckweed!  His eyesight is so good for these little things that are hiding in plain sight.  There was another even smaller one, but my photo wasn't very good.

Another turtle having a "Zen moment"....or something.

(dueling turtles...showdown on the O.K. Branch)

"We were here first and we are going THAT way!"

"Well, we don't care and we want to go THE OTHER way!"

A long stretch of turtles.

It's best to have your very own log.

Little turtles, big turtles.  

I know the 2 on the right are Red Eared Sliders, but not sure about the two on the left....Painted Turtles?  There are also Map Turtles and Snappers in these waters.

"Tell us some stories, Grandpa"

The yoga position for today is to the right.

Wild brambles, blackberries, all along the edges of the creek. 

A Damselfly with a catch!  

They are so small themselves, it makes you wonder what they find that is smaller! 

A Grasshopper along the path. 

 Red Admiral.....wonder if it is the one that the Phoebe chomped on the following day.  Poor Admiral!

 I believe this is called Rust on the back of some of the blackberry leaves.  Not a good thing.

Tiny Turtle......I didn't see his head until I had the photo on the computer. 

 Another tiny one in the spot where the two little frogs were the following day.

 Climbing out.

 This one brought a coating of duckweed with it.  Looks like a moss covered rock!

Just enjoying the sunshine.

 When I was leaving I found a turtle on the bridge!  He kept butting his head on the railings trying to figure out how to get through....he really wanted back in the safe water!  Unless he had some of Alice's "shrinking" potion, I don't think he was going to find an opening :-)

I got behind him and began gently "herding" him towards the end of the bridge where I could put him over the side. Fortunately, a nice young man came along and offered to pick him up and put him over.  Thanks!  I have never seen one on the bridge before and he was not a happy turtle.

************

I see other birds on my walks....Goldfinch, Grackle, Cardinal, Red-wing Blackbirds, etc. but they are the same birds I see at home and I can get better photos of them in my own backyard, so I try to only show the more unusual ones.

Tomorrow.....the baby geese and their parents.