Outdoor Wednesday...6 month flashback

I haven't blogged for a few days because I am sick of winter and the only thing to take a photo of is the birds. Yesterday, I took the camera with me in the car hoping to see some wildlife but all I found to show you was what our road looks like...with the snow banks higher than the road it doesn't take much for the wind to fill it in. We had so much snow on our roof that today the guys scooped it off and my patio view is this (snow piled as high as the frame for our canvas gazebo) but it is still better than ice jams and a leaking roof.
Today's view of the backyard showing the rock fountain...
and flashing back 6 months to July 17th. We ate dinner under the canvas gazebo and our view was the rock fountain and a lush garden.
No ground covered in white - only color...glorious color!
July 17th happened to be one of the days, I staged a photo shoot to catch birds at the "His hands" feeder...
and I got more than birds on the rock!
How I miss the COLOR and watching birds bathe on the flowing water...
I am so easily entertained by their twists and turns but at least this week I have figure skating to watch.
One more flashback...this one 50 something years ago today! The day my husband was born, when a mother had to wear a mask to hold her own baby and stayed in the hospital for a week after a normal delivery.
Happy Birthday Jeff! I love you :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wishing all my readers a wonderful holiday!
My beautiful little niece sent me this valentine because the puppy pictured especially reminded her of Hershey...I thought it was only fair that Hershey reciprocate the sentiment...
except she sits still about 1/20 of a second if there is no food involved...we tried :)

chickadees...

The curious little chickadees are one of my favorite birds but also one of the hardest to photograph.
With their dark eyes in their black caps, I can't get a clear enough shot to show them clearly unless the sun is shining and reflecting a glint in their eye.


I was thankful for yesterday's sunshine and their willingness to sit still long enough for a few shots as today is snow flurries and clouds once again. These little guys are the busiest birds at the feeders, they fly in, take one seed and fly back off to the grove to eat it over and over again. The energy they expend just to eat is amazing!

Outdoor Wednesday...

Do you see what I see?
The first thing I saw looking outside was sunshine and blue skies! Though it was -17F out this am I am not complaining because after a week of gray clouds...SUNSHINE is a reason to SMILE...but then I noticed something else...
have you spotted them yet?
A cute little pair of white breasted nuthatches...
and the male on top is getting ready to move...
to the feeders!
He is so handsome in the sunshine and poses so I can see his front profile and top profile...
his side profile and...
and is underside profile! The lighting was great so I am sure he was showing off a little but I appreciated seeing the white underside of his beak :)

Head over to our wonderful hostess, Susan, A Southern Daydreamer, to visit the many other bloggers participating in the 57th Outdoor Wednesday HERE.

for Darla...

On yesterday's post
"Darla said...
These are beautiful captures..I'm a little confused..what Woodpecker does not have red on it's head?"

The answer is "the females" - It seems in the bird world the males get all the pretty adornments so red means male and without is his mate.

woodpecker comparisons...

I have two types of woodpeckers visiting the feeders daily - the downy woodpeckers and the hairy woodpeckers. The photo above is a downy and the photo below is a hairy...can you tell the differences?
The downy woodpeckers are much smaller and have a shorter beak...
and the hairy woodpeckers have a longer more pointy beak and are almost as large as a bluejay. They also announce their presence at the feeders with their constant loud squeaking/chirping call.
Another sure way to tell the difference is by the inside of their tail feathers, below you will see the black dotted lines on the little downy...
while the hairy has all white and a little buff showing.
The feeders are very active in the snowfall today so I was lucky enough to capture both of them at once. The larger hairy is on the suet ball while little Mr. Downy waits his turn.

Finally, the downy has his turn - here you can tell his size in comparison to the ball. Another thing is the hairy woodpeckers are much more shy - they are easily spooked and will fly off whereas the little downy woodpeckers will just stay or "hide" behind the feeder branch.

Sunday Steeples...

On a gray and cloudy day this past week, I visited Fahlun Lutheran Church near Nelson, MN.

It was nice to be able to read the timeline of the church as well as the history behind the name on a sign out front.



I can only imagine how beautiful this steeple would be with sunshine and blue skies...



May we have PEACE on earth!

ice fishing...

I just got back from spending several days in the lakes region of central MN. On my drive home I was thinking that even though a frozen lake full of fish houses is a common sight here in MN, maybe my readers in the warmer states would like to see...
how a beautiful lake that is blue and filled with fishing boats in July is frozen white and covered with cars, pickups and fish houses in January & February.
The houses are simple homemade ones, recycled campers or deluxe manufactured ones which include bunk beds, stoves and all the luxuries of home.

It was a gray cloudy day today so sorry for the photo quality. Of course yesterday was bright and filled with with sunshine which means the area groundhogs probably saw their shadows leaving us with 6 more weeks of winter. Poor Ole was seriously under dressed for the 8 degree temps!