Eagles...who knew?

There are bald eagles in Connecticut for sure.  In fact, I saw one one in a tree near a river last year.  There are quite a few that nest and breed along the Connecticut River around Essex.

What I didn't realize is that there are eagles nesting next to railroad tracks and and a busy roadway a few towns over.  There is water nearby and they don't seem to mind. the traffic.

They are barely visible in the photo above but they are very visible from the road.

Because I watch the Decorah Eagle cams every year, I already knew that they often build more than one nest usually not far from another.  This pair does have alternate nests.

Last year this pair hatched and raised one chick and made it into the news outlets. Of course, I hope they have a successful breeding and hatching season this year, too.

Having seen bald and golden eagles in  in zoos, nature programs, and online, I have to say that seeing them in wild in nature just makes my heart sing.  They are huge and beautiful. There are often people in the parking lot across the street taking photos.  There is a fence near the railroad tracks to the eagles are protected from human encroachment.  The eagles pay no attention.  Who knew they would breed next to railroad tracks and a busy commuter road?

***

Back to arty stuff here...

Here are a few paper crafted items I made this past week to swap with a friend.  I want to mention that I used paper and embellishments I already owned.  There is a mini scene in an inexpensive plastic box we purchased at a craft store.

Do you like snail mail and real greeting cards?  If so, you  might want to try making some!   Try tearing paper into squares or rectangles and stack them with white glue. Cut out a picture from a magazine or some other image and glue on top...very effective. I use my own artwork but I also use lots of scrapbook paper for backgrounds.

We had two glorious days of temperatures in the 50's.  Now we are back to cold weather.  There is so much snow piled up around here.  Our street is a lane and a half wide.  We need more melting.

How about you?  Have you been bird watching? Making things?

Maybe you work full or part-time outside the home and are busy with responsibilities of combining home and work...or maybe you are caring for a loved one/ones.   Whatever you are busy with, I hope that life is treating you well.

February is on its way into the past.  We inch towards spring and warmer weather. This is good!

As always,

enjoy the day!

Birds of prey and birds on stilts...

We attended White Memorial's annual family nature day this past weekend. Although we are quite a distance from it, we became members because we love the park and the work that is done there.



One of the programs was Skyhunters in Flight with Brian Bradley. We were treated to a fascinating demo of falconry and an excellent program about other birds of prey and their place in nature. Owls, hawks, falcons, eagles all play a part in our ecology/nature system. As some of you know, I am a bird watcher so I was entranced!




Mr. Bradley is an expert at falconry and working with these birds. The birds are magnificent and I came way with a new respect for them.


Another type of bird that I love is on stilts--literally. Mortal Beast and Deities are fabulous stilt walker performers.




There is something so awesome seeing birds so larger than life! Of course, there was much more going on and I will share more later this week.

We are having tropical, humid weather and there are more mosquitoes around and about than all summer. Even though we live in New England, I will be glad when hurricane season is over!

As always,

enjoy the day!

Heat wave continues....

Last year I tried pink flamingos to keep the squirrels out of the Earth Boxes and containers on the deck. They worked fine, so they were invited back for a return engagement.



So far so good with tomatoes...though raccoons may show up again and take some away... they just ignore the flamingos.



My neighbors has a spectacular garden. He hoes it by hand, carries water out in buckets, builds wonderful structures from branches he trims from his trees. He doesn't even own a hose. Because he is from a country where resources are precious, he never wastes a drop of water. I admire and respect him--out at dawn and dusk, weeding and hand watering.



The herbs on our deck are better this year than last year...so far. It is wonderful being able to use them for cooking...by stepping out the kitchen door!


The flamingos are good "pets"..they demand nothing...are fierce guardians of the deck...and they make me smile.

Real birds on the deck this week included some I have never seen before at our feeders: a boral chickadee, a brown thrasher, a very young cardinal just acquiring color, and a brown headed cowbird.

It's very hot here, though not as hot as other places. Heat shelters are open all over the Northeast and I am sure in other places where the temps are so high. I just heard that 17 states have heat alerts and many will have temps well over 100F today.

Not everybody is able to have a/c...or even a home. I hope all who need to stay cool will be able to do so...I worry about those who don't...and also about serious storms that will accompany this heat wave.


As always, whatever the weather,

enjoy the day!

Beautiful birds!

Look at these beautiful birds! My artist friend Carol made these for me!

The little blue jay is cloth that has been painted and sealed and can reside outdoors. In fact it has been outside for many days in a flower pot on our porch... but I didn't know it. (I have hardly been outside due to to pollen and when I am, I rush to the car oblivious to everything,) He didn't suffer at all from the torrential rain we have been having.

Big bird is 8" tall and quite the fashionista! She is made from paper mache and has the prettiest attire! Sometimes Carol puts things on eBay under the name of artybugboston. Thank you, Carol!

It has been raining the better part of seven days here and many days to go. As a result, the leaves are finally out on the trees and the grass is growing like weeds which are growing, too. This is providing relief from the dreadful pollen blowing around.

Happy weekend....as always,

enjoy the day!

Hello, again....

By now you probably know that our gracious blogging host, Blogger, was out of commission for a few days. Blogger seems to be feeling better now. (I can relate. I have had a cold and/or allergies for almost a week and it is just today I can actually taste food, hear properly and breathe with my mouth closed.)

Most of the week I was sleeping or trying to sleep, but when I was up and about I worked on these things: a little needle felted bird and a new pin cushion to hold my tiny needle felting needles used for miniature work.

The little bird (purposely)

looks like the birds that I draw.

The pin cushion is
on an old sugar bowl
I bought in a shop
for a dollar a few weeks ago.

Now...leaves are out on the trees... and the pollen seems to be waning. It has been the worst pollen count on record here and everything was covered with a soft chartreuse dust. Spring really is here at last.

Can it be Friday? And it is the 13th, too! The weekend is here already...my week was sort of blurry.

Hope you have a lovely weekend,

as always,

enjoy the day!

The culprits....at home...

As it turns out, the commotion and loud singing before dawn belongs to a pair of North American robins ...as I alluded to in my recent "bird saga" post. Last year the mockingbird was very loud but had an amazing repertoire of arias. The robins only have one aria in their repertoire which they repeat for hours.

A bird on the roof is loud. Birds outside the window are LOUDER. Imagine our surprise when we saw this directly over the bedroom window three feet away from the bed!



She isn't always in the nest and I discovered why after a little research. They lay one egg per day but don't stay in the nest until all the eggs are laid....probably 3-5 eggs. Why? So they will all hatch the same day!

On the other hand she may have laid unfertilized eggs. We will have to wait and see. As far as I have read, if there is 14 days before hatching and another 14 before they leave.



You have to admit it is a PERFECT spot...out of sight and danger with plenty of room. A penthouse with a deck! We had plans to power wash the house, but they are now on hold.



Spring finally is here. The lilacs are going to open today and there are leaves on some of the trees. A late spring but oh, so pretty...and so very loud at 3:30 a.m.!

As always,

enjoy the day!

Suddenly it is spring...and summer...

Windows are open here today...furnace is off!

We have had a long cold spring. Today it turned into a summer-like day just like that! Never mind summer doesn't start until June...

Last spring and summer...if you remember...a very loud mockingbird awakened me every night as it sang until the dawn for several months. It was always just a few feet from my window.

Well this year it has been noisy directly outside the bedroom. Robins have built a nest right over an upstairs window on an eave.


Mother robin likes to get an early start. When the sun comes up and she begins to chirp. I cannot see the eggs so will have to wait and watch...and listen.


Thankfully, it does not sing all night! Still, I feel really tired every morning....


Between unseasonably warm weather and bird and songs, I do believe it actually is spring now! Just think...in a few days it will be the first of May! Time is flying!

As always,

enjoy the day!

Countdown to Christmas...

The last few days have been busy. After I got over what was ailing me, it was time to get involved again with holiday fun.

This amazing 3 dimension jig saw puzzle tree is a gift from a friend. Mr. DollzandThingZ and I had a fun (but challenging!) time putting it together.



Then it was time to start working on gifts again. I won't describe them much as some recipients read this blog.....but they are mixed in above. I could not resist decorating a little metal bird cage for a gift. I bought these cages last spring. Inside it a papier mache bird I made last summer for this intent.


Today I am off to doll club and we will spend the better part of the day sharing dolls, a pot luck luncheon, and other holiday related fun. There are 25 of us now...think about a buffet with that many different dishes. It is always a wonderful day for friends and dolls and sharing.

We dodged a snow storm here so travel will be good today.

For the most part, I am now ready for the Christmas. I hope that you are, too!

As always,

enjoy the day!

Birdz and thingz...

Are you a birdwatcher? I am...for many decades. That is why you frequently see birds in this blog.

These birds were of interest to me at our bird feeder. I was able to photograph them through the window screen.


When a sparrow showed up with brilliant white on its wings, I thought perhaps it was variety that I had never seen.

This grackle is a long story. The bump on its head grew progressively bigger for weeks and then became progressively smaller over a few weeks. It started out yellow, turned orange/red, and eventually eventually lightened and diminished leaving the bird with a "bald spot" where the bump had been.



I think that the grackle was in pretty good health when the grackles all seemed to move on. There was rather large flock around for many weeks. Is showed no signs of distress and definitely had a good appetite. We have a granite bird bath and the bird and its mate spent much time bathing in it.



Finally I decided to write to the Audubon Society and received a reply after they saw the photos. The grackle had suffered some sort of injury or parasite infection problem. The conservationist had never seen something like that before.

The sparrow is leucistic. There is a difference between leucistic animals and albino. If you "google" images, you will see an amazing variety of animals that appear albino and aren't. It is a lack of pigmentation and not at all dangerous.

My thanks to the CT Audubon society for their help. I learn something new every day. This summer we had a lot of birds at the feeders and but these two were definitely standouts.

The grackles and brown headed cowbirds eventually moved on, most likely to winter roosts. The sweet little sparrow still visits the feeder many times a day. (Unfortunately, leucistic birds are often targets for predators.)

Weekend is here. Looks to be a delightful one here in New England. What are your plans?

Happy weekend, as and always,

enjoy the day!

It's summer again!

"One of the brightest gems in the New England weather is the dazzling uncertainty of it."---Mark Twain, speech to New England Society, Dec. 1876.

A tropical storm is roaring up the East Coast delivering weather equal to the worst August dog days. The humidity is relentless. We were going to take the air conditioners out and prepare for winter and now we are glad we didn't. As my late grandmother would say, "it's thick today."

This pair of mourning doves is always hanging about the deck and apparently oblivious to the heat and humidity. They like to sleep in the sun and are often on the hot roof top as well.



Tomorrow night it will plunge into the 40's and possibly into the 30's Sunday night. Such is New England weather: shorts and sandals today...flannel nightgown tomorrow night!

Is it just me or has the week flown by? What plans do you have? We will go to soccer games and perhaps become leaf-peepers over the weekend, too.

Have a happy weekend and as always,

enjoy the day!

P.S. If you haven;t checked out Martha and Jane...YOU MUST! And their maker has a new episode at Caruthers P. Davenport. You won't want to miss these...we all need some silliness and whimsy in our lives!

CT, VT, MA, and NH...and home by dinner!

Typical Vermont...

Summer is still with us!

Do you see what I see?

He was not adverse to
picture taking.

The Great Blue Heron
really is...
great!

One of the nice things about living in Southern New England is that we can travel to many states and still be home in time for dinner.

After lunch in Cummington, MA, we headed to Vermont. These photos do not do the scenery justice. That is the good news. The bad news it was in the mid 90's there, too.

My husband spotted this Great Blue Heron and was able to photograph him from the car. While he was snapping photos, I saw two baby beavers playing nearby in the water. I had never seen them outside of a zoo so I was pretty excited. They were too fast to photograph, bobbing up and down in the water with their paddle-like tails.

As if this weren't enough, we traveled down to Brattleboro, VT, and stopped in at the Tasha Tudor Museum. It is small...just two rooms right now...but charming in its temporary location. The delightful Amy Tudor was our docent. I will be posting photos in a few days.

That Hurricane Earl is supposed to pass by later today so I think we will not be roaming far.

Have a lovely holiday weekend!

Stay safe, travel well.

As always,

Enjoy the day!

Lazy, hazy days...

It is hard to imagine that any animal would want to nap on a hot shingled roof, but I have a visiting mourning dove who frequently naps outside the window when I am sewing. It is not bothered by the hum of my Featherweight or the radio going.


Then we have the squirrels. We have recently changed over to a bird feeder that will not allow them any form of entry. This is after they went through about 4o pounds of bird feed in our other feeder.

This one has a weighted spring action on the perch and won't allow any large birds on it either. The perch will collapse at a certain weight. We moved the older feeder down to ground level and they can knock themselves out with that one and let the songbirds near the deck.

It is amazing how no attempts have been made to access this new feeder. Squirrels are smarter than one would think. They are also little piggies and deck railing nappers!

My apologies for photos taken through the screen in the windows. They are blurry, of course.

So, summer is mellowing and we have had a day or two where it hasn't reached 90F degrees. There is still a lack of rain but the days are getting shorter so it feels cooler even though it probably isn't!

As for me, I am recovering from my very happy birthday and want to say thank you to everyone for wishes, gifts, sharing my birthday!

As the weekend rolls around once more,

enjoy the day...




and happy weekend!

Exit the mockingbird...enter the robin!

Last summer was noisy....a mockingbird started singing at 4:00 a.m. It went on all summer. He mimicked other birds, cats, and sang long arias in the dark.

This spring started out with the mockingbird, too.

Last week I realized that the singing started at dusk and continued until dawn. It was NOT a mockingbird's song anymore. It was the same song over and over all night. It sounded just like a robin.

And then I saw it... just a few feet outside our window on the peak of my neighbor's roof. It was was barely sunrise and the music had been going on all night. It WAS a robin.



But robins don't sing at night....or do they?

In an article in the The (New London) Day just a few days ago, it states that robins have never been nocturnal singers until recently. Within minutes of investigating on the Internet, I discovered info here. Apparently they have been just as noisy in the UK...you can look it up.

To paraphrase, they sing all night because of artificial light and noise pollution during the day.

I never thought that I would want the mockingbird back! It sang from 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. May through August. But the robin sings all night the same song over and over! (I should add that it is a pretty song...the first few hours.)

Poor robin! Poor me!

Have great weekend....hope it is quiet...

as always,

enjoy the day!

It's 48 degrees
here this morning
...sunny
...dry
and perfect!

Since it is isn't quite summer,

it feels wonderful
to be out of the heat wave
and back into perfect spring weather!

It is impossible
not to be happy
on such a beautiful day!

The feeders are filled

with birds.

It's pretty sight
when the purple finches,
yellow goldfinches
and other birds gather at the feeders.

Much to accomplish today...
my muses are calling
and they are tantalizing me
with creative ideas.

As always.

I hope you


enjoy the day!