Bluebird blessings.....

If I get lucky, every winter a few Bluebirds stop by for a brief visit.  They never seem to stay at my house, but I welcome them for the time that I see them!  I have a Bluebird box, but they don't seem to like where it is located and never stay to live in it.  I need to try moving it to a new location they might like better.

 A pair on the ground.  I have one male and several females, I think.  I haven't figured out for sure how many I have seen out there.

The male is checking to see if the Downy and the Mockingbird have left the suet so he can get some.

 The female on the roof.

 I think they know this little dish was designed for mealworms and wonder why I don't put any in it!  I tried some apple bits, some crumbled up suet....whatever I thought they might eat.

 "You expect me to eat peanutbutter???"

 "Where are the mealworms????"

 "Apple???"

The female is a pale imitation of her bright colored mate, but I think she is very pretty anyway.

 Bluebirds are VERY blue!

 The colors are so bright and cheery in the winter.

I wonder where the phrase "The bluebird of happiness" came from?  They certainly make me feel happy when I see them!

 Very bright back view.

 Looking up at the suet again.

 "Your suet is much better than this apple stuff."

 Tail view

A little too close maybe :-)

 They like this little solar light to sit on :-)

Giving me the eye.

This male looks just perfect.

I hope they stay around for awhile....until we get some sunshine for my photos, would be nice!

The other water fowl over in Henderson, KY.....

These are my last shots of the birds we saw over in Henderson, KY.

 There was a large flock of the Greater White-fronted Geese in one field by themselves.  Sometimes they mix with the Snow Geese and sometimes the different geese separate.  Again, there are both adults and juveniles. The adults of these geese have the marks on the bellies....dark stripes.

 A few in the air.

Filling one hillside.  

 A lot of Mallards were hanging around, too.  This isn't a good shot, but you can count the green heads and see that there were a lot of male Mallards!  Just a few females in this mix.

 A pair of Mallards.

Some more of that mix.....on the far right is a female Shoveler.  You can see her very large bill.  We saw a group of Shovelers in another spot, but they were so busy feeding with their heads in the water, I didn't get and good photos.

Mallards taking off.

I didn't even see that Heron until we had this on the computer!  I was too busy looking at geese and ducks.

These are mostly Canada Geese, but towards the right side is a Pintail duck by itself.  And I see one Snow Goose out there with them.  Towards the far shore were some other ducks and a few Shovelers in the foreground.  Too far, and too little light. 

 My "7 swans" are still out there swimming....at least 7!  Maybe 9?

Shovelers, Coots and Mallards.

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We also drove past some barns with quilt squares in that area on the way to lunch at a nice barbecue place with quilts hanging inside.  I will either post those at a more distant time or in one of my other blogs.  I have some Bluebirds hanging around the house and am anxious to post their photos here soon!

Snow Geese on the ground part #2.....

(These photos look better if you click on them to make them full size...at least on my computer!)

And coming down out of the air.....

"Get out of the way....get out of the way!"

 Makes you wonder how they keep from landing on top of each other, or break a wing or something!

 Besides the Snow Geese there were lots of Greater White-fronted Geese in the mix.

I tried to crop a few photos to show the 4 different Snow Geese color phases......

1. all white adults, 

2. dark adults with white heads, 

3. juvenile white phase that look light grey with striped wings, 

4. and the juvenile dark phase that is all dark looking. (one of these top left) 

All 4 are in this photo.

 A gaggle of geese....and then some!

 They chose a field to land in that I could stand on the road and see them well.

 A sea of white.

 The whites against the water isn't very clear.

In the water

 A couple of dark ones landing.

 They were filling two areas....behind the water and in front.  The group behind the water got very large by the time they all landed.

"Is it cold?  Move out further!" 

Chorus line in the water :-)

They were making a nice reflection.

More shots of the White-fronts, Mallards and such that were there in the next post.

Snow Geese part 1......

We went looking for Snow Geese today......

 .......I think we found a few!

 I love when they take to the air in large groups!

 I can usually manage some shots when there are this many :-)

 Cropping in for a better look.

Lots and lots of geese!

I have scads more shots of them on the ground for other posts, but I am tired and not going to mess with them tonight.  Time to go watch tennis :-)

I had enough sense to take a couple of quick videos when they took off.  This was the best one.

Birds vs. tennis.......

Well, it is Australian Tennis Open time, so the birds are having to compete for my watching time :-)  I may not post a lot in the next couple of weeks depending on the matches.

"Is this for me????"

The Titmouse always looks like a happy child that is excited with whatever it finds in the feeders.

Mrs. Cardinal looking for some seeds.

Mr. Cardinal nearby

 That brief bit of snow brought a couple of Robins who were hoping there might still be a pear or two on the ornamental pear tree.....no such luck.  They cleaned them out months ago.

 A female Cowbird dropped by with her mate.

 My daily Downy.....one of them anyway.

 Mrs. Red-bellied........still no sign of a male hanging around.

I just thought this view was funny :-)

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OK.....back to tennis and quilting and maybe I'll even eat breakfast first.