It had to happen some day....

....I RAN OUT OF BIRD PHOTOS!

NONE! NOT EVEN LEFT-OVERS.

So for today only (I hope) my blog is now the Bean, Salad and Bread blog :-)

Our daugther sent Mike food gifts for his birthday. One was a 13 bean mix for soup.He cooked it in the crock pot with diced tomato, Chorizo sausage, and 2 bottles of AmberBock. I don't like bean soup......I know I'm weird....but Mike and our son said it was delicious.
Earlier I made a salad for lunch....avocado, broccoli, grape tomatoes, slivered almonds and Acini Di Pepe (had to look that up on the label...teeny tiny semolina pasta), with olive oil and salt and pepper.....pretty good! Especially with......

........ this bag mix of Irish Soda Bread that Mike got for his birthday.....very good!

Well....it was either this or one photo of 2 blackbirds in an empty field.
Hmmmm....surely I can do better tomorrow.

Flowering trees and heron filled trees....

All the bushes and trees are beginning to really burst out in blooms....I love the lilac bushes, but they are so tall, I can barely take photos!
It was a very windy day and everything kept blowing around, so I had to try to hold the branches with one hand and take photos with the other.

I love the red of the maples, also!

The white crab apple was blowing back and forth. So far only the part in the sunshine has blooms.

The pink crab apple is further behind.....only one or two branches have open flowers.

We made our weekly visit to the Heron rookery. I feel like every week my photos look the same, but I want to keep track of them. With all the wind, I am surprised they still have nests! They were bringing in lots of sticks, so maybe some rebuilding was necessary....or late arrivals just getting started.

2 of them flying in to their nests.

They look empty, but if you look close there are heads in each one.

This group were all up and about.

The water level down below has risen. The Ohio River is definitely up and so is everything else. Many of the geese were in areas that are now under water. I didn't see as many today as on other days. This pair was flying in to find a spot.

The eagle stuck her head up once....if you look closer you can see the yellow beak. These trees and nests are all at least 100 yards away.

In coming heron.

This one spot looks like about 3 couples are all building together! I can't distinguish one nest from the next. Sort of a jumble of herons.

It's warming up again...the frost threat is over for now.

Winter came back.....

Well, the temperature dropped to 39 and we had snow flurries....not sticking. I'm hoping the freeze tonight won't do too much damage. Wouldn't you know an interesting duck would show up on our pond in the middle of the snow flurries! Maybe it got lost in the blowing snow.
I can tell it is a Merganser, but that is all I can tell. Not a duck I know.
By the time the flurries quit, it was gone.

The cold and snow brought out the cowbirds....about 20 of them.

That is all I had from yesterday....we stayed in out of the cold all day. These other shots are from a few days ago.

I liked the clouds reflected in the water at the wetlands. This day was cold, too and not much happening.

Another day last week I went to the Pet Food Center to get some sunflower seeds.....

....I've seen people bring their dogs to the store, but a horse???? Actually the horse was for some sort of fund raising, pet adopting effort. There is a rabbit on the table.

Charlie....horse

Hmmmm.....somebody has a sense of humor.

Catching up with the home birds....

After posting for 3 days about Illinois, it is time to catch up with the birds in my yard. The Mourning Dove came strutting across the front walk yesterday.
This little male downy was on the silver maple.

A female joined him, but I think he chased her away.

I hung this basket of suet on the pole to try to keep varmints from getting it. The first day the Downy tried to land on the pole and slid down.....moved up....slid down....finally managed to get the cage in his grip. Then he started approaching by landing on one of the hanging feeders first and jumping over. I finally took pity on him and put a stick through the bottom of the cage so he could land easily.

This little Chipping Sparrow is having a few troubles, too! A little bit too far to reach easily!

I believe he is making his displeasure known to me....nothing I can do about that feeder...sorry!

OK....the ground works better.

I don't see the chickadee go in or out very often, but try to watch a little each day to see if they are still in residence. Coming out is always easier to photograph then coming in.

I believe this cardinal knows that the Silver Maple is a good hiding place right now....he blends in very nicely.

However....no where is a good hiding place when you are bright blue!

The violet patch under the feeders is a very popular spot right now.

Even the male House Sparrow looks good surrounded by violets.

The doves enjoying the late afternoon sun near the violets.

"I'm not sleeping....I'm just resting my eyes!"

Hmmmm....when the grass is "Cardinal high", I think it is time to mow! I knew there had to be a downside to spring somewhere.

Squirrel Sunday....

How does a squirrel spell D-E-T-E-R-M-I-N-E-D?D-iscovery.......

"Hey someone left some suet crumbs!"
E-nthusiasm........
"Oh, boy, I can get these! Piece of cake!"

T-urn upside down.....

"I always seem to end up in this position"

E-ffort.....

"Sure hope my toenails don't break! I've almost got it!

R-epositioning.....

"A little more to the right ...oops....OK, I'm ok."

M-I-N-E

"Mine, all mine!"

D-one

"That was good....what's next on the menu? Something easier, I hope"