A Chickadee Family Event
I’m sure you remember the female chickadee from a few weeks back that set out to build a nest, even if a little lopsided, in our bird house.
After she finished her work, she laid four eggs and at their proper time, all of them hatched. She is now the proud mother of four, just in time for Mother’s Day. They all look healthy and one of them is especially audacious.
It was hard to see them inside the bird house, and even harder to photograph them, because the plastic panel which is supposed to allow us to see inside was very dirty. We need to find a better way for next time.
Here is a picture of three of the chicks at the bottom of the nest.
And here is the fourth one, climbing the ramp and looking at the world outside.
The mother feeding the climber chick waiting for her at the door. The other three were not that happy and had to wait their turn until the mother was able to get inside.
By yesterday morning, three of the chicks had already gone. This is the last chick leaving the nest. I was its first flight and it flew directly into my blind. Maybe it got confused with the autumn leaves camouflage.
Celebrate Clayton 2010
This past weekend, April 24th-25th, was Celebrate Clayton 2010.
The weather was a mixed event. Saturday morning started cloudy but dry. That changed around 2:00 PM with intermittent showers and some lightning in the distance and then just plain rain. Around 4:00 it was time to break camp for the day and take shelter.
After a rainy night, Sunday started semi cloudy and windy but otherwise the temperature was nice and the air was clean and crisp. That brought out a lot of people who enjoyed the different arts and crafts on display.
Our booth had a lot of visitors and we got many compliments on our photomontages but everyone seemed to be attracted to our new desk calendars, 2011 Flower Portraits and 2011 Bluebird Country, especially the latter. Everybody seems to love bluebirds!
Also nice was the camaraderie between the artists, ready to give a hand by helping the newcomers and running to assist each other when the strong gusts threatened to fly a tent away. In many cases, by the time the show closed, people who had met for the first time ended up feeling like they have known each other much longer. Add to this the friendliness and helpfulness of the volunteers, easy identifiable by their blue event shirts and their smiles, and you have a winning combination.
A good experience and the promise of more and better for next year.
 Wet Saturday afternoon, with all the tents battened down |
 On Sunday, locals and tourists strolling around the festival |
 Putting the last touch |
 Open for business |
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The meaning of colors… White
White is associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity. It is considered to be the color of perfection.
From Color Wheel Pro
Southern Magnolia
The end result!
I don't know how the little chickadees managed to slant the wire mesh flooring but it seems to work anyway.
An unwelcome hawk visit
A young hawk decided to pay us an unwelcome visit. I didn’t see him at first but I noted that all of a sudden every living being in our backyard was completely immobile, frozen in space and time: two birds on one feeder, a squirrel sitting on the fence, a dove on the patio and a Carolina Wren on the other feeder.
Frozen Carolina Wren after hawk arrival
Knowing this kind of behavior from a previous time, I finally found the hawk perching on a high branch. It didn’t take much to shoo him away and after a couple of minutes everything went back to normal.
