getting bigger

Hummingbird baby update picture. They're starting to really fill up the nest!

Babies...

Not much of a baby anymore, here is Scipio, enjoying my spinning time in his own way. He can be quite well behaved, once I've convinced him to leave the yarn alone. I do have to be careful, I was plying some singles and one of his eyebrow whiskers got twisted up in the plying. I had to break the whisker off. He just went back to sleep.

Red-tail Hawk babies

Anna's Hummingbird babies to be

and momma

She is just a few feet outside the family room window.

(a few days later...) Here are the hatchlings!  I'm pretty sure the one with the open mouth just hatched this morning.

Springtime means change

Just like life means change. Moving, growing, dying, continuing, changing. The past few days here have brought much change to my life. The weather's been changing too, more like summer than spring, but the birds and the flowers know better. Some of them have been posing for spring portraits. Below is a female Anna's Hummingbird that popped into my flower picture. Click the pic for a bigger view.

And in case I still wasn't sure it was spring, this fellow showed and posed;

A glowing, golden male Hooded Oriole. I hope the pair nests nearby!

And speaking of glowing, I looked out the kitchen window one morning to see these luminous new leaves on the Western Redbud.  Looks like they're all lit up from inside.

One foggy morning I looked out the bedroom window and thought the spinning faeries had left silk hankies all over the back lawn,

but closer inspection proved them to be funnel spider webs. I guess it's still silk, but not the type I'll try spinning.  And speaking of spinning, here is an FO picture of the hand-dyed/spun/knit socks #3.

I'm really enjoying intentional spinning.

The Wonders of Nature

And the thing I'm wondering right now, is if this bird will ever stop bashing against the windows of my house.


He is a California Towhee, and I know it's a he, as he is obsessed with trying to run off his arch-rival, his own reflection. Really, what female would engage in such activity? This isn't a gentle tap-tap at the window, it is a jarring thump-thump assault on the glass that begins with first light and continues as long as there is sufficient daylight to produce a visible reflection. I find this somewhat startling, especially when trying to steal a nap, or quietly work on a lace pattern, or sleep in past what ever time the sun starts to light the sky. When he isn't battling his image in the glass, he's after the interloper that lives in the car side mirror, the shiny rear bumper of the truck, or the empty flower pot in the backyard. His mate is usually nearby, quietly ignoring his behavior and pecking at things on the ground, until finally she looks over at him as if to say, "what an idiot" and she flies away. At which point he leaves off to follow her.

We've lived in this house for almost 10 years, and last year the glass attacks started, but only occured over a short period of time. Perhaps, I thought, this is just a seasonal thing, and once the pair of Towhee's have nestlings to feed, he'll be too busy to enforce his territory. Depair is setting in, most of the birds around here start nesting in late winter to early spring, he shows no sign of letting up. There is a small hope, I haven't seen his mate nearby lately, perhaps she is on the nest even now and soon there will be gaping beaks to fill.

There is a silver lining; in searching for a link about California Towhees to use in this post I found the Cornell Lab of Ornithology web site, which has great information, pictures and even audio of bird songs. I love knowing about the birds that visit my yard and live in the surrounding area and now I have a new resource.