Actually they’ve been back since the 16th of April, when a lone Calliope male flew up to the front of the house and thoroughly checked out the three spots where the feeders hung last year. I flew off the couch and into the kitchen where I quickly made up a batch of sugar water. But alas, that one bird had moved on to another location. He went away hungry 🙁
A couple of days later another one showed up and since then we’ve had at least two male Calliope, and one male Rufous hummingbird around.
This is the smallest bird in North America, perched on the tip of a Crab-apple tree next to the front of our deck.
This morning the weather surprised us with snow showers. It’s very cool outside and we haven’t seen any of our little hummer friends so far today. They have probably gone down by the river where it’s a bit warmer. Silly weather!
We put three nestboxes up, two on the house and one on the back of the garage. Last year we have a pair of Western Bluebirds using one of the nestboxes on the house. This year we have a pair of Mountain Bluebirds.
The male is a beautiful powder blue, like a piece of summer sky.
It’s too early for these birds to actually start nesting, but it is definitely time to stake their claim. They’ve chosen the nest box by the front deck, probably because it has the best view to the west!
Here is his sweetie, being all fluffed at a pair of swallows flying past the nest box. She's perched on the edge of the solar panels.
The solar panels appear to be a popular place to perch among the avian residents around our place.
The Great Gray Owl is back! This largest owl in North America is sitting in the same spot as the hen bluebird was sitting. There is a slight size difference, eh?
We have been so lucky to see this owl hanging around lately. It just makes our day every time we see this bird.
Sitting on a fence post; it's a great spot for hunting in the field. Their main source of prey is mice and we have an overabundance of those little creatures around here.
A apple tree branch makes a great spot to sit and stare into the dry grass under the branches.
Fortunately for the neighborhood bunnies, the owl would rather have a mouse.
Enjoying a snack of fresh green grass, these bunny buddies are getting along well. And that means pretty soon we'll have baby bunnies bouncing around the yard.
Mish absolutely loves watching the rabbits. Of course, I’m not saying what he would absolutely love to do with them, but everybody is safe.
Here he is after a long day of bunny-watching, taking his ease on top of his poof.
He is two years old now, officially an adult cat. He doesn’t see why that should affect his enjoyment of playing with toy mice, not the ones we throw for him or the really good ones that are self-moving.
Last week Dan walked by the door up to the exercise room, and there, sitting on the floor, was a mouse. So, Dan gets his leather glove and heads upstairs to nab said mouse and throw it outside. The mouse sees Dan and says, “EEEEEK!” and runs off. Dan looks and sitting about four feet away was our cat. Just watching the mouse. Evidently Mish had been taking a break from the catch-n-release game he as playing with the mouse. And the mouse was no longer concerned about the cat. But Dan… well that was a scary sight indeed.
Anyway, it’s his birthday tomorrow. Happy Birthday Mish!
He puts up with a lot from his pet humans.
Today we’re going to work on getting the electricity functional in the garage. We have buried the electric wire out to the garage, and now we have to get it hooked up to the panel downstairs and put in an electric outlet so Dan can plug things in, like a drill so he can drill holes for the rest of the wiring. It’s very exciting stuff.
I am sure you understand that Mishkin “allows” you to live in his House!!! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Now, the outdoor critters–well, that’s another story altogether!!
Happy birthday to Mish 🙂 (great photo too hehehe)
The other photos are lovely too, can’t wait for the baby bunnies.