...Showing the other birds what's what!

Big rain storm today which equals lots of activity at the feeders. I was enjoying the usual suspects - cardinals, chickadees, titmice, finches (gold, purple and house), doves, downy woodpeckers and even two hummingbirds - when THIS landed in the cherry tree! Muttering under my breath (OMG! OMG!) as I slowly hoisted Big Daddy to my eye, hoping she wouldn't zip away, and voila! Not only didn't she zip away, but she splayed her tail for me! By the way, she's an American Redstart, probably a young female. She is a small warbler, eating only insects so not seen at the feeders. However, she seemed to be attracted by all the hullabaloo that was happening at the feeders - maybe she thought she was missing out on something. Anyway, this is a bird I only saw for the first time about a month ago, so I had to blip her.

I also saw a hawk today (yikes!). I went out on the deck between rain downpours and saw something dove-sized fly into the trees. Something about it didn't seem like a dove, so I tried to get a look through the branches but couldn't really see it. Then, it flew out of the tree and back into the woods - definitely some sort of hawk! Based on the relatively small size, I'm thinking maybe a sharp-shinned hawk. Whatever, I hope it moves on. All of the songbirds stayed perfectly still for about 10 minutes - no singing, no movement of any sort. Spooky.

I got a few other interesting shots today, if you'd like to have a look...
Young goldfinch in the butterfly garden

Two goldfinches showing why it is good to let the echinacea go to seed

Showdown between a Cardinal and a Rose-breasted grosbeak at the feeder Nice to see that the young grosbeak wasn't backing down!

Hummingbird in the zinnia patch

Thank you so very much for sending yesterday's titmouse to the Spotlight page! They are such delightful, cheerful little birds and I'm so glad you liked him/her. The whole gang has been outside at the feeders all day - not sure what it is about a rainy day that makes them all eat like there is no tomorrow.

Hope you are all having a great Tuesday. I want to wish a couple of my blip friends happy blipdays today, too... SherrieK is celebrating 200, and Jenceng just hit 500! Congrats to both, and ... keep blipping!