Goodbye Lake Nelson

Black Crowned Night Heron



Barn Swallows


Cedar Waxwing


Gray Catbird


Tufted Titmouse with a peanut


Chipmunk


Well, this is really it. We fly to California at 7:40am tomorrow. In between packers, car transport and movers, we got in some backyard birding. One new discovery this week was the barn swallows feeding juveniles. Barn Swallows almost never land in our yard, but we had juveniles in trees being fed by adults catching the mosquitoes on the lake. Cedar waxwings are infrequent visitors but they were out on the lake catching insects as well. The night heron flew by and landed on the gate by the dam. We took a walk down and saw him on a log over the stream and then higher in a tree. The catbirds are finishing the last of our jelly and the titmouse took our last peanut.

Chip has a girlfriend

Chip has a girlfriend!! - or possibly an entire family.  Yesterday Chris saw two darling little chipmunks popping out at the same time from "Chip's" hole next to the back walkway.  They looked like they were hugging and kissing, but it was too dark due to the rain  to get any pictures.  (And Chris is not as good with the camera as Mike, and these chipmunks are fast!)

Today the lawn got mowed, so feeling bad for the disturbance to the chipmunks, Chris put out some stale blueberries near the hole.  You can even see Chip's tongue in the first photo as he is either enjoying or cleaning up after the blueberry feast.  Of course, we can't tell a female from a male chipmunk or an adult from a juvenile, but we certainly know we have two or three more than last season.  Aren't they just the cutest little couple in the last photo!?  We like them a heck of a lot more than groundhogs!!

We should get out more.

Northern Cardinal


Cedar Waxwing


Chipmunk

We should get out more, but we also like waiting for these critters to drop by.

Garret Mountain Birds

Inspired by Tom Walsh's and Dan Murray's posts to the New Jersey Birding list, we decided to go to Garret Mountain in West Paterson, NJ, in hopes of seeing the Hooded Warbler. We're glad we did because this is an adorable little bird.

We also saw a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, an Eastern Towhee, and a Phoebe

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet


Eastern Towhee


Phoebe

The first thing we saw was a chipmunk with its mouth full.


Chipmunk

Chipmunk

This chipmunk filled up his cheeks with seed that had fallen below the feeder.