Lessons.....

What do we have here:
.....patience?
.....frustration?
....persistence?

It was sure funny to watch it! I've seen it with a couple of sticks trying to stuff them in. It succeeded at least once.

More Blue Grass photos....

While looking for birds at Blue Grass, I took photos of other things I liked too.... Like beautiful flower....with or without bugs :-)
Turtle crossing the road. I stopped and gave him a lift, so he wouldn't get run over....and so I could take a better photo.

Beauty among the thorns

I love Thistles. This Monarch butterfly likes them, too.

It looks like a purple powerpuff. These seemed different from the ones that I usually see. Rounder? Fuller? Looking in a flower guide didn't help me determine which kind they were and which kind I normally see. I never have a guide with me and get so busy looking at the flowers that I forget to pay attention to things like leaves and such. Even the buds seem different somehow.

A close-up.

Mike took this shot of one lake that always has Lotus growing on it. The leaves are always interesting, but I was hoping to see flowers. Maybe it is too early.

Mike took this, too. I love looking at the water drops on the leaves. The one in front looks sort of like a broken umbrella.

The drops look like chunks of plastic or resin....anything but just water.

A plant by the lake.

Hummingbird follow up information....

Sherry B., good friend of mine who is not a blogger but who loves birds, wrote me the following email with advice on how to care for a hummingbird in trouble. I learned something and thought you all would like to know, too.

"... a couple of years ago we had an emergency here with humming birds dropping to the ground like flies (awful!) - turned out to be contaminated feed. Anyway, in a panic I got on the internet and found out what to do at such times you find them sick or injured. Get a shoebox, punch holes in the lid for air, line the bottom with toilet paper, and put the bird(s) in it for 15 minutes. Then take them out to the feeder, stick their beak in the hole to get a drink. Open hand and see if they will fly away; if not, bring back in to the shoebox for another 15 minutes. Repeat as often as necessary. I've done so many this way and have only lost one. Now every time I buy shoes I make sure I keep the box for my hummingbird hospital. :-) "

Thanks, Sherry! I'm going to get a shoebox ready....just in case.

Birds at Blue Grass fish and wildlife area.....

We hadn't been to Blue Grass stripper pit area for awhile, so we drove out to see what was around. I saw more birds then usual, even if not unusual ones. I know the birds are there in the meadows and wooded areas....somewhere.A Great Blue Heron was stalking "hip high" in one of the lakes and was so intent that it did not fly away when we stopped to shoot a couple photos through the car window.
It was a really pretty one and I wondered if it belonged to the rookery, even though this is about 15 miles away.

Another heron on another lake. There are a total of 28 pits and lakes here.

An "armada" of geese swimming across the largest of the lakes.

Lots of thistles in bloom and this Goldfinch was checking them out.

A Red-Wing Blackbird surveying his domain.

Not sure what this was....perhaps the Robin that was telling everyone we were there.

I'm not sure what this bird is....my first guess was a female Indigo Bunting but the beak looks like a Grosbeak....maybe the 1st winter Blue Grosbeak?? I've never seen one.

...and this looks like it might be a male Blue Grosbeak, although it is such a bad shot, I can only tell it is blue and has rust on the wing area.

Dove in the clover

Killdeer in the cornfield

This one is for fun....I would swear that this lotus leaf shadow looks just like a bird! Totally unintentional and didn't see it until I had it on the computer :-)

I held a hummingbird in my hand.....

.....tiny precious little jewel
.....a miracle with wings...


Today was a day I won't forget. I held a hummingbird. We went to Rural King to buy some birdseed. As I approached the front doors, I looked down and there almost under my feet was a little hummingbird. People were walking by....standing around....I don't know why it didn't get stepped on! I scooped it up in my hand and held it gently while looking at it in wonder. Mike got the camera from the car and took these two photos....I wish he had taken a dozen more! I didn't know what to do with it or why it was sitting there, but I knew I had to do something to get it away from all the people. We got back in the car and it just sat calmly in my hand for the whole ride home.....about 3 miles. When we got home I took down one of the hummingbird feeders and dripped some food into a shallow dish to see if it would eat. It sat there but didn't eat anything. It liked sitting on my hand and got back on my finger. The feeder was a tube type and I slipped it over the end of the bird's beak to let it make contact with the red fluid inside. I think I saw its throat moving. It flashed its tongue around a few times when I removed the feeder......but it still sat there. I stroked it very gently and waited trying to decide what to do. A few minutes later, just as our son walked out the door, the bird flew upward and landed on the house just above the door....not very far, but at least it flew and clung to the wood there! Then while deciding what to do next and planning to get my camera again, it suddenly flew up into a tree nearby! Yeah! It can fly! All I can guess is that it flew into the building and was very badly stunned or something. I'm so thankful it didn't get stepped on!
Later I went outside to fill another bird feeder and suddenly a hummingbird flew out of the tree right to me and then away. Maybe it was saying "thanks".....maybe it was saying, "take me back to Rural King"......I'll never know!
Hummingbird follow up information....