A Hairy Situation...

This is a juvenile Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus) who was attempting a landing on the clothesline - where the suet feeder hangs. He'd apparently been watching Mom and Dad execute nearly flawless landings and figured "hey, how hard can it be?" I was just glad I had a camera. And that the sound of me laughing out loud didn't spook him.

I posted 4 other pics on Flickr, starting HERE - a downy kid, a hairy kid and two blue jays.

I managed a short hike this morning in between rain showers and then returned to Tallyho and retired to the deck, under the gazebo where it was dry. From there, I had a perfect vantage point to watch the comings and goings of baby birds - cardinals, hairy woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers (who are cuter than EVER), and house finches. I expect to see the titmice kids any day now. And, I think I may have heard a blue jay fledgling high up in the trees. The downy chicks must have just fledged this week - they are staying in the trees right now, but if things run true to form, they'll be careening around the deck and patio within a few days. I can't wait.

I've got to take several boxes of papers to be shredded tomorrow, then I hope to get out to one of my favorite trails for a long hike. It should be a good day for dragons tomorrow, I hope. Today was too rainy and overcast so most of the dragons were in hiding. Not so for the mosquitoes and I managed to get about 10 bites - hate those little buggers.

Counting the days until Hubs comes home for a visit - 14, in case you want to count along with me.

Ciao,

Debbi