Almost there.

I took a few photos yesterday and this Goldfinch is almost in full breeding plumage but not quite. The Cardinal was really inquisitive and I'm sure he could see me through the camo netting.

 

American Goldfinch

Northern Cardinal

Warm but windy

It's currently 72f this evening but very windy. I'll go check my Bloodroot's in a bit to see if they've sprung up in the last day or two. In the meantime I've been culling photo's from my hard drives. Sometimes I'll delete some before I download them but on other times I can't be bothered which is why I've got terra bytes of images I'll never use. One day, I'll spend a month going through them and recover a shed load of storage space. In reality it's quicker and much easier to just buy more drives. Anyway, here's one from earlier in the year of the Snow Geese at Middle Creek.

Snow Geese

 

Old Barn Sign

On a recent visit to Middle Creek I took the opportunity to photograph this old barn sign that I've passed many times before. Years ago these hand painted sign were on barns and structures all over the place but there's not anywhere near as many left these days.

A few from Tuesday.

I'm waiting for the migrants so I haven't been motivated to take more Bluebirds and Woodpeckers etc. I decided to take a few for 1/2 hour this morning.

American Robin

American Robin

Northern Cardinal

Northern Cardinal

Much Nicer Day Today

 It's far, far nicer than yesterday with its pretty much continuous rain all day.Today it's sunny but very chilly at 39F even at midday so although I've seen Grackles and Robins I suspect they've been here a few days as the cool 15mph North wind will have slowed down migration.

Here's another one of the Mockingbird shots from Wednesday.

Midweek Birds

 It's heavy overcast again which on the positive side means I can take photos all day long without harsh sunlight becoming a problem. As it's going to be raining all day tomorrow I took a few this morning.

Downy Woodpecker

Northern Cardinal

Northern Mockingbird

Flash Cat

 Our cats are so poor they have to live in a shoe box.

Moose

Flash Birds

As today was heavily overcast and snowing at one point I decided to use flash rather than use very high ISO's. They were all taken on Manual Flash at 1/16 power. ISO started off at 1000, then 640 finally 500. with shutter speeds all below 1/200 on a tripod of course.

Brown-headed Cowbird

Dark-eyed Junco

Downy Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

Eastern Bluebird 

House Finch

House Finch

Mourning Dove

Song Sparrow

Fornicating Frogs

After hearing about how this time of year the Wood Frogs commence their annual mating ritual I didn't want to miss it. A phone call early afternoon to say it was on and I was out the door camera in hand. Quite frankly it was awesome, they sound like a pond full of ducks. It was an amazing sight and sound experience.

 

Mating Wood Frogs

Wallflower Male Wood Frog

Wood Frog Egg Mass

Lots of Wood Frogs 

Piss Off

While I don't mind feeding these critters in the winter at this time of year they are not welcome. They take over native Bluebird and Chickadee nest boxes often killing any chicks in the process. If I see them building a nest, forget it, ethnic cleansing mate.

House Sparrow

 

Baking

 I fancied a Harvest Grains loaf for a sandwich at lunch but I finished a Tuscan Boule instead. This afternoon I've been making pizza for dinner tonight. I still haven't got the hang of pizza tossing but this one is almost round. 

Pepperoni Pizza

Harvest Grains

Brass Monkeys

 Very cold NNW wind blowing straight out of the Canadian Arctic. I lasted about 1/2 hour outside and thought F*$# it's cold and as I needed to relieve myself of my large mug of English Breakfast I came in. Here's a few I did take before whimping out.

Common Grackle

Dark-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Junco

Tufted Titmouse

Tufted Titmouse

Hot Dogs on the Deck Last Night

I think I over did it a bit.😳

Little Git

When I went to fill up the feeders at my setup the Red-breasted Nuthatch I've been trying to photograph came and started feeding not 2 feet away. I got myself comfortable in the blind and waited and waited for over an hour before he decided to come back. Even then he was teasing me by staying mostly out of sight.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Eastern Side

As was forecast earlier in the week it warmed up a bit today to be a balmy 64F, it's getting up to 72F tomorrow. The yard is full of Grackles and Robins are chasing each other around. A Red-winged Blackbird put in an appearance along with a pair of Cowbirds. I spent a good part of yesterday afternoon getting a new perch setup on the Eastern side of the house. The Red-breasted Nuthatches tend to stay on that side, probably because there's more conifers over on that side. I really wanted to get some decent shots of them before they head North but the little buggers spent 2 hours teasing me. They were on this side, then that side, in the shade then in the sun. Brats. The Woodpeckers were much more cooperative as were the Junco's. Even the Tufted Titmouse contingent paid a visit or two.

Carolina wren

Dark-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Junco

Downy Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Red-breasted Nuthatch

White-breasted Nuthatch

Tufted Titmouse

This retirement lark is certainly not all it's cracked up to be.

When I finally decided I was ready for retirement I thought 'Ha, now I can do what I want ALL the time.' Bullshit! I never have enough time to fit in everything I want to do at all. So much so that I haven't time to take any photographs at all yet today. Here's one I like from yesterday instead.

Eastern Bluebird

Taking a break

I had all sorts of tasks lined up for today, after not doing them most of the morning I'd better get going this afternoon. Get Bird Seed, groceries, lottery tickets, wish me luck, I saw Mel Gibson has his place on the coast in Costa Rica for sale, only $29M.  It's Monday so trash night and I've got to get that together, the Kitty Kitchen is a mess because they're messy little bastards, I've got that to tidy up. Here's some birds from this morning when I should have been doing house work.

Downy Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

Eastern Bluebird

Eastern Bluebird

Northern Cardinal

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Carolina Wren