Red white and blue

Howdee all,

Its colorful around here..

 

The three male Rose-breasted Grosbeak are still around.

We have at least four male Cardinals

Jeff and I leave tomorrow and head north to Ohio..

Biggest Week in American Birding…here we come!

1-2-3-4-5 ~~Wow!

Howdee all,

Last night while enjoying dinner in Homey. Jeff, Sicksta Dell and I saw the big beaked Female Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

I mentioned that we had not seen they young male who was here a few days earlier and that he must be on his way north.

We watched her and another female Rose-breasted.

And then~

A bright male popped in.

A beauty

A male Blue Grosbeak was at the feeders as well,

We then had another Male surprise us..Notice his red is a bit different then the one above.

And then in comes another male..

Each time this happened we all looked at each other and exchanged glees and excitement.

The males each tried to sit at the feeder with the female..but she would not have it and chased them away each time.

A Blue Grosbeak joins in on the fun~

Both male Blue Grosbeaks seemed much bluer last night and they both had a bit of a crest.

Female Rose-breasted taking a drink..

Count them~Three males!

The males took turns eating..

What wonderful free entertainment we had while having dinner!

Jeff and I are in North Carolina for one more day. We head to Ohio for The Biggest Week in American Birding on Tuesday. It will take us two days of travel.

Cant wait to see what birds will show up there!

Blue~Indigo and Rose visitors

Howdee all,

I was excited last week to see the return of our Blue Grosbeak..ha I say “our” I am very possessive about these birds..ask anyone who knows me.

 

 

The Grosbeak showed up a bit early.

I was then anticipating the next birds that would visit our feeders..not to mention all the others that would begin arriving to Sickstas yard that don’t come to the feeders.

 

 

To our delight the day after the arrival of the Blue Grosbeak was the arrival of a single Indigo Bunting in the morning.

 

 

And then more buntings…

Female Cardinal, Blue Grosbeak and three Indigo bunting

 

 

As you can see I have been “baiting” the birds :)

 

 

Our next new arrival waiting for its turn at the feeders

 

He looks young to me…and I say that only because of the amount of Rose on his chest..anyone know?

 

 

Coming in for some seed..

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

 

 

Here's some of our feeder set up…I put seed between the antlers of the wooden deer. The buntings and Grosbeaks prefer tray feeders.

 

 

Male Indigo bunting

 

 

Needless to say I am thrilled

We are here most every year to see these birds arrive.

 

 

Its always thrilling

 

 

I tend to get very excited..

Ask my Sicksta…I get very animated and jumpy

 

 

She gets that way when she talks about her plants.

 

 

We all have been enjoying these birds.

 

 

And they are not our only spring arrivals

Black and White Warbler

 

Two days ago I jumped out of bed when I heard the Summer Tanager calling..

What an exciting time of year!

We are heading to The Biggest Week in American Birding next week for more birding fun.

Until then..Wow~What a Bonanza of bird we have here!

 

 

Adele and Craig's , Moore, US-NC
Apr 23, 2012 7:42 AM - 2:02 PM
Protocol: Stationary
Comments:      <br />Submitted from BirdLog NA for iOS, version 1.4.2
34 species (+1 other taxa)

Black Vulture 
Turkey Vulture 
Red-shouldered Hawk 
Mourning Dove 
Red-bellied Woodpecker 
Great Crested Flycatcher 
Red-eyed Vireo 
Blue Jay 
American Crow 
Carolina Chickadee 
Tufted Titmouse 
White-breasted Nuthatch 
Brown-headed Nuthatch 
Carolina Wren 
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 
Eastern Bluebird 
Gray Catbird 
Northern Mockingbird 
Brown Thrasher 
Cedar Waxwing 
Ovenbird 
Black-and-white Warbler 
Hooded Warbler 
Northern Parula 
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 
Chipping Sparrow 
White-throated Sparrow 
Summer Tanager 
Northern Cardinal 
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 
Blue Grosbeak 
Indigo Bunting  6     Five males one female
Brown-headed Cowbird 
blackbird sp. 
American Goldfinch 
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

She gets down and dirty

Howdee all,

I am pleased to have featured a Wonderful Photographer blogger at

Birdingblogs.com

Please go check out the photographs

of Mia McPherson

A self taught photographer extraordinaire

Featured Bird Photographer blogger ~She gets down and dirty

 

~Garden butterflies~Carthage~NC

Howdee all,

I am just starting to learn about butterflies.

I don’t have a guidebook. I am taking photos and trying to compare them to photos online.

I am using this site since I am in NC now

~Butterflies of The Carolinas & Virginias~

If you have any suggestions of good sites to ID butterflies I would appreciate it.

I prefer not to carry around books since our space is limited. I would also be interested in a Ipod app on butterflies.

I have tried to ID some of these butterflies and will continue to research the ones I have no ID for.

I will  put a question mark after the butterfly until someone confirms my ID.

If you know of an ID please feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Thanks..

American Lady

I thought that this could have been a Painted Lady ~Alex L a facebook friend told me this

“One good clue is the small white dot surrounded by orange on the upperside of the forewing. Painted Lady lacks that white dot, among other differences.”

Variegated Fritillary
Euptoieta claudia

After looking online for these IDs I realize taking a photo of the wings closed are important in ID~will try and get more photos in the future.

Sachem ?
Atalopedes campestris

I was told this could be any skipper..I will have to take more angles of these when I see them.

Just found this photo of the same skipper above

Silver-spotted Skipper
Epargyreus clarus

Eight-spotted Forester moth~Alypia octomaculata ?

Eastern Tailed-Blue
Cupido comyntas

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail,

Papilio glaucus

Variegated Fritillary
Euptoieta claudia

Again~any help is appreciated!

Thanks to Alex Lamoreaux , Russell Reynolds Kerri for your ID help!

Devils Dipstick?

Howdee all,

 

Looks what's ….ahh..…Popping up in Sickstas yard.

When Sicksta called me over to look at this I thought…

Stinkhorn

~I am sure a few other things came to mind as well  ~~but, lets not go there..I will let you use your own imagination. :)

  I have never seen a pink Stinkhorn.

So I took a few photos and pulled out Mushrooms Demystified

At first glance I thought it was Mutinus caninus

Dog Stinkhorn

After more reading and photos I believe it is Mutinus elegans

Devils Dipstick

The brownish slime are spores..

with an olive brown to brown slime towards the apex (covering 2-3 cm in Mutinus caninus, more in Mutinus elegans) but usually not covering the extreme tip; the slime quickly becoming foul and odorous, and often quickly removed by insects; hollow; spongy; with a whitish, sacklike volva at the base.

 

If you know what this mushroom is please let me know so I can confirm this ID.

 

I thought it was a very cool find..

Jack could care less..