birds of may

Spring migration continued, so we had a pretty good month for birds around here. The red-winged blackbirds are all nesting out in the pasture, and all three birdhouses seem to be in use. There's so much activity around the feeders!

tree swallow

male goldfinches

male house finches

female Baltimore oriole

male orchard oriole

male rose-breasted grosbeak

female cardinal

brown thrasher

male Baltimore oriole

male ruby-throated hummingbird

gray catbirds

male eastern bluebird

just a very pretty day

Our pinks (dianthus) are in bloom, a whole sea of them. And the sky was gorgeous today. That is all.

celery bog

It's the end of May already. Memorial Day, official start of summer ... and I've barely been out of the house lately. Happily, Mike and Liam took pity on me today and accompanied me to the Celery Bog, a nature preserve in West Lafayette. We left very early because the birding is better earlier in the day.

First bird of the day was sighted before we even left the driveway:

Note: This bird is domesticated, or as domesticated as a bird can be. Our neighbors have chickens, and this one apparently decided to come over for a visit.

At the Celery Bog, we found a whole bunch of muck. It has been raining a lot lately, so we had to tromp around on some muddy, squishy, boggy ground. (Yeah, the name should have been a clue.) BUT we also saw some great birds, including one I had never seen in person before (the blue-gray gnatcatcher).

black-capped chickadee

double-crested cormorants

cedar waxwings sharing breakfast

blue-gray gnatcatcher

house wren

red-winged blackbird with turtle friend

great blue heron with swallow fly-by

"I find this bench placement completely impractical."

The great blue herons put on amazing show for us. The first heron, let's call him Harry, caught a fish right in front of us! Then he carried the fish over to the bank of the pond to eat it. He had just barely managed to gulp it down when another heron, let's call him Harvey, came swooping in, hoping to steal Harry's breakfast. A brief tussle ensued, lots of wet feathers flapping around. Ultimately, of course, Harry prevailed and flew off, still with a fish-shaped lump in his throat, leaving poor Harvey on his own to go fishing. Impressive, sirs!

Until next time, our avian friends!

estate sale!

Friends, we have an estate sale convert. Henry accompanied me and my mom to an estate sale this morning, and he found treasure beyond his wildest dreams, including this giant glass turtle. He also got a lovely antique pen set for $2 that I then had to spend $18 to buy a replacement ink cartridge for, but really, what price can you put on TRUE LOVE?

Anyway, I managed to find a little something for myself in the process, AND it was half off. I wanted to go on the first day because there were a ton of the presentation Fiesta pieces I love (pitchers, carafes, etc.), but alas, I had to work. I can't believe nobody snatched up this beauty on the first day. Their loss! It's already cleaned up and on display on the bookshelves in the library.

Bonus: Alliums might be my new favorite flowers. Look at them against this blue blue sky and tell me you're not in love with them too. Go on, try.

you guys, i don't know

Mike thinks the scenery is ugly in Indiana. I think he's wrong. I love the cornfields, the soy fields, the wheat fields, the mint fields, the trees. I love the straight flat highways. Don't get me wrong — I love a lot of other places (a LOT of other places!) too, but I think our home has its own special beauty. I especially love the sky. Sure, every place has sky, but ours does some cool things. May I present two exhibits from mornings this week?

CASE CLOSED.

happy mother's day

Mike and the boys made me a special present for Mother's Day: a platform feeder. Now we can feed them peanuts and mealworms, yummo! Yes, the birds are kind of spoiled around these parts, but they bring me a lot of happiness in a world that mostly seems like one giant dumpster fire lately, so it's more than worth the effort.

The birds gave me a gift too — check out this amazing Baltimore oriole battle I was lucky enough to get pictures of!

birdhouses installed

I mentioned that Mike has been hard at work building birdhouses for the pasture. He put the first one up last week, and a pair of tree swallows immediately moved in, so he decided to put up the other two. Bluebirds moved into house 2 ... and another pair of bluebirds took over house 1, which the swallows are not happy about at all. So we've got a turf war on our hands. Who will win? Stay tuned!

front porch

I've been on a mission to bring more color into our lives. The front porch has pretty much been empty since we moved in almost a year ago, so it made the perfect target. The table and chairs were out in the barn (left by the previous owner), and I cleaned off the rust and painted them. The wicker elephant was at our old house too, but it also got a fresh paint job. I got the rug and chair cushions very inexpensively online (gotta love that Kohl's cash!). The biggest change is the front door, which I painted a bright blue. I think I will end up painting the screen door too, but I'm really happy with the way this is shaping up. It helps that we have flowers coming up too! Eventually, the plan is to plant a small Japanese maple right behind where the grape hyacinths are, but one step at a time.

we've got orioles!

Mike texted me from work yesterday. The conversation went like this:

Mike: You need anything from the store?

Holli: Oranges and grape jelly, please. But not the kind with high-fructose corn syrup.

Mike: You want oranges and grape jelly? For what now?

Holli: For the birds.

Mike: For the BIRDS?

Holli: You want orioles, right? That's what they like.

Mike: Roger that, grape jelly and oranges.


... 2 hours later ...

May he never doubt me again.