Bluebirds!

This afternoon I saw steady activity at the bluebird box in my aunt's yard, so I walked over to see what was going on. As I got close, the female flew in with some nesting material in her beak. She went in, stayed for a couple of minutes and flew out emptyhanded, er, emptybeaked. I looked in and found a nearly completed nest! I wouldn't be surprised to see eggs within a couple of weeks. This is the second year for bluebirds in this box.







We've also got some nice Indian paintbrushes growing in our yard. I took this picture of a bunch of them this afternoon.




While at Mom's house to feed the cat this afternoon, I was almost sure I heard a Hooded Warbler call. I wasn't expecting it when it happened so I'm about 85% sure I heard it. He never called again.

I walked down to the new pond this evening and a Great Horned Owl flew from one tree to another. He sat on an exposed branch giving me some great looks at him! He started calling and was answered by a female further to the south. While I was down there, a couple of small brown birds started flying around pretty quickly. I followed them with my binoculars and found them to be Spotted Sandpipers. They landed on the edge of the pond and worked the edges for quite a while while I was down there.

'08 Property List as of Mar. 20: 64
'04 Property List as of Mar. 20: 63