the adorwable baby duckies.
Baby chicks are heart grabbers too.

Someone was yelling at me from the trees today so I looked up and there was my molting Blue Jay friend.



Mom said she saw two Doves yesterday and Dad saw one today. It's kind of weird to see them alone.



While I was standing there, guess who showed up in the oak tree looking all weird? I don't know if I have more than one molting Blue Jay at this point.



The Red-Bellied Woodpecker then swooped in. I took one photo and then it freaked out, took off, and scared both the Dove and the Blue Jay.

Always sad to see a dove alone. I found some grey and white feathers in my back yard a few days ago...could have been a mocking bird. Then the next morning I saw a lone dove and felt so bad for it. I'll never know what those feathers came from, but knowing that doves mate for life...

I'm so used to seeing them in small packs that it makes me worry when I see just one. I like to think the other one might have been playing "scout" and I just didn't see it. I mean, Mom did see two of them yesterday. I just hadn't seen the Doves visiting in a few weeks so I wanted to see them.

We only have a few around here. That's why it bothered me , I guess.

I have a lot of them here - they visit my bird feeders daily in a pack of 5 or 6. The way the males chase the females around, it's hard to tell they mate for life. If I walk out to the feeders or along the path to the shop, there's always a couple just hanging out, sitting on the ground and they 'flush' right out from under my feet it seems. The cat likes to flush them, too. She's so old she's not even close to fast enough to catch one any more but she thinks she's doing her job if she at least chases the odd bird.

Sadly, our feral cat population is on the rise again, and I'm seeing several that think my yard is a likely spot to bird watch.

Keep your hose sprayer handy and give them a good shot a few times. It scares the cr*p out of them but doesn't hurt them at all.

Mom's been hitting the squirrels with the hose. I know our neighbor's cat roams into our yard at times, but usually at night or when no one's out there. It's pretty afraid of other people and I like to keep it that way. I like cats, but I don't want them becoming comfortable in my yard.

You'll probably be glad to have the cat patrol at night Melanie. Hate to say it but the spilled bird seed does attract rodents. The cat will balance that out. Not to mention the odd snake that will hang out, and not be any threat to the birds or butterflies.

Great shots of the jays and woodpecker!
Well, the Great Chicken Photoshoot got rained out the other day. Today I went to the Comal River, and guess what? MORE DUCKS! Seriously, they're showing up everywhere! I know I promised no more duck/geese photos. I lied.









Once again, they must have mistaken me for the Lunch Lady as they swarmed. THEN these crazy birds joined the party! Don't know what they were, but it was a bit strange. An Alfred Hitchcock moment...

Grackles maybe?

Love all the duckies!!

Grackles! Opportunists but harmless and they do like to travel in mobs.
I too love the duck photos.
I think all the birds, the ducks & the grackles around there, are used to people feeding them so humans tend to get mobbed when the birds see them.

Elaine, I saw a black racer in the butterfly garden the other day. Don't tell Mom!

Grackles always look like they're angry.

That's it, Melanie! Those beady little eyes looked demonic. The grackles were not like the cute little Beanie Baby chickadees or the sweet goldfinches. They did look mean!

GrammaChar said:That's it, Melanie! Those beady little eyes looked demonic. The grackles were not like the cute little Beanie Baby chickadees or the sweet goldfinches. They did look mean!

I have to agree though, they really have a frightening look if you're not used to them. Harmless Char, harmless.

I've always called Grackles "Mean Birds" just because of their look. We used to see a few Common Grackles around at our old house but we had hundreds of the Boat-tailed Grackles that would raid the feeders; they nested in trees across the water from us. I haven't seen a one since we moved this past May and I wouldn't mind if just a few showed up but not the hordes we used to see daily. These are old photos from a couple of years ago.

Boat-tailed Grackles, male .................... female

Gee, wish I could box some up and ship them to you!

I wonder if the grackles have different feeding habits between male and female? I have lots of them too, sometimes 5 or 6 at a time and they are all males. I almost never see a female.