pixelated thoughts


Backyard Tales – Bluebird chicks

April 22, 2012

This picture is from yesterday. It seems to be four of them and one egg that still hasn't hatched. They are tiny and cling to each other when you open the door.

Both parents take turns feeding them, in and out all day long. I got them some mealworms but I don't know if it's going to work because there are other birds which also like them and right now, until I can figure out something, it's a first-come first-served affair.

Backyard Tales

April 18, 2012

Hear ye, hear ye. Wild life enthusiasts rejoice! Let it be known that from this day on our backyard will be known as the "Durand's Bird Sanctuary", a fitting name for a place so full of wild life despite being really small.

Besides the bluebirds and chickadees nesting in our birdboxes, we discovered also in our Japanese maple, next to our grill, an American Robin nest with 4 eggs. No more barbecues until the little ones hatch. 🙁

American Robin eggs

I looked yesterday into the chickadee box. At least three babies have hatched and I think that probably the bluebirds too, because I have seen both, male and female, entering and leaving the bird house several times today. I’ll check tomorrow.

Category: nature, seasons 1 Comment

Happy Easter!

April 7, 2012

Real bluebird eggs, with one masquerading as an Easter egg. 🙂

 

Backyard Tales

April 3, 2012

It seems I'll be able to observe the hatching of a new generation of bluebirds firsthand. The couple that has been checking our birdhouse and its neighborhood have finally decided to make it their own.

When I checked several days ago there was a little blue egg there and since then, they have been in and out several times each day. The male comes, look inside the birdhouse and then the female goes inside while the male perches on top and watches for any threat. He also checks on her from time to time. I may very well have to retract my previous comment about the male-female roles in the bluebird world. (Backyard Tales in facebook)

Orchid Garden

March 23, 2012

My indoor orchid garden, eight plants strong, requires work, time and patience, but once a year several of them compensate me for all my hard work with their flowers. Now is that time of the year. Four of them are in bloom: one is not doing too well but the other three are showing off in all their splendor.

The rest don’t seem to like very much their new home. One came from Hawaii and it has never bloomed. Probably not enough humidity or sun. But it keeps growing new leaves; maybe one of these days it will surprise me.

A white-lavender-blue C.G. Roebling 'Sentinel' is the last kid on the block, I just got it a couple of months ago. When it finally blooms it’s going to be beautiful but it will probably take some time. I have learned to wait; it took a couple of seasons for my other plants to start blooming but it was worth it.

Circle of Life – Autumn Wind

March 14, 2012

Yes, I know it is almost Spring, but this PixelGraphs is the first in the Circle of Life-Seasons Series.

Autumn Wind

Spring is coming soon... Nature and I are working on that right now. 🙂

Wild Flowers

March 4, 2012

New PixelGraphs photo art to celebrate the North Georgia mountains and its flowers.

Circle of Life: Wild Flowers

 

Do you know the legend of Sautee and Nacoochee?

February 22, 2012

Nacoochee was the 16-year-old daughter of Wahoo, a Cherokee chieftain, who fell in love with Sautee, the young and handsome son of the Chickasaw chief, one of the neighboring tribes with whom they were constantly at war.

They eloped and fled to nearby Yonah Mountain, where they found refuge in a cave. After a few days they decided to face Wahoo and ask for his consent but instead, he ordered Sautee to be thrown from the high cliffs of Mount Yonah, while Nacoochee was forced to look on. Seeing that, Nacoochee also leaped to her death from the same cliff.

 

Yonah

Mount Yonah (Yonah is the Cherokee word for Bear) is located in the Chattahoochee National Forest in North Georgia’s Habersham County.

Orchid month…

February 20, 2012

In my house, February is orchid month.

One of them just opened its first two blooms. It doesn't have as many buds as last year, but it is beautiful nonetheless.

And as always, they fuel my inspiration.

 

Soft Pink Orchids II

Merry Christmas!

December 17, 2011