Last week on May 2nd we started seeing this Rose breasted Grosbeak at our feeders. He and his mate are still hanging out around here and today I caught him with his finch and cardinal friends in this fuzzy picture. (I don't have a zoom lens and this is taken through a rain-spotted window, that's my excuse.) Today I pulled out my bird book and found a note to myself that on May 2nd 2007 there were four Grosbeaks in our yard. That's pretty amazing to me that they know our calendar! Smart birds. Also on that day last year I noted that a flock of Indigo Buntings arrived. Last year on May 18th we noticed a pair of Scarlet Tanagers who ended up building a nest in the pine branch above the van parking space. We're hoping they return this year too---they were fun!

Good Girl, Scare Snake!! This black rat snake was outside the duck house this morning waiting for Niel to let him in to have some eggs for breakfast.




The pictures below are Ping on her nest with Fred her constant companion guarding her. If you can see a brown chicken egg in with the white duck eggs beneath her, we didn't put there. Evidently one of the hens thought Ping wouldn't mind at all as long as she's sitting.

The other photo is the three guineas that the boys gave me for Mother's Day. The lightest chick will be pearl colored, the medium is supposed to grow up to be "purple" and the darkest one is supposed to be a typical brown guinea.

Wordless Wednesday

This is the third year Ping has set. The first batch completely failed. Last year she hatched the twins, Fred and George. This year her eggs are due to hatch on May 3rd. Today Mr. Blacksnake raided her nest and now she has only 5 eggs left to hatch. If we could figure some way to keep the snakes out she would appreciate it. After the twins hatched last year we were able to put them into a snake proof pen, but it's a little hard to manage after she begins setting.