My birthday presents....

What a wonderful day I had yesterday....God started the day with a new bird for my life list!Northern Parula Warblers at the wetlands!
What a pretty pair they are

They seem to be hunting for bugs or something on the railings.

Geese babies! Another wonderful gift!

Cardinal female

Bluebird

Green Heron....poor shot, but a wonderful gift just to see it.

Red-Wing Blackbird posing on the cypress.

His Mrs. on the cattails.

Wild iris along the water's edge

At home, the blessings continued. The Song Sparrow.

Mockingbird

Catbird

Chickadee.

All of the birds are in a feeding frenzy at the moment.....I guess there are a lot of little mouths to feed in the nests!

The Chipping Sparrow was loading its beak with suet.

I believe the lady has a choice of suitors here. The two male Cowbirds were really showing off while she pretty much ignored them.

The Downy down under.

A fat fluffed up House Finch. It has been cold and windy and that might be contributing to the rush at the feeders, too. I had at least 4 male House Finches after not seeing any most of the winter.

The Goldfinch

Grackle.

The Hairy woodpecker.

Usually by Mother's Day I have baby woodpeckers coming to the feeders. I haven't seen any yet, but am guessing it won't be long.

The Titmouse getting a drink.

The Indigo Buntings have finally shown up, but I couldn't get a good photo.

What a day of blessings from start to finish! There were more that I didn't get photos of, but I wanted to show all my gifts and say "thanks" to God for sending them to make my day special.

God gives us the best gifts and all for free!

Turtles and frogs, mostly....

I'm way behind on photos. These are from early last week. Our last trip to the wetlands was a good day for watching turtles and frogs. I love this little guy! He's the "silver dollar" size :-)

Not sure if this is the same one or a different one, but the same size.

Big turtles, too.

Turtles seem to rest in some of the strangest positions.

I just liked the green all around this one.

Tiny frog number 1.

Big frog sitting in the shallow water. Normally they hop away, if I come near.

Mike kept telling me there was a little frog on this log out in the water, and I couldn't see it, so I took a photo anyway. Sure enough...there it is! His distance vision is so much better than mine!

Lots of minnows in the shallow water at the edge of the creek.

This Red-Eared Slider was swimming back and forth and didn't seem to mind us watching him. The red ear sure makes it easy to spot him when he is covered in duckweed.

Coming towards us. In a few more weeks the entire surface of the wetlands will be covered in duckweed making it hard to see anything in the water very well.

Another turtle swimming around.

A big Snapper was swimming right below where we were watching, too!

The Prothonotary Warblers are still nest building. We watched this one that landed on the boardwalk in front of us choosing just the right sticks and pine needles.

It was very picky about which ones it wanted....picked them up....put them back down...tried another.

Maybe this one is the right one. I like the way it is standing :-)

Hope to go check on them again today.

Happy Mother's Day from the Peony farm.....

We stopped by Fragrant Farms in New Harmony, IN yesterday to see the peonies and iris. What a wonderful place! I love seeing the masses of peonies spreading across the fields.A distant shot of the masses of peonies.
....and the resident cat who always greets us when we come and walks through the flowers with us :-) Through that gate you can see the vineyard.

My favorites....a single petal variety of red with a yellow center. I must get one of these!

Here it is....almost like a large rose! Gorgeous!

One of the pink varieties with the frilly center.

I love the whites that have the touch of red in the center area. I have this type.

I like this pale pink one.

The multi-petal reds that are more common than that single petal one.

This farm also has iris mixed in with the peonies....masses of color!

The purple makes such a nice backdrop for the peonies.

I thought these were wonderful.

More of the dark purples

A peachy colored iris.

A wonderful place to visit in May!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!