House Wren parents at the nest box....

We hung an old bird house from the basketball goal at the end of the driveway.  It is a nice location because it is high, surrounded by tree limbs from the maple tree, the neighbor's pines, and other bushes, and I hope it is a hard place for predators to get to.  We have a family of House Wrens living in it.  I wish I could see the baby wrens, but Mike assures me that he can hear them every time the parent leaves the box after bringing food :-)

 Sometimes when the parent brings a bug home, it sits in the tree nearby for quite a while making sure it is safe to enter the house.  I try to sit well out of the way where they aren't too bothered by my presence.

 On the "porch"

 I wish they would stop on the roof more often....I get a better view of the latest food offering.

I find it fascinating to see the variety of insects they bring home for dinner :-)  I love to watch them, but it sure is hot sitting out there!  We have been having a lot of storms, too, so I hope the house is reasonably weather proof and securely fastened......and that the neighbor's cat will leave them alone when they leave the nest!

Hovey Lake and surrounding area.....

We were in Mt. Vernon, Indiana to pick up a used SUV we bought (better for birding on gravel roads!), so we figured we should give it a "test drive" by heading to Hovey Lake on the southwest side of Mt. Vernon.  Hovey Lake is a 1,400 acre ox-bow lake in the bottom lands along the Ohio River near where it meets the Wabash River.  In the early spring the area can be highly flooded if we get a lot of rain.

These images are in no particular order....I get lazy trying to arrange them :-)  This little Eastern-tailed Blue butterfly was enjoying some clover where we stopped to take photos.  I always seem to get the edge of the butterfly, but liked it anyway. 

 This box turtle was along the edge of the road.  He was wet and his markings looked very pretty.  Almost like someone had painted them......I guess God did just that!

This Cabbage White was enjoying the remains of someone's campfire........getting minerals? 

 We drove down a gravel farm road that gave the SUV a good workout.  We were trying to see if it would take us around the lake to the river, but never got that far.  This Dickcissel was singing his song for us.

 We stopped at one viewing spot along the lake edge and saw an adult eagle flying over the water.  So we started looking for a nest in the area it came from......yes!  Not only a nest, but with two young eagles on it!  This nest is on the far side of the lake from where we were......at least 400 yards.  My new camera did pretty well, considering the distance!

The gravel road took us between some corn fields and this Horned Lark was sitting on a little plant out in the field.  First time I have ever captured the "horns" on one! 

 Saw this bird and didn't know what it was.....I think it is a young Horned Lark.  They weren't together.

An Indigo Bunting, but you can barely see the blue color. 

 Several Killdeer were out enjoying the small flooded areas in the corn field.

 I enjoy watching them, even if they are fairly common.

 Just a view along the side of the lake.

One of the farms we passed on the way there......I love all the orange day lilies along the bank and the other flowers.  The soybeans are just getting started, but the corn across the road is already "knee high" before the 4th of July. 

Saw lots of these Morning Glories along the gravel road. 

There is one spot along Hovey Lake where we always see a Red-headed woodpecker.....sure enough!  Saw another one fly across the road.   

 Lots of Red-winged Blackbirds.  I thought this one looked a little "crazy" the way the eye is staring.  Many birds had their mouths open in the heat.

 Swallows on a barn ledge

 ......up high on the wire....

 .....more on the ledge.

One turtle along the edge of the lake.

Think I'm going to like this little SUV.....sure is better on gravel roads and I sit higher for taking photos!

Odds and ends.....

Just some odds and ends of around home mostly.

I have no idea what this little flower is, but have them all over the area when I threw down bird seed over the winter.  So, I am assuming they grew from left over seeds.  I love their delicate nature and their color, so I have let them grow. 

I tried looking up the seeds that I knew were in the mix....like milo and millet, but didn't find these flowers.
(NOTE: Thank you everyone who has identified this as Flax!)

 I happen to see this little sparrow show up yesterday with its mom to get some food.

 "Feed me, feed me, feed me!"

 Mom was very patient

The "baby" is as big as mom, but she fed it sunflower seeds. 

"There would be more seeds to feed you, if that squirrel up there would go away!" 

"I'm hungry, too!"

 Chickadee waiting his turn.

 Mrs. House Finch found a pile of seeds.

 The Goldfinch is the only one that can really eat from these feeders when the level gets low.

 Female Goldfinch on another feeder.

 Upside down or right side up......they can get their food.

 We drove to Henderson to do some car shopping, so of course we stopped by where we saw the egrets a week ago.  This time there was a deer out there nibbling on the little trees.

 It must be standing in low water, but didn't seem to mind.

Only one egret that day.  We saw a few herons, but they kept landing behind things where I couldn't get their photo.

Jewelwing.....

Not much here, but we did see this little Jewelwing damselfly on our trip to Henderson.

 I think they are so pretty.

 I kept trying to time it to get the wings open.....

 .....the best I managed.

 A Red Admiral landed on a leaf while I was watching the damselfly.

And on the way home, this Vulture was sitting up on the post as we went by.

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Been busy watching tennis....Wimbledon starts next week....and we had VBS every night this past week.  Just seems like I am not getting out to take photos anywhere right now.  I'm way behind on looking at all of your blogs, too and hope to catch up soon.