More Blue (and 2 more Yard Birds!)

I decided to continue with the blue theme, especially since Madame Bluebird is looking so fetching right now.  She and Monsieur are around the yard most of the day now, swooping down if something they don't like gets too near the nest.  Both go in and out of the box, checking on the eggs, although she does not appear to be brooding yet.  I'll take a quick peak tomorrow to see how many eggs she's laid.

Met up with my nature group this morning and we had a fabulous couple of hours ... until the skies opened.  We were nearly a mile from the cars, so the walk back was much faster than the wander out had been.  And we were all pretty well soaked.  Luckily, I had my camera rain-coat with me, so camera and lens were dry, even if photography was quite wet.  Before the rain came, we saw a very nice assortment of warblers, vireos and orioles (both Baltimore and Orchard) as well as a broad-winged hawk and bald eagle.  A good day.

Hubs went over to see MIL this afternoon and apparently she's having a bad day.  So, we'll pick up some sandwiches and take them over so that we can eat with her tonight.  It is the nature of the disease that there are bad days, as so many of you know from personal experience.  We are lucky that her bad days are few and far between.  

I posted two other shots on Flicker, starting HERE with a lovely female Yellow Warbler with nesting material, and followed by one of our garden Gray Catbirds dining on an orange.  Kind of funny that the orioles that are visiting the yard aren't bothering with the oranges, but the resident catbirds and red-bellied woodpeckers are both loving them.  Go figure.

Weather permitting, I plan to head out tomorrow morning to see what I can find.

xo
Debbi

And then... Of course, after I'd blipped, I looked out and saw a flitter of yellow and a flash of red.  Two new birds for my 2018 yard bird list:  a female Yellow Warbler (also a yard first) and a male Scarlet Tanager.  These will be, respectively, be #30 and #31 to be blipped.  I'm putting them in Extra.  If I see either species again this year in the yard, I will make them my main blip but for now, see Extra!