Birds, Blooms and More Blueberries!

I am continuing today

with more photos

of the garden blooms,

one of my favorite birds

and

Blueberries!!!

Coneflowers are fun to photograph because of their shape and texture!:

Their centers remind me of exploding fireworks:

They are great to snip off and bring into the house for a centerpiece:

We have several Flicker birds

in our neighborhood.

We hear them all the time..

but they are very shy here...

I have chased after them with my camera more than once,

only to have them fly away before I even get within zoom range.

One day,

I was weeding my garden and heard their familiar call....

and realized one must be

very

close...

Sure enough..at the end of my driveway, sitting

in the grass...

was a Flicker!!!

I ran into the house and grabbed my camera,

figuring it would be gone before I got back out...

But to my surprise, it was still there in the grass, forging for food and not noticing me.

One of the things that I love most

about them

is their little red patch on the back of their heads:

They have long yellow tail feathers, but unfortunately, I could not capture this in the photos:

I think this was a young Flicker....

so he hadn't learned to be afraid of humans yet.

But--he was GORGEOUS!:

One of my garden flowers:

And the rewards of going into the woods for a ride:

By the way, if you think my hand is rather masculine..

well,

I DO ALOT OF GARDENING, people!!!

Who has time for a manicure????

(Just kidding....

this is my HUSBAND's hand...but I had you going there for a moment, didn't I?)

*************************************************************

You DO REALIZE that you only have THREE DAYS LEFT

to enter into the August FREE PHOTO CONTEST,

don't you????

The theme is:

Sunrises or Sunsets

So, get going RIGHT now and send in your winning photo

to me by midnight, August 31st following THESE RULES!!!

This and That: U.P. Spring pictures continue!

I am behind in posting pictures that I took weeks ago

when spring arrived

in the glorious U.P. (Upper Peninsula) of Michigan.

So, between still showing you some of the April/May Florida photos

I will still post some photos

of the spring ones I took at home here in the U.P.

Enjoy!

Primrose from my garden:

A yellow finch sitting in the sun, with a little bit of a sassy attitude!:

A rose-breasted grosbeak.

We had four, but they only visited us for about three weeks.

We haven't seen them at all since the beginning of May:

One of my favorite birds! A Flicker!:

We visited some of our favorite rivers this spring...but I loved the foamy swirls

in the water, so I did a black and white of the foam:

Budding trees...I always love when they break out in buds and fresh leaves!:

A duck taking off from the water:

A hooded merganser and mate taking off from the water:

I love spring and the beginning of summer for the flowers blooming, trees coming out with bright green leaves and all the animals we see.

I will be posting more again soon!

Flickers and Duckers!

During the spring, we get visits from a lot of birds and ducks on our lake.

Sometimes they stay all summer

and

sometimes they are here just for a day or two and move on farther north...

On taking a walk by the lake a few weeks ago, there were ducks wayyyyy out on the lake.

So, unfortunately, I couldn't get the clearest picture of them, but I had to try!

I don't know what kind of ducks these were....

does anyone know?:

They were really cute, and I loved the black and white of them,

but

I don't have a clue what they were:

We watched, but they wouldn't come any closer.

Sigh.

Maybe next spring I can get closer shots if they come through our area again.

But, we were THRILLED to hear one of our favorite birds return to our area

two weeks ago.

My Flickers!

If you haven't seen one up close, they are magnificent birds!

They are quite big birds.

They have this "eyebrow bib" of black on their chests, and I love their

freckled bodies:

And they have this MAGNIFICENT

spot of red on the back of their heads!:

These two were a couple...he was chasing her all over our trees!:

(That's okay with me....there's nothing MORE I'd like than Flicker babies!)

Wouldn't they make handsome parents?

And they make the most amazing sounds.  Once you hear one, you know what they are from then on:

Can you tell I am smitten with them?

O.K....okay.....

Just ONE MORE photo for today, then:

Flickers!!!! (sigh)
....I think they're dreamy...

how about you?