Birds, & Brush!

I am behind in posting photos from the end of our Savannah trip, our Florida trip

and getting back to the U.P.

in the late winter/early spring.

So today, I am posting a mixture of these photos to catch up a bit.

Enjoy!!

For some reason, Cardinals are elusive for me to capture with my lens.

They do not come to my feeders or come to my yard often.

So, when we were visiting my cousin in Savannah, I was thrilled to see a Cardinal in her back yard.

Of course, just my luck....

she told me it was elusive for her to try and take pictures of it, too..

So..

the challenge was ON.

I must have had to take 20 photos to get a few good ones but at least I did capture one or two:

I was thrilled to see the little female too!:

When we were hiking in Savannah, we saw some awesome driftwood

and old wood on the forest floor:

I love doing them in black and white too:

And THEN??

We came back home.

To snow!

But, there was hope!

A few geese had flown from the south back up to the north, as we saw in this pond:

I was so happy to see that we had received

the FIRST sign of spring....

the geese were back!

The geese were back!!!

For the Birds.....

One thing that I love most about Spring is watching birds.

Actually, strike that....

I love watching birds pretty much ANY time of the year!!

So today, I thought I would post some photos I have taken of some birds sighted over the past few weeks.

I love the "rainbow colors" hidden in the European Starling's black feathers, and when walking by this old building,  I caught them peeking out of the roofline:

The European Starlings look very black. At first.  But if you catch them in the light?: WOW!:

Now, I see tons of Cardinals on everybody else's blogs.

And I whine.

A. Lot.

About never seeing them here.

About how shy they are when I DO see them.

So, a few weeks ago, my hubby called me away from the computer (the NERVE!)

to tell me to hurry up, he spied one lone Cardinal, hiding near our lilac bush.

So I ran for the camera and shot this shot:

(Gosh, I never get over the thrill of seeing one. They are magnificent!!)

Oooooo, I was in HEAVEN!:

But, true to form...as soon as I took this shot, off he flew....and we haven't seen any since!

We have had woodpeckers visiting us all winter and still this spring. Just look at this cute face!:

(Maybe a little Nair around the chin might be in order?  Just sayin'...)

Love that shot of red on his head!:

And, we have been blessed all winter and still this spring with Evening Grosbeaks.

I love the males' bright yellow feathers!:

These little creatures (birds) truly enrich our lives....

next time you are outside, look up, down and all around....

at these wonders of Nature...

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Time is RUNNING OUT!

Don't forget to enter a photo into my FREE PHOTO CONTEST by midnight, April 30th.

You DO KNOW that is tomorrow, don't you folks?

This month's theme is:

"Rain, Mist, Fog or Dark Skies"

It is easy....just follow THESE SIMPLE RULES...

Hurry!....
if you don't have dark skies or mist or rain or fog where you are today (or tomorrow) , dig in your archives...
go ahead...
I will even remove one rule for this month...it's okay if you already published your prized photo on your blog, you can use it for April's contest as a bonus!

So, get it in to me by midnight tomorrow night......
I'm waitttttttttting...............................